Achi news desk-
The head of one of Canada’s largest police forces met with a Sri Lankan police inspector general who was found by the South Asian country’s highest court two weeks earlier to have “participated in the torture” of a man who was arrested.
Photos published by Sri Lankan media, including the Ceylon Today, an English-language daily newspaper, show Peel District Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah in uniform standing alongside senior Sri Lankan officials on December 29, 2023 at police headquarters in the capital Colombo – a visit Peel police spokesperson says that Global Affairs Canada and the RCMP were informed ahead of time.
One of the law enforcement officers in the photos was Sri Lankan police inspector general Deshabandu Tennakoon, who earlier that month was ordered to pay compensation for taking part in the “merciless” beating of a man.
Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah signs a guest book at Sri Lankan police headquarters in Colombo, as the country’s inspector general, Deshabandu Tennakoon, stands behind him. The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka found that he participated in the torture of a man who was arrested. (Credit: Ceylon Today).
Ceylon Today
On December 14, 2023, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled that Tonnakoon was involved in the brutal arrest of a suspected thief, holding him in what the court called the police station’s “torture chamber” for more than 24 hour, strangling and suffocating him, and rubbing chili powder on his genitals.
Dr said. Thusiyan Nandakumar, a doctor who also runs the Tamil Guardian shop in London, that it is “a stain on Canada’s reputation.”
“To see someone of (Duraiappah’s) stature receive a guard of honor from the very organization responsible for so many abuses was shocking, to say the least,” Nandakumar said.
Duraiappah declined Global News’ request for an interview. In a statement, a spokesperson for Peel Regional Police called his trip to Sri Lanka “personal” and said there is “no ongoing initiative or collaboration between Peel Regional Police and any organization in Sri Lanka.”
Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah dons his uniform and walks by Sri Lankan soldiers on a visit Peel police describe as a “personal” tour. (Credit: Ceylon Today).
Ceylon Today
Duraippah was photographed several times during his visit wearing his Peel police uniform.
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Rathika Sitsabaiesan – a former NDP MP and Canada’s first Tamil member of parliament – says that when one wears a uniform, “you represent the institution you head.”
Duraippah is the only police chief of Sri Lankan descent outside the South Asian nation, according to Peel police, which operates in Mississauga and Brampton, Ont.
“(It’s) very damaging to me as a Canadian, as someone who grew up in the Peel region, and all the people who continue to live in Peel and identify as Tamil, in my opinion,” said Sitsabaiesan.
A Peel spokesman said Duraiappah had received an invitation from Sri Lankan police officers while on a family holiday to the country of his birth.
The spokesperson would not confirm when asked if Duraiappah had met Tennakoon in person beyond the photos, which show them holding a plaque together and Tennakoon standing behind Duraiappah at for him to sign a guest book.
It is unclear if the photographed event was the only meeting or if any additional ones took place, including if Duraiappah and Tennakoon met outside of the moment they were photographed together.
Another spokesperson for Peel added that “the Chief has discussed the requests for meetings received with Global Affairs Canada and the RCMP.”
The RCMP say police provided information to Duraiappah about Tennakoon, including about the recent court ruling, ahead of time.
“The Government of Canada did not organize the visit, which was considered a personal visit. However, given the RCMP’s close working relationship with the Peel Regional Police, the Sri Lanka RCMP Liaison Officer offered to facilitate Chief Duraiappah with arrangements involving police agencies in Sri Lanka,” an RCMP spokesperson said in response to questions from Global News .
“Chief Duraiappah was briefed on his situational awareness of recent developments in Sri Lanka, including the judgment of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on Chief Tennakoon.”
Global Affairs Canada also said the visit was “personal.”
“The Government of Canada did not organize the visit” and “as is customary for meetings with high-level officials, staff from the Canadian High Commission went to Sri Lanka with the Head as a courtesy,” said a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, Marilyn Guèvremont.
Sitsabaiesan says “alarm bells should have gone off” given the country’s human rights record.
In October 2022, Canada adopted a UN Human Rights Council resolution calling on Sri Lanka to address the “human rights, economic and political crisis” in the country.
The following year he punished four government officials for “human rights crimes on the island” and commemorated the Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day for the first time – marking the deaths of tens of thousands of Tamils ​​during the country’s 26-year civil war.
“Canada is well versed in the crimes that took place. It’s not something that Ottawa is blind to,” Nandakumar said.
Although it is not unusual for western officials to visit, collaborate or train police forces in developing countries, some have recently distanced themselves from the Sri Lankan authorities.
In 2021, Scotland ended its training program for officers in the country on allegations of human rights abuses.
In January this year, the United Nations criticized Sri Lankan police for their “heavy-handed” anti-drugs campaign, with reports of arbitrary arrests, torture and strip searches.
Tennakoon’s recent appointment as police chief shows “a lot about how law enforcement authorities on the island operate with impunity,” Neil DeVotta, a South Asia expert and professor of politics at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, said in an e-mail mail to Global News.
Nandakumar says Peel chief’s visit to Sri Lankan police headquarters raises questions of judgment.
“When a senior Canadian official is going to meet with police who have been accused of such heinous crimes… to see something like this happen, it was very uninteresting.”
“I think an apology is needed,” he said.
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