Tamils afraid to blame LTTE for murder

COLOMBO, July 8: Almost the entire Tamil community, including newspapers and even the Tamil United Liberation FrontTULF, has steadfastly ...

COLOMBO, July 8: Almost the entire Tamil community, including newspapers and even the Tamil United Liberation FrontTULF, has steadfastly avoided blaming the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the killing of senior TULF politician and parliamentarian, Arunachalam Thangathurai, in Trincomalee last week.

Thangathurai and five others were killed when a grenade was thrown at him outside a school in the heart of the city on July 5, observed by the LTTE as Black Tigers8217; Day. Police have said that it was the work of the Tigers.

However such is the fear in the Tamil community over reprisals by the Tigers that in a statement issued on Sunday condoling the death of Thangathurai, the TULF maintained a deafening silence on the perpetrator of the crime and its leader M Sivasithamparam said he 8220;refused to speculate8221; on who could have carried it out. Other leaders of the party have been eliminated by the LTTE, notably Appapillai Amirthalingam and Yogeswaran in 1989 and since then, TULF leaders have learnt to become circumspect, especially about the LTTE.

The extent of this fear became obvious on Sunday after a radio news bulletin which reported that the TULF had condemned the LTTE for the attack. In the next bulletin, a senior leader of the party Joseph Pararasasingham quickly put out a statement that his party had blamed no one for the killing. If the newspapers were expected to be bolder, then such expectations were belied.

Like the TULF, the two main Tamil dailies, Veerakesari and Thinakkural, seemed to have decided that silence is the better part of valour and have completely side-stepped the issue of who could have carried out the killing,confining themselves to appreciations and obituaries on Thangathurai. Only two Tamil political leaders 8211; Dharmalingam Sidharthan of PLOTE and Suresh Premachandran of EPRLF 8211; have openly condemned the Tigers for Thangathurai8217;s assassination, describing the group as 8220;fascist8221; and 8220;terrorist8221;. But their statements were suitably edited by the Tamil press before publication.Tigers seize North Korean ship, crew held

Sri Lanka8217;s LTTE rebels struck for the second time this week seizing a North Korean cargo ship on Monday night, holding its 38 member Korean crew hostage, and took it to their north eastern base, official sources said.

The Colombo-bound 3000-tonne ship, MV Moran Bong, hired by Jaffna traders to carry food and essential items, was hijacked off Point Pedro on Jaffna peninsula in an obvious attempt to lay a seige to northern Jaffna coast. The ship, which was empty at the time of attack, was returning after off loading its cargo and was reportedly plying for the past two months.

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Sources said the vessel was captured by rebels aboard two well armed LTTE boats after firing warning shots. The crew was then ordered to steer towards Mullaithivu, where the LTTE has its Sea Tiger bases.