Boat people heading to B.C. are not terrorists

Guest commentary
By Satheesan Kumaaran

Tarnishing the image of genuine asylum seekers, with the same brush used to expose terrorists, is just a ploy to reject them, with no consideration of their dire situation as persecuted persons. After spending weeks on the high seas, facing the dangers of such perilous travel on the oceans, in search of protection to try to escape persecution and oppression in their own states, the Tamils flee Sri Lanka.
However, the host countries tend to reject these genuine refugees, branding them as terrorists. This is a shame to humanity.
The so-called defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 has created an exodus of refugees from the shores of Sri Lanka.  The Tamils, who have been held in detention centers with fist-tight security of the Sri Lankan armed forces with daily tortures and denial of fundamental rights, have been escaping the centers to seek protection.
Despite the UN agencies’ reports about the state of the Tamil civilians on the island, some members of the international community refuse to hear of their plight.
Since 1983, Tamil refugees have been seeking new homes to protect their lives and that of their families in foreign climates. It is common knowledge that during the last months of the Sri Lankan war against the LTTE, at least 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed while more than 300,000 Tamils were incarcerated, some still with no homes to go to.
At least 10,000 suspected LTTE militants were summarily executed.
Tamils would not have risked their lives in the seas if they were allowed to live in peace with freedom in their homeland.  They have no choice but to seek out western countries, so that they can experience equality and freedom.  These people are genuine asylum seekers. 
An episode that began last October gave a real headache to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, when 76 Tamil civilians arrived off the coast of Vancouver, in the province of British Columbia.
Canada fears that they will have to face a dilemma of another 200 or more Tamils who have been sailing towards Vancouver.
The Conservative Party, led by Harper, has been maintaining anti-Tamil sentiments for quite some time, especially because they were using the Tamil plight as a political tool to discredit the Liberals. 
Harper, Stockwell Day, and senior Conservatives, were openly tarnishing the image of the Tamils as terrorists.  They went on to claim that over 8,000 trained Tamil Tigers were operating out of Canadian soil.  After the Conservatives came to power, they toned down their past claims.  However, they continued their quasi anti-Tamil sentiments. 
The key question now is whether the asylum seekers heading for Canada are members of the LTTE. 
Some of the leading international officials, including the UN’s former envoy to Sri Lanka, Gordon Weiss, have flatly denied the allegation that the refugees are terrorists saying this is nothing but an excuse to turn down their claims for genuine refugee status. 
Despite the claims of the leading experts, the Sri Lankan government has been trying to tarnish the image of Tamils as terrorists, just as they did at the peak of the war with the LTTE. 
The situation for the Tamils in Sri Lanka is dismal. Reports of murders and kidnappings are on the rise.  Unidentified gunmen shoot and kill civilians without any arrest by the law enforcement agencies.
The irony is that the Sri Lankan government, which does not allow the Tamils to live in peace in their homeland, keep hounding them to countries that would allow them refuge.
Thanks to the Sri Lankan government, persecution of the Tamils follows them wherever they go.

The above is an edited version of a submission by the author who can be reached at: [email protected]