The government of Sri Lanka says it wants access to the men on board the migrant ship that was intercepted off B.C.’s coast because they have links to terrorism that has plagued the South Asian island nation for decades.

The Sunday Island newspaper, quoting a senior government spokesman, reported that representations had been made to the Canadian High Commission in Colombo for access to the 76 migrants on the ship, who are being processed through mandatory detention hearings before the Immigration and Refugee Board in Vancouver.

The hearings continue this week under a publication ban as Canadian Border Services Agency officers raise public security issues as reasons for further detention.

The migrants are being held at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge.

The Sunday Island said Sri Lanka is seeking access to the group of men following intelligence reports that some of them are members of the Tamil Tigers or LTTE.

“The suspected LTTE cadres, include some of those believed involved in the group’s clandestine shipping operations,” the paper said, adding the detainees can help Sri Lankan intelligence services track down remaining LTTE operatives based abroad.

During the three-decade civil war between the Tamil Tigers and government forces, the rebels ran an extensive international procurement operation that smuggled weapons and equipment to Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan conflict ended in May when government forces overran the rebels and killed their leaders.

Several ships of Sri Lankan migrants have since sailed for the West, some towards Australia and one to Canada.

Canadian officials believe the ship that arrived off the British Columbia coast last month is the Princess Easwary, a Cambodian-flagged vessel operated by a ghost company in the Philippines.

Government sources said that the Canadian government may find it difficult to allow Sri Lankan officials an opportunity to question suspects, though some of them could be hard-core terrorists. They said Sri Lanka could not ignore the fact that most of the 78 persons now in Canadian custody had boarded the vessel in Indian waters.

Responding to Sunday Island newspaper queries, government sources said there was irrefutable evidence that the vessel had been to India in August or September, several months after the final battle on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon where LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed.

India, too, should be involved in this investigation for several reasons, the sources said. The vessel could have carried LTTE cargo at the time it had entered Mumbai and then moved to a second port.

Sri Lanka had every right to seek access to persons held in Canada as there was absolutely no doubt of their involvement in terrorism, the sources told the Colombo-based newspaper.

Sri Lankan foreign ministry sources stressed the need for an international investigation to establish a possible link between the ship intercepted by the Canadians and about 370 Sri Lankans recently held by Indonesia and Australia.

The request for access comes as one of the men on board the ship intercepted off B.C. is reportedly wanted for his alleged role in a procurement ring that smuggled electronic equipment to the Tamil Tigers rebels.

The suspect was identified as Kartheepan Manickavasagar and is the subject of an Interpol notice.

But his lawyer said the 26-year-old has no links to the Tamil Tigers, and the Canadian Tamil Congress said the charges should be treated with caution since Sri Lanka has a history of falsely accusing ethnic Tamils of terrorism.

"In light of everything we know about its practices, the Sri Lankan government has very little credibility when it comes to making allegations against the Tamils," said Hadayt Nazami, the man's Toronto lawyer.

The discovery that one of the asylum seekers is on the Interpol wanted list means Canadian immigration authorities must now decide whether the allegations have sufficient merit to justify returning him to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan refugees have one of the highest acceptance rates in Canada, with 93 per cent of claims in the past nine months accepted.