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Tributes paid to slain TNA legislator

LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran paying respects to the slain Tamil legislator K. Sivanesan, in this picture taken in the Wanni region and released by the militant organisation on Sunday.

COLOMBO: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Sunday released two pictures of its leader, Velupillai Prabakaran, paying his respects to the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, K. Sivanesan, at an undisclosed destination in the Tiger-controlled Vanni.

The pictures acquire significance in the context of repeated assertions by the Sri Lanka military that Prabakaran was seriously injured in aerial raids conducted by the air force on November 26 and 28. The military has struck to its version despite strong denials from the Tigers.

In a report along with the picture, the LTTE on its web site said that at an “unspecified location” Prabakaran lighted the lamp and paid his respects to Sivanesan.

“Many Tamil National Alliance MPs have arrived in Vanni to attend the event. Many of them acknowledged the courage of Sivanesan in speaking out for the rights of the Tamils. Many of the MPs also privately expressed their fear that they may well be the next victim. “Among the TNA MPs who attended the event are S. Kanagaratnam, Ariyanenthiran, Mavai Senathiraja, S. Kajendran, Razim Imam, C. Chandrakanthan, Jeyananthamoorthy, S. Kishore, Pathmini Sithamparanathan, Suresh Premachanran, Pathmanathan, Kanagasabai, Selvan Adaikalanathan, and Vinonoharathalingam”, it said.

It said that in Kilinochchi, despite a late start on Saturday night, a large crowd attended the event. “LTTE Political Head, B. Nadesan, LTTE Intelligence Head, S. Pottu and several other LTTE leaders paid their respects”, it said.

In a separate statement condemning the killing of Sivanesan, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangaree said, “Neither I condone such killings nor rejoice at it”.

He said a section of the Tamil media and TNA MPs have “recklessly charged that the government should take full responsibility” for this incident. “I do not hold a brief to anybody. But I do not want the TNA Members of Parliament to fool everybody. They had fooled the Tamil people long enough and they can’t continue to do so”.

In another development, the military said that at least 23 cadres of the LTTE were killed in fighting along the Forward Defence Lines in the north and claimed that early detection of two claymore mines in the suburbs of Anuradhapura and Batticaloa towns on Saturday averted “an LTTE-anticipated bloodbath provoking a communal backlash in south, while also diminishing LTTE preparations to jeopardise the Batticaloa district council elections scheduled on Monday.”

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