Insight By Sunil Kumar

Jan.23rd 2011
Canada needs to be commended for the no nonsense stand taken against terrorism and certain organizations which front them and perhaps other countries which harbour such organizations through indifference or perhaps inadmissable vested interests should pay attention to the importance of Canada’s stand.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ever since the Administration of the Hon. Mr. Stephen Harper was elected into office his team of ministers with the Hon.Mr. Stockwell Day an outspoken campaigner against terrorism at the fore has hounded the Tami Tiger cells and their supportives until they were outlawed and not tolerated in Canada so much so they had to go underground and despite the resilience of the Tiger supportives who have not given up their worthless as well as futile dream of Tamil secession in Sri Lanka and continue their clandestine and surreptitious operations through fronts for the defunct terror group.

However the Canadian Law Enforcement Agencies are onto them.They have never let up monitoring such activities linked to the Tigers as they pursue them relentlessly and the latest reports from Canada indicate they are getting tougher!

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As reported in the National Post Newspaper A pair of Canadian non-profit organizations, according to the intelligence reports of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have raised millions of dollars for Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Tamil Tigers rebels and have been ordered to forfeit all their belongings to the Federal Government,

truly a body blow to the terrorist supportives and sends out a clear warning to others with similar ambitions that Canada will not tolerate them!.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ According to the Federal Court ruling the property of the World Tamil Movement of Ontario and the World Tamil Movement of Quebec was owned or controlled by a terrorist organization and therefore had to be forfeited.It has also been reported that this ruling has initiated the official end of the WTM, which was formed in 1986 and provably

linked with the Tamil Tiger insurgency in Sri Lanka. It also coincides with another nine-year long RCMP investigation that did not result in criminal charges as the accused managed to wangle through legal implications with the aid of their solicitors and probable loopholes in the Canadian Justice System but hopefully not for long as their days too seem numbered and as the saying goes “The Mounties Always get Their Man!” and the System being re-vamped to accomodate and incorporate tougher laws .

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ RCMP Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud has said very assertively and in no uncertain terms that ” We still view this as a very positive ending in the sense that we did disrupt activities of terrorist financing in Canada, so thatƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s important to us,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ something which terrorist supportives in Canada and around the world should be aware of and other nations tolerating terrorist fronts should also be aware of as it is of paramount importance that these fronts are dismantled and hounded out of existence to make the world safer.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Although the WTM has ceased to function, Assistant Comm. Michaud, head of National Security Criminal Investigations, said the Tamil Tigers are still a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-group of interestƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ for RCMP counter-terrorism investigators.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-They do remain a focus because we do have concerns about whether theyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢re going to regroup and what their modus operandi might be if so whether linked to violence or politics.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Neither the Ontario nor Quebec WTM branches contested the forfeiture of their property perhaps realising the futility as well as an admission of their liability to what should really be viewed as criminal activity and a violation of Canadian Law for which they should have been served with greater punitive action and seem to have got away lightly.

The court injunctions against them however make The Canadian Government

the new owner of the WTM headquarters building in Montreal, several bank accounts, cash, and thousands of propaganda items, many of them bearing the emblem of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Newspaper report courtesy of National Post’s Features Editor Mr. Stuart Bell as

quoted entails the following comments by the Canadian Government and also lists items seized by police which includes boxes of LTTE flags, 20 t-shirts with the LTTE logo, 67 posters of LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham, 5 garbage bags with the LTTE logo and calendars, watches and posters featuring images of rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

What the government will do with it eventually has not been finalised although the court has said that the materials were ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-to be disposed of as the Attorney General directs or otherwise dealt with in accordance with the law.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ For now, the forfeited items are being stored in Government storage facilities in Ontario.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This decision by the Federal Court attests to positive efforts to disrupt terrorist activity in Canada which is having its desired affect according to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and his office who have praised this decision.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Further related details published in the National Post and outlined as follows

indicate that the investigation began in 2002, when the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in Ontario launched what it called Project Osaluki. The following year, a similar probe called Project Crible began in Montreal. The Canada Border Services Agency and Royal Malaysian Police Force were also involved.

Police kept WTM activists under surveillance as they organized rallies in Canadian cities and traveled to Sri Lanka to meet the leadership of the Tamil Tigers. Some of the Canadian activists were photographed holding heavy weapons.

During an interview with RCMP officers in 2004, Mariyathas Manuel admitted the leader of the Tamil Tigers had personally chosen him to run the WTM office in Toronto. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-They are fighting, so we are supporting them,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ he said, according to a transcript filed in court.

In 2006, police raided the WTM offices in Toronto and Montreal, hauling away so much paraphernalia and documentation that investigators had to rent a moving truck. It took years to translate and analyze the seized evidence.

A forensic audit found that the WTM was running a pre-authorized payment program that withdrew monthly sums from the bank accounts of Canadians. The WTM took in up to $763,000 a year using the scheme. Most of the donors took part voluntarily but police also interviewed witnesses who said they were coerced or pressured into participating.

In addition, the WTM made money through bake sales, car washes, newspaper sales, merchandise sales and festivals. The RCMP traced more than $3-million that was forwarded from WTM bank accounts to overseas accounts. Most of the money went to a Malaysian account the RCMP said was linked to the rebels.

In addition, police found letters signed by rebel leaders in Sri Lanka asking for money specifically for weapons. A password-protected disc found in the WTM office in Toronto contained a document named Armscost that listed the prices of various military items needed by the rebels, including anti-aircraft missiles and artillery.

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-In Canada, the WTM is the main front organization for the LTTE,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ RCMP Corporal Steve Dubreuil wrote in an affidavit released by the court on Friday. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The WTM is an integral part of the LTTE strategy to raise funds for rearmament and to gain legitimacy as the sole representative of the Tamil people in the international community. Through the WTM, the leadership of the LTTE is influencing events within the Tamil Canadian community and exerting influence over their activities.

In the face of all this what the Canadian authorities have set in place is a huge accomplishment towards eliminating world terrorism and in particular the Tami Tiger residue which seems to be continuing to pollute the global environment even marginally and all kudos to Canada for the effort and may the rest of the world emulate Canada!