Posted on 08/25/2006 2:21:20 AM PDT by Clive
TORONTO -- The recent arrests of six Canadians accused of trying to obtain weapons on behalf of the Tamil Tigers terrorist group is not a fair reflection of the more than 300,000 Tamils living in this country, the Canadian Tamil Congress said Thursday.
“The recent arrests of Canadians in the United States allegedly on terror related charges has shocked and bewildered all of us,” said Kavita Pathinathar at a news conference held by the CTC.
“The members of the Tamil community are in unison in deploring the thought process that would have compelled someone to conceive this idea. In the strongest of terms possible, we categorically condemn this isolated incident,” the McMaster University student and CTC member added.
At least 14 alleged Tamil Tigers supporters have been arrested in Canada and the United States. Six of the suspects are Canadian citizens.
The RCMP arrested three suspects in Canada this week at the request of U.S. authorities for allegedly engaging in terrorist procurement activities.
The suspects face charges of conspiring to buy weapons to allegedly help the Tamil Tigers in their escalating fight for a separate homeland in Sri Lanka.
American authorities allege three of the accused travelled to New York from Canada to try to buy weapons, including missiles, launchers and AK-47s. The men are also charged with fundraising and money laundering through “front” charitable organizations and U.S. bank accounts.
But David Poopalapillai, the national spokesperson for the CTC, said he doubts any money was raised from his community to help the Tigers in Sri Lanka.
“As far as we know there’s no money collected for weapons,” he said.
Poopalapillai said he and many Tamils are worried the recent arrests will hurt the community’s efforts to raise aid money for those suffering from the conflict between the Tamil minority and the Ceylon majority, which has left over 100,000 dead in Sri Lanka.
But Pathinathar said the concern in the community runs much deeper than just over its ability to raise aid money.
Many are worried that the Tamil community’s reputation has been tarnished.
“We are concerned at the potential this could have against the entire community,” she said.
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Just like CAIR, all are innocent.
Davis' Tamil trip scrutinized
Terror group funded visit, law officials say
By Andrew Zajac and Mike Dorning
Washington Bureau
August 24, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Chicago congressman Danny Davis and an aide took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Tamil Tigers, a group that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers, law-enforcement sources said.
Davis' seven-day trip came under scrutiny this week following the arrests of 11 supporters of the organization on charges of participating in a broad conspiracy to aid the terrorist group through money laundering, arms procurement and bribery of U.S. officials.
The five-term Democratic congressman said he was unaware that the Tigers paid for the trip and on his required congressional disclosure form he reported that the trip was paid for by a Tamil cultural organization, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, based in Hickory Hills, Ill.
During the visit, Davis spent most of his time in a region controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the group is formally known, and visited the organization's political headquarters. He also met with a police chief for the region appointed by the Tigers.
The Tamil Tigers, a separatist group that has been fighting since 1983, seek an independent state for 3.2 million ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, a tear-shaped island nation of 20 million off the southern tip of India. In addition to conventional guerrilla tactics, the group has used terrorist methods, including 200 suicide bombings, in a conflict that has claimed 64,000 lives. Though the violence between the government and the separatists has abated in the past several years, it recently surged, threatening renewed civil war................
excerpt
www.chicagotribune.com
> ...is not a fair reflection of the more than 300,000 Tamils living in this country, the Canadian Tamil Congress said Thursday.
Crikey! I was unaware that there were as many as 300,000 Tamils living in Canada. With a population of just on 33 million, that comprises almost 1% of the entire population!
That's a significant power bloc. If it's concentrated at all, then it is a force to be contended with when elections come about.
Tamils. From Ceylon: a medium-sized island just south of India. One of two major cultures there (the other being Sinhalese, who form the majority of the population). And they represent 1%-or-so of the Canadian overall population of 33 million???
Someone please tell me I've slipped a decimal point in my calculations: not that I have anything against Tamils: I had no idea that they comprised such a large cross-section of Canadian society, that's all.
How and why and when did this happen?
Nice. My Congresscritter has no shame.
Taxation without representation,
OLA
Before the knee-jerk pro-Tamil-terrorist crowd shows up, let's get some facts straight:
1. The Tamil Tigers have repeatedly murdered innocent civilians and have no respect for human life.
2. The Tamil Tigers are pro-Marxist.
3. The Tamil Tigers are NOT "brave freedom fighters standing up to Muslim oppression," as some idiots would like to believe. The country they are fighting, Sri Lanka, is NOT a Muslim country. According to the CIA World Factbook, the population of Sri Lanka is 69.1% Buddhist.
FReeper MediaMole said it best: "The Tamil Tigers are a bunch of suicide bombing, child soldier using, civilian murdering, bloodthirsty thugs. They are everything the Muslims aspire to become."
The fault of Bush and his war on terror? /s
It's the last name... my goodness! I dont want to pronounce it!
"The members of the Tamil community are in unison in deploring the thought process that would have compelled someone to conceive this idea. In the strongest of terms possible, we categorically condemn this isolated incident."
They sound just like CAIR or Yasser Arafat. And yet some idiots right here on this website praise the baby-killing terrorist Tamil Tigers because they've deluded themselves into thinking the Tamils are "anti-Muslim" when, in fact, the government they're fighting against is primiarily Buddhist.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
"The five-term Democratic congressman said he was unaware that the Tigers paid for the trip and on his required congressional disclosure form he reported that the trip was paid for by a Tamil cultural organization, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, based in Hickory Hills, Ill.
They are fighting Muslims.
They are not fighting Muslims.
See reply #7 by JillValentine.
In any event, terrorism is not justifiable under any excuse.
The Tamil Tigers are properly listed by Canada and the US as terrorists.
The muslim suicide bombers are copying a Tamil Tigers invention.
The Grits saw them as just another Liberal Party supporting ethnic special interest group.
Not going to defend the LTTE, but I will point out that the government of Sri Lanka is really no better at all. Sri Lanka used to be the #2 country in the world for "disappeared persons"... behind who? Saddam Hussein's Iraq. I guess they are #1 now.
Asylum. The Sri Lankan government is widely known for its use of torture, rape, and terrorism against its rebellious Tamil population, thus it is very easy for a Tamil to get asylum in the western world. We have lots of Tamils here in the US, too, although Canada's laws have long been far more permissive.
Then clean up your own back yard.
I know a Sri Lankan who has been disgusted for years about the amount of "fund raising" going on within the North American Tamil community.
It is the Tamils who invented suicide bombing, with a focus on utilizing children.
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