End of innocence in Canada, Sri Lanka

declared "unstoppable"
by Rajan Philips-October 25, 2014
Last Wednesday was a day of mayhem
in Canadas parliament that sent political shockwaves throughout the
world !he gunfire in Canadas parliament was ne"t to nothing in scale
compared to attacks elsewhere# but that an attack could take place in the
Canadian parliament stunned political watchers everywhere !he Canadian
governments recent decision to add its mite to the fight against the
upstart $slamic %tate in $ra& and %yria led to speculation that the $% was
targeting Canada in retaliation World leaders e"pressed sympathy and
solidarity in statements and in tweets as the cable and the social media
broke into 'ball by ball reporting and commentating %ri Lankas President
tweeted his message of concern# and his (efence %ecretary brother tried
to stretch through time and space a parallel between %ri Lanka in )*+,
and Canada in -.)/ $n the end it turned out that it was a lone gunman
and his mental and drug problems rather than his political religiosity that
created the mayhem in the Canadian parliament and shut down the
nations capital for a good part of one day 0y 1riday# as Canada was
coming to terms with what happened in its parliament in 2ttawa# in its
characteristically modest and measured way# President Rajapaksa went to
his parliament in 3otte# and delivered his pre-election budget speech#
entitled rather vainly4 56nstoppable %ri Lanka5
Regardless of the personal circumstances of the lone gunman# it is the
political circumstances of his actions that will define the narrative of last
weeks mayhem 6nder the current Conservative government of Prime
7inister %tephen 8arper# Canada has veered from its long standing
tradition of liberal idealism# as opposed to realpolitik# and middle power
diplomacy# independent of the 6nited %tates# that has been nurtured by
Liberal Prime 7inisters like Lester Pearson and Pierre !rudeau# and
followed by their successors including Conservative Prime 7inister 0rian
7ulroney and Liberal Prime 7inister 9ean Chretien $nstead# the 8arper
government has taken Canada on a foreign policy path that is stridently
pro-$srael and more consistent with the worldview of 6% Republicans
6nder Prime 7inister Chretien# Canada opted to stay out of the 6%
invasion of $ra& in -.., :s Canadas Leader of the 2pposition at that
time# %tephen 8arper not only opposed the Chretien-governments
decision in parliament but also took centre page in 6% papers critici;ing
the Canadian government
:fter 2bamas election as 6% President# the 8arper government has tried
to act independent of 6% foreign policy but for opposite reasons 9ean
Chretien# now retired# rejoined Canadas internal debate over its foreign
policy by publicly critici;ing the 8arper-governments decision to join the
fight against the $slamic %tate $nstead# Chretien argued# Canada should
massively fund and support humanitarian efforts in the 7iddle <ast and
open its doors generously to %yrian refugees 6nlike any time in the past#
the present Canadian government is also accused of shaping the countrys
foreign policy to appeal to its core constituency of ideological
conservatives !he governments decision to join the fight against $C$% is
also seen as a gamble for the elections due in -.)=
!wo days before the 2ttawa mayhem# two Canadian soldiers were run
down and injured in a shopping mall parking lot in a town in the Province
of >uebec !he man accused of running them down and subse&uently
killed during the police chase# has been identified as 7artin Courture-
Rouleau# a -?-year old 1rench Canadian contractor who converted to $slam
about a year ago Within hours of the >uebec incident# and before any
statement by the Provincial Police or the RC7P @Royal Canadian 7ounted
PoliceA# the 8arper government went public with the allegation that the hit-
and-run may have been the act of a terrorist 7r 8arper himself added to
the allegation in his response in parliament to what was seen as a pre-
arranged &uestion by a government backbencher !wo days later all hell
broke in 2ttawa !he lone gunman in 2ttawa# now identified as ,--year old
7ichael Behaf-0ibeau# first shot and killed a Canadian reserve Corporal
standing in ceremonial guard with an unloaded gun at the Cational War
7emorial across from Parliament 8ill# and then rushed into the parliament
building where he was shot and killed during an e"change of gunfire by the
%ergeant-at-:rms of the 8ouse of Commons# 3evin Dickers !he routine
bearer of the ceremonial mace became the days hero : former police
officer# 7r Dickers averted what could have become a huge tragedy if the
gunman had entered one of the meeting rooms as 7Ps were having their
parliamentary group meetings in different rooms
Pathology and Perversion of $slam
!he RC7P has ruled out any connection between the 7ontreal and 2ttawa
incidents Co connection has been established either between the incidents
in Canada and the $slamic %tate operations in the 7iddle <ast 0ut the two
incidents# occurring in Canada# have forced into relief the transnational
network of the $slamic %tate operators in the 7iddle <ast and their far
flung supporters in Western countries and elsewhere $t is more than a
network# for it is a hotchpotch of radicals drawing their radicalism from a
perversion of $slam and including in their numbers not just :rabs and
7uslims but new converts from other racial# ethnic and religious
backgrounds !here are Chinese among the 9ihadists# and young women
from abroad are being lured by a combination of violence and domesticity
to go to $ra& or %yria to join the fight or be wives of fighters $t is now
reported that former :merican# Canadian and Western army men are
individually joining the 3urdish army to fight the $slamic %tate fighters
!he old Levant has become a new battleground where citi;enship and
nationality have lost their meaning
!he two Canadian perpetrators e"emplify these trends and also illustrate
the ingredient of pathology in the mi" 7ichael Behaf-0ibeau is the son of a
Canadian businessman father of Libyan descent and a 1rench Canadian
mother# who is a (eputy Chair in a 1ederal $mmigration 0oard !hey were
wealthy enough to send their son to a private 1rench Language school
known for strict discipline# but after leaving school the boy fell off the
wagon 8e broke away from his parents and got into drugs and petty
crimes 8e tried to find solace in $slam and fre&uented 7os&ues but did
not get along with other 7uslim worshippers because he was rude and
objected to their inter-faith initiatives with other religions :s for 7artin
Courture-Rouleau# he was the successful 1rench Canadian owner of a
pressure-washing company who became a 7uslim convert about a year
ago and was known to have been part of a radical network !he RC7P was
on his trail and stopped his attempt to travel to !urkey @the gateway to
%yriaA in 9uly# but did not have sufficient ground to arrest or detain him
2n the other hand# 7ichael Behaf-0ibeau was not on the police radar until
he surfaced in 2ttawa
$t is known that Canadian security agencies have their sights on about *,
5high risk travelers5 to be prevented from going to the 7iddle <ast# but
none has been arrested $t is also reported that about ,. Canadians are
part of the $slamic %tate fighters in %yria and $ra& and a further ),. are
involved in radical activities elsewhere !heir passports are said to have
been revoked 0ritain# the 6% and <uropean countries are facing similar
problems While there are only speculations about the motives and the
triggers behind the radicali;ation of youth schooled and sociali;ed in
western societies# there is greater information about their activities once
they join a radical network !he reason is that part of their radicali;ation is
their e"hibitionism# and their compulsive use of the social media as daily
diaries makes the tracking job of security agencies much easier than it
used to be
Cot surprisingly# the Canadian handling of the 2ttawa mayhem and its
aftermath has not gone unnoticed What a 6% media commentator praised
as 5master class in calm# credible breaking-news reporting5# on the part of
the national Canadian 0roadcasting Corporation @particularly in comparison
to the 6% media vulturesA# could be e"tended to everyone E the City
police# the RC7P# parliamentary and civic officials# political leaders and the
society at large E who responded to the crisis swiftly and proportionately
!here was no hysteria in word or deed and there was no targeting of
7uslims unlike in :luthgama !o draw a comparison between what
happened in 2ttawa and what happened in %ri Lanka in )*+,# would be an
e"ercise in military ignorance and not political intelligence $f one is to find
a comparison# it should be to the 1L> crisis of the )*F.s# when a group of
1rench separatists took to kidnapping and murder to intimidate the
Provincial Government in >uebec :nd there are plenty of lessons that all
Lankans can learn from the way Canada and >uebec handled that crisis
!he current crisis is a different one and it has nothing to do with Canadas
internal situation unlike the 1L> crisis /. years ago $f the emergence of
the $slamic %tate is the unintended outcome of the invasion of $ra& in
-..,# is fighting the $slamic %tate the only answer to that problemH 2r# is
fighting alone enough to address that problemH :s Canadas Prime 7inister
in -.., and as its elder %tatesman now# 9ean Chretien has been consistent
in pointing out that launching new wars in the 7iddle <ast will only
aggravate the colonial legacy of bitterness and suspicion among the :rab
people While it is necessary to contain and destroy the brutal machinery
@all assembled from the Wests leftoversA of the $slamic %tate# that alone is
not sufficient as a solution to the fundamental and broader problems in the
7iddle <ast# either in the short term or in the long term
Given its geography and its history# %ri Lanka can easily avoid being
implicated in the turmoil in the 7iddle <ast and its e"tensions elsewhere
%ri Lankas implications# if any# are solely the result of e"ternali;ing its
internal problems to avoid accepting the more inclusive solutions to them
!he !amil &uestion has its own history and regardless of who is right and
who is wrong# there are plenty of people and there is plenty of material to
keep debating endlessly as to who is right and who is wrong Picking on
the 7uslims# on the other hand# is a patented misadventure initiated by
the present government $t is plain dumb for anyone in the government to
strategi;e that by alienating the 7uslims and befriending $srael# the %ri
Lankan government can curry favour with the West and turn the tables on
the !amils in their 6C8RC encounters !he %ri Lankan people deserve
better than to have government strategists who would think that their
flawed foreign policy approach can be validated by events such as the
recent incidents in Canada Co one is stopping %ri Lanka from going
anywhere for President Rajapaksa to assert that %ri Lanka is unstoppable
!he &uestion is whether he thinks that his presidency should be
unstoppable for %ri Lanka to be unstoppable
Posted by Thavam