CP condemns MP's assassination

The Communist Party of Sri Lanka condemns the brutal and cowardly act of killing the senior Parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham, a message by the Communist Party of Sri Lanka said. It extends its profound condolences to his bereaved family and to the Tamil National Alliance.

The message: Twenty-six Parliamentarians have been killed with the eruption of violence in the North and East. Among them were 16 Tamil MPs. They all were eminent educated and popular. There has been a marked increase of violence in the last few weeks causing deaths to a large number of security personnel and non-LTTE political activists.

The LTTE cannot abdicate its responsibilities for the escalation of this violence. Continuation of violence is a threat to the Peace Process particularly at a time when the President has expressed his willingness and readiness to commence talks without any pre-conditions.

The LTTE has clearly embarked on a strategy to create a war psychosis in the people's minds in the North and East by resorting to a state of senseless killings once again. This trend of violence frustrates the aspirations of the peace-loving people and provokes the security fora for retaliation. The LTTE seems to have been enraged by the high rate of voting at the recent Presidential Election in defiance of its call for boycott and the possible erosion of people's trust in them. It's claim as the sole representative of the Tamil people seems to be in jeopardy.

The party reiterates that there is no alternative to a negotiated settlement in the search for a political solution to the ethnic question and calls upon the LTTE to stop forthright this spate of senseless killings and embark upon a strategy of a negotiated settlement.

It calls upon the Government not to deviate from the Peace Process, succumbing to the pressure of provocation.