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Security forces, LTTE trade blame

V.S. Sambandan

First high profile political assassination inside a church

COLOMBO: A blame game is on between Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) over the assassination of Joseph Pararajasingham, an MP from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Unidentified gunmen shot dead Mr. Pararajasingham (71) at 1.10 a.m. on Sunday when he was attending a Christmas mass in the eastern Batticaloa town — the first high profile political assassination inside a church in the decades of separatist conflict.

"There were at least two gunmen inside the church. Mr. Pararajasingham received eight gunshot injuries on his chest," sources said. Armed police bodyguards were outside the church, the sources said.

Mr. Pararajasingham was returning to his pew after receiving Holy Communion, when the gunmen struck. His wife, Sugunam Pararajasingham (70) was among at least seven persons injured.

President Mahinda Rajapakse expressed shock, ordered a probe and offered additional security to TNA MPs.

Suresh Premachandran, TNA MP, called it a "planned assassination" by those against Mr. Pararajasingham's "vociferous calls for Tamil unity and the continued merger of the north-east."

Nominated

Mr. Pararajasingham, an MP from Batticaloa, continued to back the LTTE after last year's revolt by the LTTE's former eastern special commander, V. Muralitharan (`Col.' Karuna). He could not campaign in the 2004 parliamentary poll and lost the election held a month after the revolt. He was subsequently nominated by the LTTE-backed TNA as a National List MP.

The Government did not directly blame the Tigers, but said "it is clear" that the assassination was to serve the "specific agenda" of creating "the environment to further escalate the cycle of violence in the North and East perpetuated by the LTTE."

However, the security forces and the LTTE traded charges.

A military spokesperson said Mr. Pararajasingham was "brutally gunned down by LTTE men carrying pistols." Citing "reliable reports," he said the MP had "no plans to attend the mass but a telephone caller at about 10.00 p.m. on Saturday had insisted on his presence at late night service."

The LTTE was "desperately trying to divert the attention elsewhere and create mayhem and havoc while eschewing political discussions," he said.

LTTE leader V. Prabakaran posthumously conferred the title of "Mamanithar" (Great Man) on Mr. Pararajasingham. The LTTE's political wing said the MP was "murdered by the Sri Lankan military intelligence wing and the paramilitaries working with them."

The "well-planned murder proves that the long hand of the chauvinistic forces" was "working through the Sri Lankan military intelligence wing," the LTTE said.

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