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A previous regime knowing this inadequacy on the part of our envoys even went to the extent of giving postings to reputed journalists to undertake this task. How far this project has succeeded is anybody s guess.

Suffice it to state that the Tiger lobby has grown over the years and is virtually operating unchallenged due chiefly to the lethargy and inefficiency of some of our overseas envoys.

It is this state of affairs that prompted President Mahinda Rajapaksa to summon our diplomats and prevail on them the need to fight Tiger propaganda effectively in the host countries.

This is not to denigrate the good work done by some of our ambassadors which needs to be recognised. But it just happened that the Tiger lobby was more powerful buttressed by the fact that some Western nations wrongly perceived them as the aggrieved party.

It is this notion that we have failed to dispel over the years and which will continue to dog us unless professionally tackled. This needs specific skills which may not be in the domain of the average diplomat.

This is where the Government should try to engage those with a proven track record and those who would be able to mount a sustained campaign against the LTTE.

They need not be career diplomats as proved by the master stroke dealt recently by our envoy in Italy in getting some hard core LTTEers operating in that country arrested. It is such proactive measures that are called for.

We are certain that the Ambassador designate to the US with his impeccable credentials would be able to set the record straight on the position of the Government vis-a-vis the LTTE as distinct from the ordinary peace loving Tamils.

His call for a better effort on the part of our overseas envoys to promote Sri Lanka in the fields of trade, commerce and tourism too should be paid heed to. In this regard it would be ideal that professionals or career diplomats be posted to important world capitals who would possess the talent and acumen to secure the best terms for the country.

More often than not we see misfits occupying these positions that brings no dividends to the country. A classic example is a member of a former first family who was posted to a Western capital.

The man was found lying on a billiards table in a highly inebriated state following an embassy cocktail.

Such conduct certainly would not bring any credit to the country. What is needed is a radical change in our diplomatic structure to cater to the new challenges in the international order. These should be incorporated in the various courses for students in the foreign service.

The Government should also consider employing good foreign PR firms to promote Sri Lanka in spheres of trade, tourism etc in addition to efforts of our diplomats. The results could prove cost beneficial on the long term

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/07/07/national-post-editorial-board-terror-friendly-tamils-on-parade.aspx

National Post Editorial Board: Terror-friendly Tamils on parade
Posted: July 07, 2008, 6:01 PM by Yoni Goldstein
Editorial board

It s the sort of sight that too often makes Canadian politicians go weak in the spine: ethnic voters rallying for a parochial, unsavoury cause.

Over the weekend, thousands of Tamil Canadians gathered in a Toronto park to denounce Ottawa s decision to outlaw the World Tamil Movement (WTM), which the RCMP believes is nothing but a fundraising front for the Tamil Tigers, a Sri Lankan-based terrorist group that has been outlawed in Canada since 2006.

Even by the standards of terrorist insurgencies, the Tigers are a brutal organization a creepy cult-like outfit that habitually engages in massacres of civilians, and abducts children to fight on the front lines of its 25-year-old campaign against Sri Lanka s government. Its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, can fairly be described as the Hassan Nasrallah of South Asia.

Since much of the funding that enables the Tigers to fight their war comes from expatriate Tamils, the stakes in Canada are high. This nation is home to several hundred thousand Sri Lankan migrants of Tamil extraction. Many of them, small business owners in particular, have in the past been strong-armed by Tamil thugs into contributing war funds for the Tigers. (Those same entrepreneurs reportedly were told to shutter their stores over the weekend to ensure a better turnout at the rally.) Should the Tories give in to the pro-Tiger lobby by legalizing the group, they would reopen the financial floodgates, which would in turn result in more weaponry for the Tigers, and therefore more dead Sri Lankans.

Since 1984, the Tigers have dispatched nearly 400 suicide bombers. The Black Tigers the Tamils suicide-bombing wing is not particular about whom it presses into service. Men, women and children are all seen as potential human bombs.

Last year, a female suicide bomber walked into Sri Lanka s defence headquarters pretending to be pregnant. But her tummy bulge in fact contained explosives. She missed killing the Sri Lankan chief of staff, but managed to take out 11 others. Just last month, in two separate attacks, Black Tiger bombers killed 27 passengers on civilian buses. This is the sort of cowardly tactic commonly employed by the men and women who were hailed as freedom fighters from the podium at last weekend s Toronto rally.

But over the last four months, the Tamils have suffered serious military losses. They have been largely expelled from their strongholds on the country s east coast, while some of their bases and arms depots in the north have been overrun by government forces. One of their senior commanders was sniped by a government rifleman. And over the weekend, 40 Tigers died when Sri Lankan soldiers captured an LTTE operations centre, perhaps their largest.

A contributing factor to the Tigers poor battlefield performance may be traced to Canada s own government: As Canada, and other nations, have worked harder to shut off the flow of money to the Tigers from inside Western nations, Colombo has been able to establish a decisive advantage for the first time in a decade or more. Stephen Harper and his Conservatives should be proud that they took a stand against Tiger fund-raising. The Liberals, under both Jean Chr tien and Paul Martin, never had the political courage to stand up to Toronto-based Tamil voters. In some cases, Liberal glad-handers even showed up at Tiger-friendly events.

It is a shameful legacy, one that implicated every Liberal Cabinet member of the era including several who loved to speechify against terrorism in other parts of the world. But Mr. Harper is cut from different cloth.

Canada has always been a nation of immigrants, one that welcomes newcomers from all over the world. But traditionally, the price of admission was that newcomers left their murderous old-world disputes at the door. In recent years, we have forgotten to charge this fee. The result: disgraceful displays such as last weekend s rally in which a group of Canadians unashamedly shouted slogans in support of a terrorist group.

It is enough to give multiculturalism a bad name.

The Liberals, under both Jean Chr tien and Paul Martin, never had the political courage to stand up to Toronto-based Tamil voters. In some cases, Liberal glad-handers even showed up at Tiger-friendly events.

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