Tamil Tigers suicide pilots celebrated in Toronto

 A Toronto banquet hall was the scene of a "martyrs' prayer event" held on Monday night in honour of two Tamil Tigers rebels killed during a recent suicide attack in the Sri Lankan capital.

RCMP and Toronto police officer showed up with video cameras and filmed as the Tamil Tigers flag was raised and several hundred people laid flowers at a makeshift shrine to the dead guerrillas.

Police have been trying to clamp down on pro-Tamil Tigers functions around the city since the group was added to Canada's list of outlawed terrorist organizations, but the officers did not interrupt the event and left after an hour.

A spokesman for Jason Kenney, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, called the event "deeply disturbing. Without reservation, without hesitation we condemn the glorification of terrorists like the Tamil Tigers," Alykhan Velshi said.

But one of those who attended the ceremony said the Tamil Tigers are liberators. They are not terrorists, the governments are terrorists," John Antan Rajakumar said. "The Tamil community, we are LTTE," he added, using the acronym for the Tigers.

At the event, some wore clothing bearing the Tamil Tigers insignia, and two boys no more than three years old were dressed in camouflage-patterned jackets. Framed portraits of the two dead guerrillas were displayed beside a stage.

The pair died on Feb. 20, as they were piloting two planes laden with 200 kilograms of explosives to Colombo. One struck the government tax office while the other was shot down outside the city. The Tamil Tigers later said they were targeting the Sri Lankan Air Force headquarters and released a suicide letter in which one of the pilots said he felt "privileged and proud" to take part in the attack so he could "earn respect for my people and my homeland."

The Tigers, also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, have been fighting for more than 25 years for independence for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority but Ottawa considers them terrorists, largely due to their suicide tactics.

Toronto is home to the world's largest population of Sri Lankan Tamils and many are sympathetic to the Tigers. The RCMP says the city has become a lucrative fundraising base for the rebels.

Monday's event was billed as a tribute to the Black Air Tigers, the rebels' small air force. "In the history of the Tamil liberation struggle we salute the first martyrs of the Black Air Tigers," read the poster. "In the history of the Tamil liberation struggle we salute the first martyrs of the Black Air Tigers. They destroyed the propaganda of the Sinhala racist government and showed the strength of the Liberation Tigers to the world."

The poster said the gathering was organized by the Canadian Tamil Society but David Poopalapillai, spokesman for the Canadian Tamil Congress, said he had never heard of the group, nor was he aware of the function.

He said such events are usually held to pay respects to those who have died in the civil war. "Even if people don't accept their actions, they feel as if they are dying for them. That is the feeling of the Tamil community," he said.

But Bandula Jayasekara, the Sri Lankan Consul General in Toronto, said it was "regrettable" that Tamil Tigers responsible for civilian deaths were being glorified in Toronto. "Two innocent Sri Lankans were killed and 59 innocent Sri Lankans were injured due to this failed attack," he said. "Canadians must take serious note when the deaths of LTTE terrorist suicide cadres are celebrated in their soil, right under their nose."

Toronto has long been a hub of Tamil Tigers support activity. Last year, the government shut down the World Tamil Movement offices in Toronto and Montreal following a police investigation that found the group had been raising money in Canada and wiring it to the rebels.

In January, three Canadians pleaded guilty to attempting to buy Russian SA-18 missiles and AK-47s for the Tamil Tigers. A Maple, Ont., man was charged last year with raising money for the Tamil Tigers.

But the rebels have suffered a string of military defeats in recent months and are now cornered in a small patch of jungle. The government has predicted the civil war will be over in a matter of days.

International humanitarian agencies are concerned about the tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the war zone. Canada has called for a ceasefire to protect the civilians but Sri Lanka has refused to comply.

Meanwhile, a Tamil newspaper editor, Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, was arrested last week while police investigate whether he played a role in the rebel air attack, but a colleague said his detention was political.

"They are going through the telephone calls [made by Mr. Vithyatharan] and they have found nothing," said E. Saravanapavan, Managing Director of the Tamil newspapers Uthayan and Sudar Oli.

He said the arrest was no more than an attempt by the Sri Lankan government to close the newspapers for its reporting. Media outlets critical of the government have been targeted in several recent attacks.

(National Post, Canada)

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