Canada’s first Sikh MP denies supporting Tamil Tigers

TORONTO - Even as Canadians continue to protest the arrival last week in Vancouver of a ship carrying about 500 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers, Canada’s first Sikh MP Gurbax Singh Malhi has been dragged into the divisive issue for his alleged support for the Tamil Tigers.

The six-times MP is angry after a columnist in the Toronto Sun named him for his alleged support for the Tamil Tigers.

“Why are we pretending these Tamils are refugees, when even the bleeding hearts at the UN don’t? Let’s ask Gurbax Singh Malhi, a Liberal MP who spoke at a Tamil Tiger rally on Parliament Hill (Canada’s parliament) last March, surrounded by the terrorist group’s flags and portraits of Prabhakaran,” columnist Ezra Levant wrote, indicting the longest serving Indo-Canadian MP.

“You are here today for a great cause. I am helping you guys, I am behind you because you’re fighting for the right cause,” the columnist quoted the Sikh MP as telling Tamil protesters who were demanding Canadian intervention to stop Sri Lankan assault on the LTTE just before it was destroyed in May 2009.

The columnist said the MP stood in a sea of Tamil Tiger flags and listened as protesters chanted “Tamil Tiger, freedom fighter.”

Reacting to the allegations, the Sikh MP said the columnist has misrepresented “the facts in suggesting that I support the Tamil Tigers, when my allegiance is to the protection of human rights of individuals around the world.”

Clarifying his position in a letter to the editor, Malhi said he has spoken out against human rights violations wherever they have occurred around the world. He said “the event at which I was present and that is mentioned in the column was actually a Tamil-Canadian community rally.”

According to the paper when Malhi was reminded about his statements at the time of the protest, he issued a statement, saying, “I deeply regret that my attendance at this rally was misunderstood by some as a demonstration of my support (expressed or implied) of terror, or of a terrorist organization. There is no excuse for terrorism and attacks on civilians, and the world has to show its concern for the protection of the civilian population.”

Malhi, who in 1993 became the first turbaned Sikh to be elected as an MP in the western world, has represented the Indian-dominant constituency of Bramalea-Gore-Malton on the outskirts of Toronto since then.

The arrival of the Thai ship “MV Sun Sea” with 490 Tamil asylum seekers has angered Canadians, with calls for sending them back. Each person reportedly paid $40,000-$50,000 to make the voyage to Canada, according to the local media.

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)