National Post editorial board:

Sympathy for Tamils, but not Tigers

Posted: April 16, 2009, 8:00 AM by NP Editor

 The ongoing Parliament Hill protests and hunger strikes by Tamil Canadians are meant to stir our lawmakers into action against Sri Lanka, whose government is waging a successful military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), better known as the Tamil Tigers. If anything, however, the protests have had the opposite effect: Just as radical Canadian Muslims attract disgust when they raise the flags of Hezbollah or Hamas, so too do Tamils who fly the flag the of the LTTE, a terrorist insurgency that once controlled much of Sri Lanka. What’s worse, the protesters have flown the LTTE flag alongside the Canadian flag — an insult to our own country.

As we have written several times before, we are not without sympathy for the cause of the Tamil people, many of whom have been treated as second-class citizens by the Sinhalese-dominated government in Colombo. Indeed, the Tamils would have had a rightful claim to the world’s sympathy — if the LTTE, which fights for an independent Tamil homeland, hadn’t itself adopted such inhumane tactics since its formation in the 1980s. The Tigers perfected the tactic of suicide bombing, deploying explosive-wrapped killers by the dozens even before the practice had caught on in the Arab world.

The LTTE has also press-ganged children as young as 10 into military service and, following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, they cleared out orphanages for foot soldiers and interdicted relief supplies to feed their adult insurgents and fund terror campaign against the Sri Lankan government. The sight of this group’s flags flying in Canada is nothing short of revolting.
Canada is home to the largest expatriate Tamil community in the world. Despite the Conservative government’s decision to declare the LTTE a terrorist organization in 2006, many of the most prominent Tamil groups in Canada remain fronts for the Tigers. Much of the money for the LTTE’s terror campaign has been extorted from Tamil Canadians, who have faced harassment if they show insufficient enthusiasm for the Tigers. Family members back home in Sri Lanka have even been held hostage until Tamils here pay hefty donations.

The reason that Tiger supporters seem so desperate now is that, after nearly 17 months of bloody fighting, Sri Lankan troops have the few hundred remaining Tiger fighters pinned down inside a few square kilometres in northeast Sri Lanka — including, possibly, the group’s sociopathic leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. The only thing preventing Sri Lankan troops from finishing off the Tigers is the presence of thousands of Tamil civilians, whom the Tigers are using as human shields.

Like Hamas in Gaza, cowardly LTTE fighters are hiding behind the women and children they claim to be protecting. (In fact, the Tigers are actually killing civilians who try to flee the combat area — something even Hamas never did on a large scale during the Gaza combat.) The Tigers’ goal appears to be saving itself — and we would not be surprised if Pirapaharan staged his own massacre of Tamils as a means to discredit Colombo and force a ceasefire that allowed him to escape.

The Ottawa protesters — and others in Sydney, Australia — insist the Colombo government is readying a “genocide” against Tamils. Many journalists are even getting e-mails from Tiger supporters claiming that the Sri Lankan army is preparing to use chemical weapons.

This is preposterous: If government troops truly wanted to stage a genocide, they could have done so weeks ago. The only reason that the siege has drawn out this long is that Sri Lanka’s army wishes to avoid unnecessary slaughter. Indeed, the Tamils who have managed to escape the Tiger area report being treated better by Sri Lankan troops than they were by the LTTE.

If the Tiger supporters in Ottawa truly had the best interests of innocent Tamils at heart, they would be pleading with the Tigers themselves to release their human shields, not declaring their undying support for a terror organization.

Our advice to the Ottawa hunger strikers is: Eat up. To the extent anyone is listening to your message, it only serves to disgrace your members.

National Post

Opinions:  

by Bostonian

Apr 16 2009
10:48 AM

Well said NP. I am an American married to a sweet and decent Sri Lankan Tamil. What you have said in the article is the truth and the whole truth. I returned from SL two weeks ago and had a good insight in to what was going on. We stayed in Colombo 6 with my wife's cousins, who are upper middle class Tamils who do stocklots business. They live very comfortably and do most of the business with majority Singhalese. According to my relatives, there are over a million Tamils living in Colombo and is the majority in SE Colombo (so much for the genocide!). Only negative sentiment was the hardships they have on numerous Army checkpoints in surrounding area and frequent checks, which we also experienced in our short stay. BUT they also mentioned this can not be avoided in any country that faces such suicide bombings. They were very clearly denouncing LTTE and most notably, were condemning Tamil Diaspora in Canada for their assistance to keep the flames on while living under comforts in Canada. They mentioned Canadian Tamil’s financial support for LTTE is huge and, this assistance really harms Tamils living in SL particularly in the north. They took us to Nilaveli, which I would rank as one of the best beaches in the world. Nilaveli is in recently cleared east, where we were able to witness tremendous development. My relatives mentioned east is a great example of SL GOV approach of clearing from terror and providing assistance for development. We also had a unique experience to dine with an army Major, who was attached to Police STF. He was spending few hours in Nilaveli, and treated us, and my Tamil companions with utmost respect. He was in the battlefield many times and was genuinely expressing his feelings about innocent Tamils suppressed by LTTE. My Tamil relatives had one voice, which is very different from the Tamils who live in Canada. What they say is, Tamils in Sri Lanka will be better off under SL Government than living under LTTE control. We whole heartedly than NP for exposing activities of terror supporting Tamils in Canada. Keep up the good work!

 by VRaja

Apr 16 2009
12:18 PM

Dear Canadians.

When Junika says "the flag with tiger isn't a Tamil Tiger flag. It's a flag representing Tamil Eelam.", this is just another Tiger lie, showing how far into the twilight zone LTTE supporters will go to deny reality.

The flag being waved at the demonstrations in Canada is the flag designed by none other than the convicted murderer of the former Indian Primeminister, Rajiv Gandhi  - Velupillai Prabhakaran himself, the supremo of the LTTE. Think about it - demonstrations supposedly about peaceful suffering Tamils, but all under the flag of one the world's leading recognized terrorists and mass murderers. And it's worse than that, the flag itself is a glorification of violence.

To quote the Indian Express (9 April 2009): "The logo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the flag of the putative independent state of Tamil Eelam in north-east Sri Lanka were conceived by the movement’s founder-leader Velupillai Prabhakaran ... In 1976, Prabhakaran had sket­ched the LTTE emblem in his mind. While in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, he got an Indian artist to draw it. He told him his idea: the head of a roaring tiger, paws outstretched, with two rifles and 33 bullets set against a circle ringing the tiger’s head. When the artist showed him the sketch, Prabhakaran was happy and appro­ved it,”

www.expressbuzz.com/.../story.aspx

It was and still is the LTTE flag, and the only difference with the one being waved on the streets of Ottawa and Toronto is that the letters denoting the LTTE have been left out.

And check here on Wiki for more of the facts (before I guess a LTTE agent attempts to censor it): en.wikipedia.org/.../Flag_of_Tamil_Eelam

 by rumple60

Apr 16 2009
11:31 PM

I found these comments send in by the listeners of NPR about the situation in Sri Lanka.  

“While the exact number of civilians trapped in the was zone in Northern Sri Lanka is up to debate, the fact is that there are civilians in the war zone. This has to be of concern to all peace-loving people. However, this story fails to mention a few points.

1). The Tamil Minority has NOT been fighting for a separate state - rather, a small group of Tamil terrorists (LTTE) has been fighting for a separate state, and along the way, has murdered many people including Tamil politicians. Also, the majority of Tamil people in Sri Lanka live freely in the rest of the country. Has anyone been to Wellawatta, Vishnu Kovil in Dehiwala?

2). Dr. Anna Neistat seems to cite sources inside the war zone. Who are these sources? Did anyone vet or verify them? Could they be making statements under pressure from the LTTE?

3). Dr. Neistat briefly mentions that she has seen worse welfare villages, but quickly starts pointing out deficiencies in the system. How about looking at the "half-full glass", how about discussing what they are getting from the government? - the civilians are getting food, health care and education for free.

The LTTE holds the key to ending the suffering of civilians - let them go and battle it out with the military!”

“Pro-LTTE comments are just unfounded statements without any facts—hallmark of propaganda— which pro-LTTEers are the experts.People who talk about genocide in Sri Lanka do not know the meaning of genocide: so far 65,000 Tamils had escaped to government-held areas amidst shoot to kill orders by the LTTE and also getting killed while crossing; during the quarter-century war the majority of the Tamils lived with Sinhalese in Sri Lanka’s south; sinhalese are a minority compared to Tamils.Tamils tamed and trained by the British colonial power controlled the majority.After 1948 majority came to power who introduced affirmative action which English speaking Tamil elite fear of losing its privileges painted as discrimination. Sri Lanka had Tamil commanders of Army and Navy, a Chief Justice, two Attorney Generals, two Inspector Generals of Police.When the war broke out in 1983 Sri Lanka’s cabinet was comprised of 20% Tamil ministers in a parliament where a Tamil party TULF headed by Amirthalingam formed the main opposition in the parliament.Then IGP Rudra Rajasinham and four out of six Deputy Inspector Generals were Tamil.Out of 30 parliamentarians killed by the LTTE the majority (18) were Tamils. LTTE has killed more Tamils than any other.”

If Canadians and their government care about human life, please pressure LTTE and its Canadian Tamil sympathizers to stop innocent Tamil civilians being used as “Human Shields!” Stop LTTE brutalizing innocent civilians!This is horrible war crime!!!  

 A Toronto man pleaded guilty in New York on Monday to attempting to purchase Russian heat-seeking missiles and hundreds of AK-47 assault rifles for the Tamil Tigers guerrillas.

Sathajhan Sarachandran, 29, and a former national president of the Canadian Tamil Students Association, pleaded guilty to all five counts against him, which included supporting terrorism and conspiracy to acquire missiles. Nadarasa Yogarasa pleaded guilty to two charges.

Both men were about to go on trial in Brooklyn, N.Y., for their role in an international arms-smuggling conspiracy that worked under the direction of the senior leadership of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka

The British Courts today found the head of the Tamil Tigers in Britain guilty of supplying bomb-making equipment for the terrorist organization in Sri Lanka, Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

A jury at Kingston Crown Court, south west London found Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar, 52, alias Shanthan was guilty of the charge that he coordinated the supply of materials for the LTTE.

Chrishanthakumar, a prominent figure in the UK's Tamil community was accused of supplying electrical components for the LTTE with an "an obvious terrorist purpose", the Courts said.

He was also found guilty of receiving literature and manuals with titles including Underwater Warfare Systems, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Naval Weapon Systems for the purpose of terrorism.

According to the proceedings, police discovered in 2004 that Chrishanthakumar was buying equipment from an army surplus store in Southsea, Hampshire.

The jury failed to reach verdicts on three further charges and on one charge relating to his co-defendant, Jagatheeswaran Muraleetharan.

The Courts is to take a decision next week on whether to hold a re-trial.

Canadians can do something to stop the LTTE terrorist slaughter of innocent Tamils in North Sri Lanka. First of all fumbling Canadian government should shut down Tamil LTTE terrorist operations in Canada─ instead of giving them a safe-heaven in Canada. If the Canadians and their fellow Tamil Canadians and their government care about justice and human life they must force LTTE and its Canadian Tamil supporters to stop innocent Tamil civilians being used as “Human Shields!” This is horrible war crime. The world should rise-up against the LTTE Tamil terrorists and their Canadian supporters killing their own fellow Tamils, pretending to fight discrimination of  Tamils by the majority of Sinhalese on the island