Blood On the Peace Trail ; Although the Ceasefire Between the Ltte and the Government Still Holds, Lakshman Kadirgamar's Assassination Is a Grave Setback to Peace Efforts and May Force an Early General Election

India Today › October 24, 2005

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Summary

The assassination of Sri Lanka's foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar suspected to be by the LTTE on August 12 has put the island's wavering peace process at grave risk. The head of the Peace Secretariat Jayantha Dhanapala told foreign diplomats in Colombo that a "serious review" of Norway's moves to broker peace will be undertaken. Foreign Secretary S. Palihakkara called for international pressure on the rebels and "practical measures" to isolate them. In recent months, the key foreign backers of the Oslo peace process had made it clear to President Chandrika Kumaratunga that she should agree to a deal for sharing prospective millions of dollars in tsunami aid with the Tigers. Now, attention may shift to the LTTE which already has condemnation heaped on it for repeatedly breaching the truce that is in force and killing hundreds of opponents and military intelligence operatives in the past three years.

The meticulously planned late-night sniper-fire attack on the minister, just as he finished a swim at his private residence, and the speedy getaway of the assassins provoked the Government into blaming the rebels, saying it bore their stamp. Kumaratunga swiftly imposed emergency regulations giving the security forces extensive powers to search and detain suspects. The rebels almost immediately denied complicity in the killing, accusing forces within the Government of wanting to disrupt the peace process by blaming the attack on the LTTE. But Norway's special envoy in Sri Lanka's peace process Erik Solheim was reported as saying that "the finger of suspicion" pointed at the LTTE and the slaying would "complicate" the peace process.

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Blood On the Peace Trail ; Although the Ceasefire Between the Ltte and the Government Still Holds, Lakshman Kadirgamar's Assassination Is a Grave Setback to Peace Efforts and May Force an Early General Election

Even more pointedly, the EU, a key backer of the Oslo peace effort, said that it saw "the clear intention of the killers to restart conflict". However, censure in the wake of previous high- profile murders has...

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