tw news-features

Bottom Line, the Colombo based midweek newspaper, quoting reliable sources says that the slain ex-Jaffna MP Maheswaran was to expose the paramilitaries backed by very powerful quarters, who were running amok in Jaffna, carrying out scores of killing and abductions apart from other forms of harassment including large scale extortion. The MP was killed on 1st of January 2008.

The cold blooded assassination of Tamil parliamentarian Thyagaraja Maheswaran in Colombo as he stepped out of a renowned Lord Shiva temple near the Colombo port is being condemned around the globe.

The temple, Sri Ponnambalavaneswarar was originally built in 1856 out of brick and mortar. In 1906, today’s splendid granite temple with delicately carved rockstone pillars and images was reconstructed between 1907 and 1912.

The MP slain on the first day of 2008 was a member of the Sri Lanka’s main Opposition, The United National Party (UNP.) The other two parlamentarians murdred in Sri lanka high security zones recently, N.Raviraj and J. Pararajasingham were members of the Tamil National Alliance. (TNA)

“The gunning down of an opposition Parliamentarian takes added significance as it is seen as an attempt to stifle moderate Tamil opinion”, said The Bottom Line, in its first editorial for the year on January 2, 2008.

“Amidst allegations of Majoritarian Rule, this Government must afford greater protection for parliamentarians from the minority community”.

The newspaper says that the killers “no doubt, escaped amidst high security”, but urges follow up if the government wants to get “to the bottom of this killing” since a wounded suspect is in custody.

Maheswaran was the third Tamil parliamentarian to be murdered after the present regime assumed office.

Pointing out that the 2005 and 2006 assassinations of parliamentarians belonging to Tamil parties remain unresolved, martyrdom is now staring at the fourth, Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC) convener Mano Ganesan MP, summed up the newspaper on the glum prospects facing those who are being the “voice of the voiceless”.

Parliamentarian Mano Ganesan was presented with a human rights award, ‘Freedom Defender World Wide Award for 2007’, by USA in early December.

[As Sri Lanka ushered in yet another New Year with many hopes and expectations, Colombo District MP T.Maheswaran’s family too anticipated for a better year ahead of them. However, their hopes were brutally dashed yesterday morning following the killing of Maheswaran. Unable to control the shock, the grieving wife of T. Maheswaran embraces her daughter in agony as they both uncontrollably weep over the unbearable loss. Pic by Ishara S. Kodikara-The Bottom Line]

Full Text of the Bottom Line editorial:

What an ugly way to usher in the New Year

Killing any representative of the people is no doubt a blow to democracy.

What makes the killing so chilling is that the Government pruned the security of the deceased only last week.

And that, too, after the deceased, Thyagaraja Maheswaran vowed on Sunday to name those involved in a spate of abductions, extortion schemes and unexplained killings in the Jaffna peninsula.

Appearing during a Sirasa interview, Maheswaran blamed government paramilitary groups for these abductions, killings and cases of extortion in state-controlled territory. Of course Maheswaran was no friend of the LTTE as represented a southern political party- the chief opposition UNP.

His killing is a sequel to the assassination of two other vociferous Tamil Parliamentarians- Nadaraja Raviraj and Joseph Pararajasingham who belonged to the Tamil National Alliance, which had the blessings of the LTTE.

The gunning down of an opposition Parliamentarian takes added significance as it is seen as an attempt to stifle moderate Tamil opinion. All three murdered MPs campaigned vociferously on behalf of the Tamil community.

They were the voice of the voiceless that was silenced by the bullet. A fourth Lawmaker Mano Ganesan, the patron of abducted Tamils in Colombo, remains the lone voice in the wilderness, despite martyrdom staring in his face.

What this administration does not realise is that it has a bounden duty to protect opposition parliamentarians if it is to uphold democracy. Amidst allegations of Majoritarian Rule, this Government must afford greater protection for parliamentarians from the minority community.

To the government’s credit it has afforded maximum protection to the likes of Douglas Devavanda, V. Muralitheran and V. Anandasangaree—all who are diametrically opposed to the LTTE, the killer organisation.

But, those Tamil MPs, or Sinhalese MPs for that matter, who disapprove of the government’s handling of affairs, have their security slashed overnight. Whenever security is curtailed, the government claims the threat level of the subjects has decreased. What a coincidence!

In all the three aforementioned killings since December 2005, there appears to be a pattern that is now talked about in diplomatic circles.

Raviraj antagonised many a Sinhala chauvinist by his erudite appearances during TV talk shows in Sinhalese. A lawyer and a great debater, the fearless Raviraj based his arguments on facts and law.

Those who snuffed out his life last year took the path of least resistance. They shot him dead in a high security zone in the Capital Colombo.

Pararajasingham was also killed in a high security zone in Batticaloa. He was shot dead in a Catholic Church during the 2005 Christmas mass.

Maheswaran was killed on New Year’s Day in a Hindu Kovil in Kotahena, again in a high security zone.

The killers, no doubt, escaped amidst high security, but divine justice awaits those who ordered the killings in the holy precincts of a Church and Kovil.

Just like killing the messenger, killing opposition MPs, the representatives of the people, has become a past time, or so it appears.

Finding the killers in a spate of killings has not been the hallmark of this administration. Due to threats and possible repercussions, many are not willing to come forward and give evidence. This time a suspected killer has been wounded in the shoot out in the Temple and should be protected at all costs if the Government wants to get at the bottom of this killing.

The Chief Opposition UNP has blamed the Government for this latest killing. Besides blaming the government, as the chief opposition party, it has done sweet nothing to arrest the deteriorating security situation. It must bury its head in shame, as it has miserably failed the country.

Those MPs whose lives were snuffed out have stuck their necks in the name of democracy and their blood, we hope, would sanctify the August Assembly.