Pro-LTTE Canadian MP detained at Sri Lanka

by Aloy Perera, a freelance writer based in Toronto writing from Colombo, Sri Lanka

Bob Rae has gone down in history as the man who destroyed whatever was left in Canadian Socialism and the Ontario New Democratic Party and as one who performed an unprecedented act of perfidy and betrayal throwing to dogs the lofty ideals he cherished in his Oxford days as a Rhodes Scholar by joining the Liberals thus becoming a national disgrace. This rolling stone of a politician could not hide his ultimate goal/motive of becoming the PM of Canada (by default) when he frantically tried to block (his own leader) Michael Ignetief not so very long ago.

The bottom line is that this man is a very selfish politician who thinks only of himself and uses all others, including the Tamil Diaspora in Canada and Sri Lanka to achieve his own personal greed for self-aggrandizement.

Always and invariably he advocated that LTTE was the sole representative of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka despite mounting evidence to the contrary which he deliberately ignored. He treated the LTTE as an alternative government and wanted Sri Lanka to negotiate with this ruthless terrorist group - as equals. Having followed his carefully calculated self serving moves in the past, I could clearly see that like many others in the West he could not stomack the ignominious defeat of the LTTE which he personally regarded with great respect. It is no secret that he was lavishly entertained and showered with tokens and gifts by the surrogates of the LTTE in Toronto.. Probably, by his greed to be in the limelight made him turn a blind eye to something that was so blatantly clear!.

Departing Canadian MP Bob Rae has this to say

June 10, 2009  05:47 pm

Making a personal statement, Canadian Parliamentarian Bob Rae, who was refused entry into Sri Lankalast night (June 9) says that he had ‘successfully applied to the Sri Lankan High Commission for a visa and had discussed my visit with the Sri Lankan Commissioner, the Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, and with officials from DFAIT’.

 

In addition Mr. Rae concludes, “What they now also know is that the government of Sri Lanka is afraid of dialogue, afraid of discussion, afraid of engagement. All I can say is shame on them. If this is how they treat me, imagine how they treat people who can’t speak out and who can’t make public statements.

 

I shall have more to say on my return to Canada.”

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Canadian Liberal Party member Bob Rae has been deported to Canada a short while ago, Controller General of Immigration and Emigration P.B. Abeykoon said. He added that the decision to deport Mr. Rae was based on a Government Intelligence report, which led the immigration authorities to detain him for few hours on his arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport.

 

Bob Rae is a Member of Parliament of the Liberal Party of Canada which is the opposition in parliament, and he has been accused of being pro-LTTE while the Government of Canada has listed the LTTE as a terrorist organisation.

 

He is from the greater Torontoarea where the bulk of the Tamil voters sympathetic towards the LTTE live, and from where tens of thousands of Tamils waving the LTTE flag and carrying pictures of Prabhakaran have been demonstrating both in Ottawaand Toronto.

 

Furthermore, as Rae is the current foreign affairs critic in parliament he will use information from this visit to harass the government of Canada which would likely be detrimental to Canada-Sri Lanka relations.

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Staunch pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Canadian parliamentarian Bob Rae who arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport at 11.30 last night with a one-way ticket has been detained and is to be deported soon, say Immigration and Defence sources. Bob Rae had hit out at Sri Lanka while speaking in the Canadian Parliament recently and accused the Sri Lankan government of carrying out genocide against the Tamils and killing of innocent civilians. Not stopping at that, he had demanded that Sri Lankashould be banned from the Commonwealth of Nationsas well. With his well known pro Tiger stance and his possessing only a one way ticket raises serious doubts of his intentions in the island, say officials.