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Intelligence agency ponders whether Tamil Tigers should be outlawed
Cnews,
March 7.
OTTAWA (CP) - The national intelligence agency is considering whether to recommend that the Tamil Tigers be formally outlawed as a terrorist group.
Jim Judd, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told a Senate anti-terrorism committee Monday that it's a tricky call. "It's an issue that's actively under consideration in the service," Judd told the senators.
The Tigers are a Sri Lankan separatist group that has waged a violent campaign - including the use of suicide bombers - to win a Tamil homeland on the Indian Ocean island.
Fund-raising for the Tigers is banned in Canada, although the group has not been formally listed as a terrorist organization. The United States, Britain and Australia consider the Tigers terrorists.
Judd noted that Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew has said that since the organization is involved in peace negotiations it might be a bad idea to put them on the outlaw list.
More...
Published: Mon Mar 7 20:38:12 EST 2005
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How the Tigers came to Canada - Commentary
National Post ,
March 7.
When it comes to thwarting an equally deadly sort of tiger, Ottawa has its own two-faced approach. We are full and active partners with other nations in dealing with al-Qaeda and its jihadist ilk, yet have a sunnier face when it comes to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a violent insurgent group that is fighting to create an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. While other Western nations have properly designated the LTTE a terrorist group, we have not.
Despite the shaky February, 2002, ceasefire between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government, the Tigers remain a group to fear. It is the only terrorist group to kill two national leaders (Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka's President Premadasa). The group also pioneered the use of suicide bombings, perpetrating more such attacks during the 1990s than all other terrorist groups combined.
More...
Published: Mon Mar 7 20:44:28 EST 2005
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EU wants a joint tsunami relief mechanism soon
Charles Pathirana in Colombo,
March 7th 2005, 8.10 pm SLT.
The European Union wants the Sri Lankan government to formulate a joint
mechanism with the LTTE to address the problems of the tsunami ravaged in
the North East of the country. This was unequivocally conveyed to Chadrika
Kumaratunge, President, when the European Union Commissioner for External
affairs Ms. Ferrero-Waldner met the President at Janadipathi Mandiraya.
This is in spite of the fact that the government’s coalition partner the JVP
has been against such a joint mechanism, a fact which has been widely
publicized in the country. Minister Lakshman Kadirgarmar has however, on
behalf of the Senior Coalition partner said that a working arrangement with
the LTTE is necessary. All of it comes at a time when the LTTE is making
belligerent noises.
S. P. Thamilchelvan the LTTE political wing leader said that the LTTE will
no longer take the killing of Tamil civilians and LTTE cadres lightly. We
will have to take action soon if this trend continues he said from the
Wanni. The government and its coalition partner he also said, are showing
that there is a rift between them in order that they can blame any problem
on this issue - - and thereby ignoring the fact that the problems of the
tsunami ravaged are not being addressed.
The formation of the joint mechanism however, according to government
sources is imperative, in some form, soon - - but the more immediate problem
also according to the same sources is to get a handle on the situation in
the North and the Eastern province where there is a serious security
situation created by the Karuna-LTTE rift which has now once again come into
the open. The LTTE no longer says that some of these killings are with
government involvement because it is becoming obvious that the Karuna group
is still active, and is acting on its own steam.
Published: Mon Mar 7 09:13:05 EST 2005
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