The fighting between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army in the Jaffna peninsula is causing political turmoil as far away as Canada: home to one of the world's largest Sri Lankan Tamil populations.
The fighting between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army in the Jaffna peninsula is causing political turmoil as far away as Canada: home to one of the world's largest Sri Lankan Tamil populations.
Canadian newspapers have established strong links between a number of expatriate Tamil cultural organisations and charities and the LTTE. Anti-terrorism experts have told the Canadian government that the groups have raised more than $14 million to fund the Lankan conflict. Two Canadian cabinet ministers, including the highly respected finance minister, Paul Martin, have been heavily criticised in the press and the Parliament for attending a dinner in May where funds were raised for the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils (fact). A report submitted to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) described fact as an LTTE front founded in 1993.
Opposition MP Chuck Stahl angrily told the Canadian House of Commons that the "CSIS, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the US State Department and our own diplomats all say that the fund-raising continues apace...to help fund terrorist organisations there. What was the (finance) minister thinking about?"
At first, Martin merely described his critics as borderline racists. "They are against our traditions of tolerance and as such, anti-Canadian," he said pugnaciously. "I have Irish blood in my veins; does that make me a member of the ira?" But lately, he's been silent while his staff refuses to take questions on the issue.
Martin's Liberal Party is favoured by many recent immigrants in Canada, because it tends to back generous immigration laws. Canada and its Liberal Party are not alone in this. The CSIS report on the LTTE, by an Australian counter-terrorism expert, Prof Paul Cross, says, "many Western politicians believe...ethnic or the minority votes make the difference in an election. As such, they tend to sympathise with the political aspirations and grievances of minorities and ethnic groups living in their constituencies.... Politicians have become increasingly reluctant to support tougher actions against the LTTE for fear that this would impinge on their local electoral support base".
Recently, two public rallies organised by Canadian expat Tamil groups were cancelled after the daily National Post carried pictures of posters and websites that showed the gatherings were to celebrate LTTE military successes. The websites labelled the offensive Unceasing Waves III, the name chosen by Tiger military strategists, and listed Jaffna's 'martyrs'.
Earlier this year, a political row erupted after the National Post carried pictures of rallies in support of the LTTE at local government schools. They showed men in military fatigues, carrying replica machine guns along with other men in traditional white veshtis, all standing against a backdrop of LTTE posters and the flag of Tamil Eelam. The newspaper said the rallies were organised by Tamil cultural groups. Toronto schools have since banned such gatherings.
Canadian Tamil groups have vigorously denied involvement in illegal or potentially violent activities although the two groups named most frequently in press and intelligence agency reports - fact and the World Tamil Movement (WTM) - haven't commented. Other newsreports have said criminal gangs with links to the LTTE are creating a climate of fear in the Tamil expat community. The CSIS believes the gangs raise money by selling drugs, forging passports, smuggling and extortion. In addition to around 1,55,000 legal Lankan Tamil migrants, it's believed that tens of thousands of illegal 'aliens' from Jaffna and northeastern Sri Lanka have come to Canada.
One problem, according to legal experts, is the Canadian Constitution's broad and liberal definition to freedom of association, making it tough to ban groups not explicitly advocating violence. But a recent decision in the Federal Court of Appeal could change that. In January, it upheld a deportation order issued three years earlier against a Lankan Tamil refugee, Manickavasagam Suresh, 44. He was found to have lied under oath to an Immigration Appeals board about his involvement in activities supporting the LTTE. The ruling said those who raise funds for 'terrorist' groups are as culpable as those planting bombs.
Suresh came to Canada in 1990 and was granted refugee status. He became a key organiser of the WTM, and played a prominent role in fact. The appeal court felt both groups had close links to the LTTE. Security sources in Canada say fact now does far more fund-raising and propaganda work than the WTM. But despite the various court rulings ordering his deportation, Suresh is still a free man in Canada, while a final appeal is submitted to the Supreme Court.
Stung by the criticism, the Canadian government is taking action. External affairs minister Lloyd Axeworthy wants legislative amendments to stop fund-raising for terrorist groups. The LTTE isn't the only militant group with international connections taking advantage of Canada's liberal traditions. In the past, Sikh separatist groups like the Babbar Khalsa operated with near-impunity from Canadian soil. Canadian politicians courted the Sikh vote by denouncing India and taking an interest in the complex conflict thousands of miles away. Today it's the LTTE. As many countries have discovered, not least India, the sophistication and determination of the LTTE are more than a match for democracy and pluralist tolerance of dissent.
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