LTTE guns down former TULF MP

Rafik Jalaldeen

COLOMBO: Former TULF Parliamentarian and TNA activist Sinnathambi Sivamaharaja was shot dead on Sunday night by LTTE terrorists at his home in Tellipalai, Durgapuram, Jaffna.

According to Tellipalai Police, the ex-MP was shot using a T56 rifle by two men on a motorcycle at his residence. Police found 10 spent cartridges inside the victim's residence. Sivamaharaja (68) was the Managing Director of the Jaffna Tamil Daily Namadu Eelanadu and Chairman of the Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society in his area.

Sivamaharaja was a Secretary to the late Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader A. Amirthalingham from 1977 to 1983.

He thereafter joined the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS) in 1989 and became a Member of Parliament.

Following his resignation from the EROS, he joined the TULF in 2000 and contested the General Election the same year. He was elected an MP for the Jaffna district.

He thereafter worked closely with TULF leader V. Anandasangaree until the split in the TULF subsequent to which he joined R. Sampanthan and the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK)/TNA in 2004.

He contested the General Election in 2004 from the ITAK but failed to get elected. "Sivamaharaja was a very close friend of the Security Forces and he helped the Army in the area. This might have angered the LTTE terrorists," a spokesman from the Media Centre for the National Security (MCNS) said.

The ex-MP also boycotted protest rallies organised in Jaffna in support of the LTTE, denouncing the Security Forces.

"Part of Tellipalai comes inside the High Security Zone. The victim was living in Durgapuram which is outside the HSZ. There is no temporary or permanent residence inside the HSZ," the MCNS spokesman told the Daily News.

Sivamaharaja was an active campaigner for the rights of people displaced by the conflict.

According to security sources the LTTE had recently been critical of the TNA membership for maintaining silence in the wake of the successful security operation in the North-East.