Skip to main content

Canadian PM under attack over candidate’s alleged Tamil Tiger links

OTTAWA - Canadian Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper was put on the defensive Thursday after media reported that one of his party’s candidates for parliament had hosted a televised tribute to the Tamil Tigers, an organization banned in Canada as a terrorist group.

Harper told reporters his Conservative Party holds “a strong position against the Tamil Tigers.” His government banned the Tamil Tigers in 2006, despite days of protests by Tamil immigrants in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, and Toronto, the country’s largest city.

Their aid agency, the World Tamil Movement, was suppressed in 2008.

Still, federal police and security agencies claim the Tamil Tigers raise money in Canada and smuggling rings bring wanted Tamil terrorists to Canada.

The controversy arose Thursday morning after the daily Globe and Mail reported that Conservative candidate Gavan Paranchothy, a broadcaster, had hosted a pro-Tamil Tiger television show last November.

Paranchothy, who traveled with Harper to South Asia in 2009, is running for the House of Commons in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, which has a large Tamil population.

“Our position on the Tamil Tigers has been strong and unequivocal,” Harper told reporters at a press conference near Quebec City in French-speaking Quebec province. “This is the party that listed the Tamil Tigers (as a terrorist group); previous governments have refused to do so, and our position on that is not going to change.”

Paranchothy had hosted a television special to celebrate Tamil Tigers’ Heroes Day, an annual commemoration of Tamils who were killed in the Sri Lankan civil war.

According to the Globe and Mail, Parachothy referred to the militants as “strong and faithful people who stood guard for the Tamils, fought for freedom and peace.”

The show was broadcast on Tamil Vision International satellite TV and on a multi-cultural radio station in Canada. No charges were laid in connection with the broadcast then.

Parachothy won the Conservative nomination for Scarborough in March.

Dimitri Soudas, spokesman for Harper, said Paranchothy “was asked, and confirmed with the Conservative Party, that he in no way, shape or form was a sympathizer or supporter of the Tamil Tigers” before he was nominated. “If that had been the case ... he would not have been a candidate,” Soudas said. (Xinhua)
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wasn't it Gavan Paranchothy, who was until recently Ragavan Paranchothy, the Canadian that KP, the Tamil Tiger Selvarajah Pathmanathan was speaking to on the phone when he was picked up from a Kauala Lumpur hotel and whisked back to Sri Lanka and is now under the custody of the Sri Lankan Government? Didn't KP run the Tamil Tiger arms and narcotics smuggling operations and wasn't he the international arms dealer providing arms for the Eelam War and ace racketeer?
April 16, 2011 at 5:07 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In abrupt turnaround, Olympus admits it hid losses

Japan's Olympus admitted on Tuesday it hid losses on securities investments dating back two decades, bowing to weeks of pressure to explain a series of baffling transactions that have put the future of the firm in doubt. The revelations by the 92-year-old company appear to vindicate ex-CEO Michael Woodford, who has staged a campaign since being sacked on October 14 to force the firm to come clean on nearly $1.5 billion in questionable payments. Olympus President Shuichi Takayama blamed Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who quit as president and chairman on October 26, Vice-President Hisashi Mori and internal auditor Hideo Yamada for the cover-up, saying he would consider criminal complaints against them. The admission after weeks of denials shocked investors, sending shares in the endoscope and camera maker skidding almost 30 percent and prompting the biggest non-Japanese shareholder to demand the replacement of the entire board. "Ignorance is no defense," said Jo...
Post a Comment
Read more

GL SLAMS ‘COLONIAL’ RIGHTS GROUPS

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris rejected “colonial” criticism Tuesday of a government-appointed civil war probe, after foreign rights groups snubbed an invitation to attend. New York-based Human Rights Watch, London-based Amnesty International and Brussels-based International Crisis Group last week accused the panel of a cover-up and refused an offer from Colombo to appear before it. Peiris said in a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a leading think-tank based in London, that the rights groups had displayed a “most unattractive attitude.” “It smacks of an attitude that is almost colonial, patronising and condescending, the assumption being that other people must step in because Sri Lankans are unable to chart a course for their own future,” he said. Peiris, who is in London for talks with the British government, said the LLRC was based on similar reconciliation commissions in countries such as South Africa. He urged rights groups and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

IRRESPONSIBLE TALK BY MEMBERS COST UNP ITS VOTERS, SAYS SAJITH

The voters have distanced themselves from the United National Party (UNP) because several members had demeaned the military victories during the recently concluded war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said Hambantota District parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa. Former President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s son, Sajith was addressing a meeting at Gurutalawa at the Yatinuwara electorate in Kandy last evening to raise awareness on his Jathika Jeewaya Programme. Mr. Premadasa launched this programme within three electorates in the Gampaha District last week as well. Adding further, Sajith Pramadasa said the UNP suffered erosion in its support as some had uttered irresponsible comments when the Sri Lankan armed forces were gaining victory after victory in the fight against the LTTE. When the Army captured Thoppigala, some in the UNP had said that Thoppigala was only a jungle, while some had accused the then government and the military of claiming to be advancing towards Kilinochc...
Post a Comment
Read more