The Ceylon News

The Sri Lankan envoy here has created a stir by warning Canadian MPs against sympathising with the Tamil Tigers.

By sympathising with the Tamil Tigers who had carried out many suicide bombings, the envoy said, Canadians were putting themselves at risk of terrorism.

''I have told police officers here, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a suicide bomber here in Canada. Those who sleep with tigers will be swallowed by the tiger,'' Sri Lankan consul general Bandula Jayasekara was quoted as saying in the local media on Friday.

Reminding the lawmakers that Toronto had been turned into an important source of money for the Tamil Tigers, the envoy said, ''So those who sleep with terrorists will have to die with terrorists.''

The envoy was reacting to the use of the word ''genocide'' by some Canadian MPs during an emergency debate in Parliament on the Sri Lanka crisis on Wednesday night.

He said Canadian politicians were playing ''low politics'' with the internal affairs of his nation.

Since Sri Lankan Tamils form a huge chunk of votes in their constituencies, Jayasekara said some Canadian '' politicians are pandering to their constituency, and they have no right to accuse another sovereign nation.''

He said, ''These politicians just read out from the press releases issued by terrorists and terrorist sympathisers, and these politicians have no right to try to insult another sovereign nation.''

Despite the Canadian ban on the LTTE, he said Liberal Party MPs were attending Tamil Tigers functions.