Ira de Silva London,Canada

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:52:33 -0400

The Editor
The Star
Toronto, Ontario

Dear Sir:
Re: Editorial – Close the Camps

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ These so-called refugees are reported to have paid $45,000 to human smugglers to bring them to Canada. Those in the camps do not have that kind of money, they are mostly farmers etc. If these Tamils are from the camps they must have been provided with this money. The question is who gave it to them and why. The possible answer is that it has been provided by the LTTE front organizations overseas who have millions of dollars collected to support the Tamil terrorists in Sri Lanka and who are now using this money to get their fighters out of the camps before they are identified as the murderers who terrorised the population.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The answer is not to close the camps but to speed up the identification of the LTTE terrorists who are in the camps. As for a return to normalcy, it has been only five months since the LTTE hierarchy was eliminated. Thousands of LTTE cadres are still in Sri Lanka because it was only the leadership that was eliminated in May so this exodus is probably to escape detection. These are not genuine refugees and should not be treated as such – they have a lot of money, have come to Canada because of lax immigration laws and the support they get from the front organizations of the LTTE in Canada whose leaders have rushed to Vancouver to be on hand to assist their entry into Canada.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is ironic that Sri Lanka should be pressured to hasten resettlement while the UN states that the landmines have to be cleared, habitation as well as the means for the displaced people to rebuild their lives has to be provided BEFORE they leave the camps. Even in Bosnia long after the war waged by the west, they are still clearing land mines. However to clear the many thousands of landmines buried by the LTTE the west wants Sri Lanka to do it in four months. Would these people be able to live “normal lives” if they are sent into minefields? Maybe the west considers that to face the possibility of been blown to bits is better than being in camps where they are safe, fed, and where children go to school etc. These same critics forget that before coming to the camps these people were forced from their homes by the LTTE and lived in bunkers with the LTTE for nearly two years.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is those who have money, who are economic refugees that come to Canada from Sri Lanka. It is a repeat of the episode twenty years ago on the east coast when so-called refugees dressed in the latest designer clothes arrived and were later found to have lied to enter Canada. In the case of these Tamils, the LTTE front organizations would be only too happy to have 76 more to demonstrate on the streets all paid for by the Canadian tax payer and fully supported by The Star.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Yours truly,

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ira de Silva
London,Canada