APRC Secy, Deputy SCOPP head killing: 'Appalling barbarism'

Manjula FERNANDO

COLOMBO: Condemning the assassination of Government Peace Secretariat Deputy and Secretary of the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC), Ketheshwaran Loganathan by LTTE gunmen on Saturday night, the Government said yesterday by this act the LTTE had once again demonstrated its ruthlessness and the resentment towards free thinking Tamils.

SCOPP Peace Secretariat Chief Dr. Palitha Kohona declared Saturday night's incident as 'appalling barbarism'.

He said Loganathan will "join the long list of Tamil dissidents who have sacrificed their lives because they chose to defer from the LTTE."

Jointly hosting a press conference with Government Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella at the SCOPP office yesterday, Dr. Kohona stressed the freedom to dissent must be protected and they all must ensure his death will not be a waste.

Loganathan joined SCOPP as its Deputy Secretary General in March this year, resigning from his post as Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and Head of its Conflict and Peace Analysis Unit.

He played a pivotal role as the Secretary to the APRC appointed by the President to work out a constitutional framework that will be a basis for a final solution. He was a strong advocator of a peaceful negotiated settlement to the ethnic conflict.

The Government in a media release yesterday said the LTTE felt threatened by the deliberations of the APRC and the efforts of the Government to formulate a permanent settlement to the national question.

"There has been threats on Tamil representatives in the APRC by the LTTE in an effort to cripple the process."

The Government said his killing which falls on the first death anniversary of the former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is reminiscent to the assassination of Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam, a co-architect of the 1995 constitutional reform proposals.

The act sends a strong message that the LTTE has no regard for democratic norms and holds the gun as the only solution to settle issues, Rambukwella said adding that the Government will take up the matter at the highest levels internationally.

He said they expect the international community to exert further pressure on the LTTE to renounce terrorism.

"This is not an isolated incident. The LTTE has withdrawn from its commitment towards the SLMM to protect its members. Now they have gunned down a peace advocator."

Loganathan was also engaged in Tamil politics from 1983 to 1985 as a member of the Eelam People's Liberation Front and was a member of the Tamil delegation at the Thimpu peace talks in 1985. He withdrew from Tamil politics and the EPRLF in 1995.

He had a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University, Washington DC and a MA in Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague.

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Kethesh...

* Loganathan was a member of the Tamil delegation to the Thimpu Peace Talks.

* He contributed to the Mangala Moonesinghe Select Committee process tasked at formulating a constitutional solution to the national question.

* He was an economics graduate from Georgetown University.

* In 1996 Loganathan wrote a book Sri Lanka: Lost opportunities published by the Centre for Policy Research and Analysis (CEPRA), University of Colombo.

* He was a board member of the Centre for Policy Alternatives before joining the Peace Secretariat.

* He was a member of the EPRLF from 1983 to 1994.

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Funeral tomorrow

SCOPP Deputy Secretary General Kethesh Loganathan's funeral will take place tomorrow at 4.00 pm at the General Cemetery Kanatte.