SUPPORTING THE BAN OF WORLD
TAMIL MOVEMENT NOVA SCOTIA BASED DAILY SAYS THOSE WHO PRACTICE AND SUPPPORT
TERRORISM HAS NO PLACE IN CANADA
(By Walter Jayawardhana)
“Canada clearly cannot allow groups that use terrorism –
or the organizations that support such groups – to operate legally
in this country,” said Nova Scotia based Chronicle Herald supporting
the Conservative government’s decision to ban the World Tamil Movement,
a front organization of the terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE).
The Halifax based newspaper known as Canada’s longest standing
independently owned newspaper said,
“TERRORISM – those who practise it and those who support it
– has no place in Canada.”
The editorial also said the Tamil owned businesses have been intimidated
to give donations to the terrorist group. The following are some excerpts
from the eitorial:
“Ottawa officially placed the Tamil Tigers on its list of terrorist
organizations two years ago. The LTTE – Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam – is the guerrilla group that’s used extortion, assassinations,
suicide bombings and the forced recruitment of child soldiers in its
bloody fight for an independent state within the island nation of Sri
Lanka. By rightly banning the LTTE, Canada finally joined the United
Nations, European Union and many other countries, including the United
States, Britain and Australia, in explicitly designating the Tigers
as a terrorist group.
“Last week, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day – citing
RCMP evidence which he said showed that the World Tamil Movement (WTM)
had been raising funds to support the Tamil Tigers – added the
Tamil non-profit group, with offices in Toronto and Montreal, to the
terrorist blacklist.
“Faced with hundreds of pages of RCMP affidavits alleging police
knew how LTTE leaders in Sri Lanka had been using the non-profit group
to extract money from the Tamil community in Canada, Mr. Day had no
choice but to act. As the minister pointed out, the WTM – which
denies the allegations – has every right to appeal the move, to
himself and then to a federal court, where automatic appeal provisions
renew every two years.
“Though the Tigers no doubt have the support of some in Canada’s
Tamil community, there have been reports others, including many Tamil-owned
businesses, have felt they’ve been intimidated into donating significant
sums of money – through the WTM – to support the separatist
group.
“Mr. Day seemed to suggest the ongoing two-year RCMP investigation
into the WTM may soon bring charges against individuals. "Stay
tuned," said the minister.
“Canada clearly cannot allow groups that use terrorism – or
the organizations that support such groups – to operate legally
in this country. At the same time, Canada can continue to try to persuade
both sides – the Sinhalese government and LTTE – to stop the
bloodshed and realize an end to the conflict would benefit both peoples.”
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