Tamil Tigers outlawed -
Group added to Canada's terror list
The Tamil Tigers have been added to Canada's list of outlawed
terrorist organizations, the National Post has learned.
The designation was to be finalized yesterday, a day after Cabinet
met to accept a recommendation from the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service.
An official announcement was scheduled for Monday.
The Tigers are the 39th terrorist group to be outlawed under the
Anti-Terrorism Act, and the first added to the list by the new
Conservative government.
The move was spearheaded by Stockwell Day, the Minister of Public
Safety, who in opposition repeatedly condemned the Liberals for not
outlawing the Tigers.
The decision means it will now be a criminal offence to participate in
the activities of the Tamil Tigers, formally known as the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, a Sri Lankan separatist group
responsible for more than 160 suicide bombings. For example,
anyone convicted of financially supporting the Tigers could be
imprisoned for up to 10 years.
But while the Tigers were placed on the list, the government stopped
short of listing any of the terrorist group's Canadian front
organizations.
The Cabinet order will likely have implications both at home and
abroad. It will criminalize the Tiger "war taxes" that have long been
paid -- both voluntarily and involuntarily -- by some Tamil-Canadians.
Also, Canada has the world's largest Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora,
estimated at 250,000, and the listing could deal a blow to the Tigers,
who are heavily dependent on Canadian and other foreign donors.
"It is estimated that between one and two million dollars are raised
annually in Canada, making it one of the largest contributors of funds
to the LTTE worldwide," according to a classified CSIS report
circulated in 2000. "The LTTE has traditionally raised these monies
through the use of fronts groups."
The Tigers were formed in the 1980s to fight for an independent
homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority, but the guerrilla group
quickly embraced terrorist tactics.
Buses, trains and office buildings were bombed by the LTTE's suicide
squad, the Black Tigers. The LTTE is considered one of the world's
leading practitioners of suicide terrorism, and has assassinated
scores of political opponents, among them the late Indian Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Peace talks and a ceasefire have been faltering in recent months, as
the idyllic island nation off India's southern tip has tumbled back into
ethnic warfare that has already cost more than 60,000 lives.
Last month, Human Rights Watch reported that LTTE supporters had
been going door to door in Toronto since late 2005 extorting money
from Tamil-Canadians to finance a "final war" for independence.
Although the Tigers are one of the most active terrorist groups in
Canada, the Liberals had refused to outlaw their activities, some say
because the party was afraid of angering Tamil-Canadian voters in
Toronto.
The situation had proved frustrating for the RCMP, CSIS and local
police forces, which have long been investigating the Tigers'
Canadian fundraising and support networks.
During the federal election campaign, the Conservatives promised to
add the Tigers to Canada's official list of terrorist groups, and they
fulfilled their pledge yesterday.
No other terrorist groups are being added to the list at this time.
The decision is part of a hardening of Canada's counterterrorism
policies that has been underway since the Conservatives took office.
Last week, the government also severed ties with the Palestinian
Authority over the refusal of Hamas to moderate its platform.
The Canadian terrorist list was last updated on May, 24, 2005, when
the Iranian Mujahedin-e Khalq, the Jewish extremist group KACH and
Afghan warlord Gulbudin Hekmatyar were added.
Canada's closest intelligence allies, the United States and Britain,
long ago placed the Tamil Tigers on their lists of designated terrorist
groups, but the Liberal government resisted.
On three separate occasions, CSIS asked the Cabinet to list the
Tigers, most recently a year ago, but the Liberals would not do so,
saying they did not want to interfere with Sri Lanka's peace process.
The former Canadian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Martin Collacott, said
the previous government's refusal to outlaw the Tigers left the LTTE
relatively free to operate in Canada. He said that has actually
hindered peace efforts.
"Once Canada designates the Tigers as terrorists and clamps down
on their fundraising, they are much more likely to enter into serious
negotiations with Colombo," he said.
He said the Liberal position that banning the Tigers would hurt peace
efforts was based on partisan political considerations.
"The Tigers and their supporters in Canada and particularly Toronto
had become adept at delivering votes from the Tamil community to
Liberal candidates at election time," he said.
"And, as long as this support continued, the Liberals were prepared to
let the Tigers have virtual free rein to carry out their activities in this
country."
The decision brings federal counterterrorism policy in line with the
Federal Court of Canada, which has already ruled that the Tamil
Tigers qualify as a terrorist group.
The Anti-Terrorism Act allows Cabinet to designate not only terrorist
groups but also the front organizations that support them, but none
are named in the latest listing.
CSIS has claimed that eight front organizations support the LTTE in
Canada, as well as several front companies that are used to harness
financial and political support for the civil war effort in Sri Lanka.
CANADA'S TERROR LIST
- Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
- Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG)
- Al Jihad (AJ)
- Al-Qaeda
- Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AAMB)
- Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (AGAI)
- Al-Ittihad Al-Islam (AIAI)
- Ansar al-Islam (AI)
- Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
- Asbat Al-Ansar ("The League of Partisans")
- Aum Shinrikyo
- Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC)
- Babbar Khalsa (BK)
- Babbar Khalsa International (BKI)
- Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN)
- Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA)
- Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)
- Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
- Hamas (Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamiya) ("Islamic Resistance
Movement")
- Harakat ul-Mudjahidin (HuM)
- Hezbollah
- International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)
- Islamic Army of Aden (IAA)
- Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
- Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)
- Jemaah Islamiyyah (JI)
- Kahane Chai (KACH)
- Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
- Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ)
- Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT)
- Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK)
- Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
- Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command
(PFLP-GC)
- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
- Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC)
- Sendero Luminoso (SL)
- Vanguards of Conquest (VOC)
[Courtesy: National Post]
