Innocent Sri Lankans pleased with Canada

Bandula JAYASEKARA

The people of Sri Lanka would like to thank the Government of Canada for its courageous decision to expose the World Tamil Movement (WTM) as a terrorist front for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The WTM is the first non-profit organisation to be placed on Canada’s terror list. Though it has long been known that LTTE front groups have been operating in Canada and several other countries and funding the LTTE terror machine, which continues to kill innocent Sri Lankans, this is the first time a front organisation has been branded as a terrorist organisation in Canada.

I am sure this move will be an eye opener for other countries.

It will also help save thousands of innocent lives in Sri Lanka since the LTTE uses the money sent by front groups to buy weapons, recruit child soldiers and carry out suicide missions using even pregnant women.

However, the people who have suffered most at the hands of these front organizations are the innocent Sri Lankan Tamils living in Canada.

For years, they have been forced - through extortion, threats and even violence - to part with their hard earned money. Front groups that openly support the LTTE - which is a banned organisation in Canada, the U.S., India, the U.K. and several other countries - use sports and festivals to collect money, sometimes from unsuspecting Canadians.

They try to show a harmless face to the outside world, hiding the fact that they have helped unleash brutal terror in Sri Lanka. Canada’s opposition parties should extend their fullest support to the Government and put pressure on front groups to urge the Tigers to come to the negotiating table - the first step toward bringing about a lasting peace in Sri Lanka.

National Post, Canada