Canada to defang terrorism

It is indeed a matter for happiness that Canada, one of the few countries to have realised the danger of global terrorism, is making common cause with nations affected by terrorism. According to a report in The Island on Saturday, by our special correspondent in London, Dushy Ranetunge, the Canadian Solicitor-General, Lawrence MacAulay, has told the Canadian Alliance and the Canadian press that legislation will be introduced soon to allow Revenue Canada to strip terrorists front organisations of charitable status. Mr. MacAulay has assured the Canadian parliament that Anti-Terrorism legislation will be introduced soon.

That Canada is preparing to combat terrorism in an organised manner provides moral support for countries like Sri Lanka. Credit for convincing the Canadian lawmakers of the need to counter the scourge of terrorism should go to the Canadian press, especially the National Post, which has laid bare the true face of terrorist fronts in Canada.

How well established and influential the terrorists fronts are is manifest in the manner in which the LTTE front, the FACT, deceived two senior Canadian ministers, Minister for International Cooperation, Maria Minna and Minister of Finance, Paul Martin, into attending a controversial LTTE fund-raising dinner last year.

Our report says that the LTTE has ordered its fronts in Canada to raise as much as CN$ 10 million for its war chest. Its grandiose offensive codenamed ‘Unceasing Waves’ to capture Jaffna having come a cropper last year, the LTTE obviously needs more funds to replenish its supplies in preparation for another onslaught. The LTTE is trying to gain time for this purpose by means of its unilateral ceasefire, which it has hitherto violated on over fifty occasions according to the army. The massive loss of cadres in the futile battle for Jaffna has obviously debilitated the LTTE’s military muscles and the fact that recruitment is not forthcoming has aggravated its predicament vis-a-vis the revitalised Sri Lankan military. The LTTE today appears to be on a campaign for funds for arms and time for recruitment. While it is busy with the latter here, its fronts are working overtime for raising funds abroad.

With several strong fronts in Canada, the LTTE must be expecting a great deal of funds to be generated there. As pointed out by federal lawyers, these funds come from both willing and unwilling Tamils. Many Tamil expatriates, it is said, look upon Prabhakaran as a job agent, who has helped them migrate, and just pay him his dues. Their migration to the west has been possible because of the situation he has created in Sri Lanka. To those who are leading a good life in the west, thanks to the LTTE, Prabhakaran may be a ministering angel. But for the LTTE, refugee status would have been a distant dream for most of them. Therefore it is not surprising that there are so many there bent on perpetuating the conflict in Sri Lanka by means of funds for the terrorist cause.

They must be shuddering to think of the day when peace dawns on Sri Lankan. For, if that happens, most of those who are living (or lying?) abroad as refugees will have to come back and thus be deprived of doles and other means of income. The LTTE, as manifest in some of its recent statements, is playing on the fear the refugees have of being deported.

The success of LTTE fronts is a roadblock to peace in Sri Lanka. They keep the LTTE war machine running. So long as its military strength does not diminish, the LTTE will not be amenable to a peaceful settlement.

In a meaningful battle against global terrorism, cracking down on these fronts becomes of paramount importance.The US has already proscribed the LTTE as a narco-terrorist outfit. It is her own security concerns that the US must have had foremost in mind in banning the LTTE. The LTTE has been capable of causing concern to the most powerful nation, the US. Why it has not caused the same concern to the less powerful nations is puzzling.

The countries in the clutches of terrorism must be thankful to Canada for the steps it is going to take. However, in joining forces with these countries Canada is not being altruistic. All measures adopted to keep terrorists at bay in her soil will be in the interest of Canadian national security as well.

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