Candidate gunned down in Sri Lanka's blood-stained election run-up

Candidate gunned down in Sri Lanka's blood-stained election run-up
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

COLOMBO, SEPT 10: Unidentified gunmen on Sunday shot dead a ruling party candidate for Sri Lanka's elections together with one of his key supporters amid fears of more bloodshed, officials and diplomats said.

Cheliyan Perrimpanayakam, a member of the People's Alliance (PA) party, was gunned down at a home in the predominantly Muslim town of Kalmunai, 330 kilometres east of here by road, police said.

They said the victim was the first candidate at the October 10 parliamentary elections to be killed in a violent campaign that has claimed the lives of six party supporters since the parliament was dissolved on August 18. No one has yet claimed responsibility, but a local PA leader, Somasundaram Ganeshamurthy, said he believed the attack was carried out by a rival Muslim group which is also allied to the ruling party.

"I strongly believe this is the work of the Muslim jehad," Ganeshamurthy said when contacted by telephone. He said there was growing tensions between his party and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC).

The SLMC is also an ally of the ruling PA, but they failed to submit a common list of candidates to contest the elections from the district of Batticaloa, although in some other areas they are fielding candidates jointly.

The latest killing came five days after President Chandrika Kumaratunga's estranged brother, Anura Bandaranaike, asked the government to disarm pro-government Muslim militiamen in the area. Bandaranaike, a leading figure in the Opposition United National Party (UNP), said his sister, Chandrika Kumaratunga, was arming minority Muslim allies in the eastern province to unleash violence against opponents.

"She must immediately disarm all those who have been issued with weapons by the government to attack Opposition supporters," Bandaranaike told reporters here last week. "She must show that she is taking action against the offenders."

Bandaranaike pointed out that ministers of the ruling People's Alliance had even begun attacking each other as part of their bitter contest to win the leadership within the same party in the 22 electoral districts.

Sri Lanka's tourism minister was hospitalised six days ago after supporters of his own party beat him up while putting up their election posters in the historic town of Anuradhapura, police said. Minister HB Semasinghe was bleeding from his forehead and left eye after being punched and beaten by supporters of another candidate of the same party.

In the island's embattled northern peninsula of Jaffna, three candidates have resigned following death threats, party officials said, adding that there was mounting tension between political groups. Diplomats here said they expected more violence during the campaign.

The moderate Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) has accused another pro-government Tamil group, the Eelam people's Democratic party (EPDP) of terrorising rival candidates. The TULF has asked the government to disarm all political parties which have been issued with weapons by the government.

However, the parties argue that they need weapons for their own protection from the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Meanwhile, the European Union is set to send a team of election monitors to observer the October 10 polls. A first batch of 20 to 30 observers are expected next week as the 15-member EU finalises plans to monitor Sri Lankan polls which they say are increasingly becoming violent.