CANADIAN TORIES SAY THEY WOULD NOT TALK WITH TAMIL TIGERS BUT THEY ARE PREPARED TO TALK TO OTHER TAMIL LEADERS
Posted on May 12th, 2009

By Walter Jayawardhana

The Tory party who are in power in Canada have repeatedly refused to meet any representatives connected with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to discuss ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the situation in Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The Canadian government is concerned about the humanitarian crisis Tamils face in Sri Lanka but officials are not prepared to meet with anyone who might represent the terrorist group Tamil Tigers,” Bev Oda a cabinet minister who recently visited Sri Lanka was quoted having said.

A news website said, Bev Oda, the federal Minister of International Co-operation,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  said that she visited Sri Lanka last week and was “frustrated” by what she saw there.

“I think right now we’ve got to pay attention to the humanitarian crisis. Right now it’s dire and we have to try and continue asking for a ceasefire,” she told CTV’s Canada AM in a televised interview from Ottawa , the website further said.

She said the government “shares the concerns” of Tamils living in Canada and is prepared to meet with local community leaders other than LTTE related ones.

According to what she told in Parliament ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ on Monday afternoon, she was concerned when she saw the number of flags depicting the Tamil Tigers logo at several protests that have taken place across the country.

She repeated her concern Tuesday morning.

“Our government is prepared to meet with the Tamil community in Canada to share their concerns but we are not prepared to meet with those who represent a terrorist organization,” she said, referring to theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ LTTE.

OneƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Tamil protester told The Canadian Press the government is trying to use the flag to distract the public from their inaction towards the crisis in Sri Lanka.

The red flags in questions feature a tiger jumping through a ring of fire under two crossed rifles, the official flag of the banned terrorist group which they used in the occupied areas in Sri Lanka , before their administration fell in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka.

But apparently telling lies the LTTE representatives in Canada ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ stated the flags are a symbol of the Tamil Eelam movement, not the Tamil Tigers. No other Tamil group uses the flags.

LTTE supporters have indicated that they would not stop blocking roads to protest like they blocked the Expressway days ago, creatingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a general anger over their activities.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

On Sunday, hundreds of Tamils overtook the Gardiner Expressway, a major thoroughfare in Toronto, and halted traffic for about six hours much to the ire of commuters, police and politicians who all deemed the move “unlawful.”

The Tamil community refused to apologize for the protest and some have said that more traffic disruptions are a possibility. But many have warned that such acts would heavily erode even the little support they have got in Canada left.(

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