One of Sri Lanka’s top naval officers has fled to Canada but federal officials are refusing to accept his refugee claim on the grounds he was complicit in war crimes the national post reported.
Nadarajah Kuruparan was Commodore of the Sri Lanka Navy, third in rank behind the Admiral, when he retired in June 2009 — just weeks after his forces helped defeat the separatist Tamil Tigers in a conflict that left untold civilians dead.
On Aug. 4, 2009, he arrived at the Canadian border with his wife and two children and made a refugee claim, a development that has only now emerged with the release of a court ruling on his case. He has apparently lived in Toronto since then.
One of only five ethnic Tamil officers in the navy, he said he feared the government, pro-government militias and rebels but the Immigration and Refugee Board ruled he was not a genuine refugee because he was complicit in crimes against humanity.
His appeal to the Federal Court of Canada was dismissed on June 13, and he and his family now face deportation to Sri Lanka. The court ruling was significant because it upheld the finding that the Sri Lankan military committed atrocities.
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