Lankan origin candidate claims he had no sympathy for terrorists
April 19, 2011 07:21 am
“We asked, and he said no.” That’s how the Canadian federal Conservatives screened candidate Gavan Paranchothy for any sympathies to the Tamil Tigers, who were listed as a terrorist group by Stephen Harper’s government in 2006.
Mr. Harper faced questions about Mr. Paranchothy during a Quebec campaign stop
Thursday, after The Globe and Mail reported that the Scarborough-Southwest
candidate hosted a televised tribute to the Tigers last fall.
The Conservative Leader affirmed the party’s stand against the Tigers, but did
not answer when asked how Mr. Paranchothy became a candidate or whether he
would remain one. Mr. Harper’s spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, said Mr. Paranchothy
cleared pre-nomination screening.
“Prior to becoming a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada, he had to
make it crystal clear – and he did – that he had no support or sympathy for the
Tamil Tigers,” Mr. Soudas said.
Last November, Mr. Paranchothy hosted a sombre TV special to mark Heroes Day,
an annual commemoration of dead Tiger fighters, whom he called “strong and
faithful people who stood guard for the Tamils, fought for freedom and peace.”
The Tamil Tigers became infamous for using suicide bombings, child soldiers and
political killings during their 26-year war for a separate Tamil state in Sri
Lanka, which ended in their defeat in May, 2009.
Mr. Paranchothy, well-known to his broadcast audience as Ragavan, changed his
first name to Gavan for the election, and removed all references to his Tamil
background from campaign materials after he was nominated March 12.
He cancelled a news conference scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, but later issued
a written statement: “A recent media story has made insinuations that I am a
supporter or sympathizer of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),” or
Tamil Tigers. “I must make clear that it is not true and that I absolutely
condemn terrorists and terrorism.”
The candidate said “these insinuations are based on my work as a journalist,”
and went on to name politicians he has interviewed, including several Liberals.
“As a journalist, I had every right to interview whoever I wanted,” the
statement said, adding that “when Robert Fisk interviewed Osama bin Laden, or
when Christopher Hitchens interviewed Abu Nidal, nobody accused them of being
terrorists themselves.”
The statement does not mention Mr. Paranchothy’s extensive activities outside
of journalism. He is a Tamil community contact for politicians, was identified
as a spokesman for organizers of a Tamil protest in 2009, and served as
director of public relations and community development at the stations where he
worked as a journalist.
He has said in past interviews that the stations – Tamil Vision International
television and its affiliate, Canadian Multicultural Radio – cater to the Tamil
community and therefore “can’t come out and be very critical” of the Tigers,
South Asia Mail reports.