FIVE OF THE ASSASINATED IN COLOMBO MARSH IDENTIFIED AS KARUNA FACTION TAMILS; LTTE PRIME SUSPECTS SAY POLICE

By Walter Jayawardhana

The five decomposing dead bodies shot in their heads and found in a marsh close to Colombo have been identified as those of members of the Karuna group virulently opposed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Police sources said they now suspect the gruesome murders , probably done in execution style, would have been committed by the LTTE assassins after the five Batticaloa resident supporters of Karuna led Tamil Makkal Viduthale Pulikel (TMVP) were abducted by the LTTE operatives in Colombo.

Karuna faction sources told the investigation that the people who had been murdered had been sent to Colombo under the aegis of the party to find overseas employment.

At a press conference held in Colombo the Chief of the island nation’s police Victor Perera, said they believed the five bodies left in the marsh called Muthurajavela in Colombo and the another five bodies left near Anuradhapura are suspected to be part of a plot to raise a human rights cry against the government and bring disrepute against Sri Lanka in international circles.

The BBC’s Sinhala language program , Sandeshaya , broadcast interviews , comparing the murders done in 1989 in relation to a JVP insurgency and allegedly done partly by the then government and partly by the JVP itself. In those news broadcasts they did not draw attention to the LTTE’s execution style murders created . They created allusions that they could be murders by the government.

The country’s Ministry of Defense in their official website declared, “A bloody plot to tarnish the good image of the government before the international community is getting bared as the bodies of five Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) members found in the Muthurajawela swamp were positively identified by one of their comrades.”

Some human rights organizations made attempts to create an impression that both Colombo’s Muthurajawela Marsh murders and Anuradhapura murders were the works of the government.
Insepector Genral of police, Victor Perera, the police chief said special teams of detectives have been employed to investigate about all ten murders.

Police announced yesterday, that the victims were identified as Karanasingham Suresh, Subramaniam Prabakaran, Siva Prakashan Madiruban, Kandasamy Vellayan, Ponnaia Kamal all residents in Batticaloa.

The bullet ridden bodies of them were found in the marsh, March 2 , after residents there informed the police about the presence of dead bodies. Police said the bodies were laid there in a way so they could be easily seen. The man who identified the bodies said the victims had come to Colombo few weeks back hoping to get overseas interviews.

It had been revealed the above had been approaching supporters of the LTTE to get them over to their side, in the intense struggle going on in the Eastern Province to capture political power to the hands of the anti-LTTE groups defeating the LTTE.

TMVP sources in the course of the investigations told the police that seven people were sent to Colombo to go abroad for employment , since they had exposed themselves to the LTTE leadership in the East .

It is suspected that two people among them had betrayed them to the LTTE operatives in Colombo. The five were allegedly abducted by the LTTE operatives in Colombo, during the month of February. Several news items had appeared about the missing persons, the man who identified them said. He also asserted that the deceased had no other enemies than the LTTE.

Under the Ceasefire Agreement signed between the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran under the brokerage of the Norwegian leftist Eric Solheim, unarmed LTTE could freely enter government controlled areas. Using this clause LTTE assassins have entered those areas and assassinated the Foreign Minister of the country, Deputy Peace Secretary, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army. They also attempted to assassinate the Commander of the Army and Secretary of Defense.

Referring to the anti-government propaganda linked to the dead bodies found the Defense Ministry said, “pro-LTTE media networks shows how deliberately they have undertaken the propaganda part of the coupe by implicitly blaming the government for violating human rights.”

Alleging that these very murders could be used against the government the Defense Ministry said, “ that the recent escalation of abduction, assassinations and disappearances have a clear correlation to the up coming United Nations Human Rights Council, which will be held on 12th March, in Geneva this year.”