On April 6, another name was added to the list of political martyrs in Sri Lanka, Mr. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, the chief government whip and Central Highways and Road Development Minister. He was killed presumably by an LTTE suicide bomber while flagging off a marathon race to mark the celebrations of Hindu/Sinhala New Year in Weliweriya, Gampaha which was his constituency.

While not going deeper into his routine political life, it is worthwhile to throw light on some milestones of his political past. After leaving his teaching career, he got his degree in Law from Sri Lanka Law School. With his innate intelligence, rare combination of linguistic skills and analytic thinking, he became famous for his fearless submissions in courts while defending his clients. He held various important cabinet portfolios and was elected to the National Parliament many times.

At the time of his assassination he was actively assisting the Sri Lanka President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa in conducting Eastern Provincial Council elections. A staunch critic of the LTTE, he was not in favour of disarming the LTTE break-away faction Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), at least till the fear of the LTTE completely subsides in the Eastern part of Sri Lanka.

Quite predictably, LTTE could be assumed to have once again silenced a moderate Tamil voice in the Sri Lankan political circles, who was capable of projecting before the government genuine Tamil demands in a more sophisticated way than the LTTE can even think of. If the LTTE really wants to end the conflict, it must realize that solution does not lie in eliminating moderate Tamil voices one by one.

It is a strange paradox that while LTTE has renewed its call for a Norwegian intervention, back home, it is busy assassinating those whose interventions can really make a difference for Tamils, in general and for them, in particular. It is time the Tigers realise that such imprudent acts have done irreparable damage to its image. After all, can the Tigers expect itself to be projected as a true representative of the Tamil community if it kills its own people?

The blame, however, can not be put wholly on the shoulders of the Tamil Tigers alone. The government is also to be blamed for such recurring assassinations. Internal politics in Sri Lanka has taken such an ugly turn where those who disagree with the government have a relatively short life span. It does not mean that the establishment in Sri Lanka has a hand in political killings. The actual fault lies in the lax attitude of the government towards providing an adequate security cover to the persons of high importance.
The very first day of the year started with the political assassination of the opposition MP T. Maheshwaran while offering prayers at a temple. The second killing took place just seven days later when a jeep carrying nation building minister, D.M.Dissanayake, was blown into pieces. The two tragedies happened because the government had only a week earlier decided to prune the security cover of the opposition Members of Parliament. The third assassination, that of Mr. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, who was considered the President's right hand man, also has security breach at its back. Another prominent Tamil MP Mano Ganeshan whose number of bodyguards was reduced by the government was lucky enough to have a safe escape from the country.

The government seems to have learned no lessons from the previous experiences as the government has already slashed the security cover of the government dissident and the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Party (SLMC) Rauff Hakeem in a turbulent East where the security situation is undoubtedly grave. Further ignorance of the security threats to his life would imply a deliberate act of bureaucratic negligence.

The government's misdemeanours seem akin to what the LTTE is practicing. Like the Tigers, the government is also eliminating its critics, albeit indirectly. It is very disappointing that both the entities cannot withstand criticism of their policies and programmes in a country which is assumed to be a democracy. Both the parties are equally responsible for the present mayhem. The LTTE breeds on the opportunities and blunders done by the government. The scenario is thus so very simple.

But this time, the LTTE has targeted a person who is close to the establishment. The attack came at a time when the LTTE is facing regular military reverses in the North, the only bastion that it now controls after its ouster from the East. The assassination will only intensify the conflict as is evident from the latest raids conducted by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on LTTE hideouts immediately after the tragedy. Though the increasing number of political assassinations has clearly demonstrated the strategy of the militarily weak LTTE, the price which the government and the nation have paid for it is huge and tragic.

Anjali Sharma is an Associate Fellow in Observer Research Foundation. She can be contacted at anjalisharma@orfonline.org.