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Sivaram's
body not for LTTE
The Sunday Times learns that the request had been made by LTTE Political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan through a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian, but Mr. Sivaram's wife, Yogaranjani, turned down the request. The LTTE had wanted the body airlifted to Jaffna and taken by road to Kilinochchi for the senior LTTE members to pay their respects. They wanted the remains taken back to Jaffna and airlifted to Batticaloa for the funeral. A TNA member confirmed that the LTTE had made the request, but that the family did not agree. Ms. Sivaram said that soon after Mr. Sivaram's brothers flew in from abroad, they would be taking the body to Batticaloa for the funeral tomorrow (Monday). She said her husband wanted a simple funeral and taking it to various places might make the body deteriorate further. On Friday the LTTE decided to honour Mr. Sivaram with the Mamanidar - the Great Man-- Award - the highest award conferred by the LTTE. The late Kumar Ponnambalam, is among 13 other recipients of this award. The decision to honour Mr. Sivaram was reportedly taken at a meeting presided over by LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The LTTE chief in a message to mark the conferring of the award said: "Death never destroys great men who had lived for lofty ideals,” adding that Mr. Sivaram was an internationally renowned journalist. "Through his writings, he brought out the Tamil national question into the international arena with clarity and cohesion and exposed false propaganda,” the LTTE leader said. Meanwhile, the Colombo Medical Faculty's forensic medicine chief Dr Jeanne Perera who conducted the post-mortem on Mr. Sivaram's body said there was no evidence of torture. "There was no torture or assault, I say that vehemently,'' she said. However, she said he had been given one blow on the back of his head, and then shot twice on this shoulder blade and neck while he lay on the ground. The killing occurred where the body was found. The swelling on one of his eyes was not the result of a blow, she said. It was due to the vibration when he was shot. The forensic expert said the time of death was "consistent with the police finding the body around 1 a.m.'' "Certainly, he did not die after that -- it was before that," she said. Police detectives probing the killing of the 46-year-old journalist on Thursday night were yesterday trying to track down guests at the Bambalapitiya Restaurant where Mr. Sivaram and some colleagues had gathered before the abduction by a group of still unidentified armed men who had come in silver coloured inter-cooler jeep . Police Chief Chandra Fernando said DNA technology would be used to track down the suspects. "We are trying to establish whether any person present at the restaurant that night had any link with the abduction and killing," he said. The restaurant is now sealed while detectives are looking for fingerprints or other clues. Three police teams are investigating. |
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