The Guest Column by Victor Ivon

16th January 2000

Who killed Kumar Ponnambalam?

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Kumar Ponnambalam was the most courageous among the political commentators of Sri Lanka. He lived in Colombo among the Sinhala people. Most of his associates too were Sinhala. Knowing very well the dangers of defending the LTTE while living in Colombo, he continued to express his views fearlessly and eloquently.

He was the only person who openly and immediately challenged every public statement affecting the Tamil communities made by the President in recent times.

He wrote a challenging letter to newspapers in reply to a mention made by the President about the Tamil people of Sri Lanka while on a tour of South Africa, and it was said, he personally took it to Temple Trees and handed over to the police post there.

In her address to the nation on January 3 the President gave a warning to the Tamils who supported the LTTE while living in Colombo. He immediately wrote his reply to that warning too. But before he could see this reply in print he was assassinated.

It is not possible for me to accept all the political ideas expressed by Kumar Ponnambalam. But his courage must be appreciated. There is no dearth of political commentators in our country, but those with a strong backbone are rare. Many commentators make their analyses not in accordance with their conscience but taking into consideration what personal gain or loss they may entail.

The assassination of Kumar Ponnambalam revises a number of important and new problems relating to the political trend existing in the country. Who assassinated him? What was its political background? What is the 'Anti-Tiger National Front' which accepted the responsibility for it? Is there such an organization in the country? There is an anti-LTTE organization called National Movement against Terrorism, but there appears to be no connection at all between that and this Anti-Tiger National Front. Even in the NMAT there is great suspicion rather than happiness about this assassination.

The statement issued by the Anti-Tiger National Front accepting the responsibility for the assassination has not failed to warn others too. The Front says that this is one step in a programme they are going to launch and states that it will continue to punish those who support the LTTE directly or indirectly.

When the JVP started its record rebellion there emerged a network of organizations with names like 'PRRA' and 'Black Cats' for violent activities. However, they did not arise spontaneously but were created by the government of the day. If the anti-Tiger National Front is also an organization that has emerged in the same manner, it is needless to say that the future of the country is going to be dangerous.

After the assassination of Kumar Ponnambalam the government media appear to be giving a new interpretation to the attempt to assassinate the President. According to that interpretation the assassination attempt was not an action by the LTTE alone but the result of a conspiracy to which a group of persons from the South also had participated, including some billionaire businessmen, several journalists, state officers, military officers and the UNP.

This was not the first occasion that the LTTE attempted to assassinate a national leader. This was only the first occasion when such attempt failed. Previously they were able to assassinate a number of national figures in similar or different ways. But on no such occasion were allegation about assassination levelled at political opponents. The present instance is the only instance such a thing has happened.

After the bomb attack aimed at the President, newspapers published a story that a group of some businessmen in Colombo celebrated it with champagne. That also is a factor used to prove that there had been an assassination conspiracy. Whatever political opinions there may be, such conduct, when a public leader is in trouble, cannot be approved.

However, there had been other instances when there was jubilation on the part of some people when there was a tragedy involving a national leader. Those crackers lit in many areas of Colombo when President Premadasa was assassinated. It is said that some people ate Kiribath to celebrate it.

However, there was no attempt to brand those who lit crackers as parties in a conspiracy to assassinate President Premadasa.

President J.R. Jayewardene, before the referendum, brought in such a story about a conspiracy. The purpose was to silence the newspapers and prominent persons who were opposing the referendum.

Two newspapers were sealed. A number of opposition leaders including Vijaya Kumaratunga were arrested. Perhaps the PA government too is thinking that it is necessary to silence the few prominent persons among the 'trouble makers' before the Parliamentary elections.

At a time when a mysterious organization callling itself the 'Anti-Tiger National Movement' has assassinated a prominent and well known Tamil leader and has gone further to say that a similar fate awaits those who have direct or indirect connection with the LTTE, it cannot be with any innocent intentions that the government media have invented a story about a conspiracy to assassinate the President including some prominent persons who have become targets of the governments animosity, and branded them all as Prabhakaran's supporters.

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