Former TULF MPs, V Dharmalingam and A Alalasundaram are assassinated, allegedly by the the LTTE.
Sources
The Broken Palmyra – The Tamil Crisis in Sri Lanka: An Inside Account, Rajan Hoole, Daya Somasundaram, K.Sritharan and Rajani Thiranagama, The Sri Lanka Studies Institute, 1990; Interview with Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the LTTE, published in the Sunday Magazine, India 29 September – 5 October 1985.
Quotation
Q: Did the LTTE kill the two TULF ex-MP’s? The Indian intelligence agencies are positive that you were responsible.
Prabhakaran: “We are not responsible for the killing. What can we do if Indian intelligence agencies make such claims? If we had done it, we would have claimed responsibility, giving our reasons for doing it. We undertake an operation only on the basis of our conviction. So, if we had done it we would not have gone about hiding the fact. When we shot Alalasundaram [Alalasundaram had earlier been shot in the leg by the LTTE] we claimed we had done it. We did not kill him because we thought it was unnecessary. We punished him for his anti-social activities: he had a hand in the cooperative fraud. We produced evidence of his embezzlement. Incidentally, a lot of the documents exposing his nefarious activities were set ablaze on the cooperative premises. We also claimed responsibility when we shot Anandarajah [principal of St. John's School in Jaffna]. … Anandarajah was planning to hold a cricket match with the armed forces at a time when they were killing our people, arresting young Tamil boys indiscriminately, burning Tamil property and raping Tamil women. We had to do away with him because the government was using the impending cricket match as propaganda to give the impression to the world that the Tamil civilians have very cordial relations with the Sri Lanka armed forces and that the ethnic problem is something created by a handful of militants.
Q: Could not the ex-TULF MPs have been killed by some rebel LTTE members?
Prabhakaran: “Absolutely not. Nothing happens in the LTTE without my permission. About the killing I want to say something. I met TULF leaders and assured them that we had not done this killing and that they need not worry about facing such consequences from us. I told them that just because we had shot Alalasundaram some time ago, it did not mean that we were against the TULF. However, I pointed out to them that the gap between them and the younger generation was widening most alarmingly. The younger generation look upon them as betrayers who have given up the struggle for Eelam. The gap is widening all the more because they are not in Eelam facing the people. They have been completely isolated from the realities in Eelam. So, as long as they remain isolated from the Tamil people, they are likely to face such drastic action from the younger generation. The reality is that if I were to give up the Eelam struggle I would face similar action from them.” Source: Extracts from interview with Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the LTTE, published in the Sunday Magazine, India 29 September – 5 October 1985.
Extract from The Broken Palmyrah, 1990
“Although there was formal unity in the ENLF in response to popular demand, they made no attempt to work together. It was well known that Prabhakaran, the LTTE leader, and Sri Sabaratnam, the TELO leader hated each other. The assassination of TULF MPs Mr. Dharmalingam and Mr. Alalasunderam of 2 August, 1985, is an example of the methods by which one militant group tried to score over the others. Mr. Dharmalingam and Mr. Aalalasunderam were amongst the TULF MPs who continued to reside in Jaffna. On the basis of testimonies given by several persons who had talked to TELO exiles in India, it is believed that this is how it happened: The LTTE leader Prabhakaran reportedly made a strong threatening speech against the TULF Sri Sabaratnam the TELO leader then gave secret instructions to his men to assassinate the two MPs expecting that Prabhakaran would get the blame and the discredit. As expected the LTTE was largely blamed. In an independent testimony, a PLOTE sentry near Mr. Dharmalingam’s residence identified a vehicle in which the assassins came as belonging to the TELO.”
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prashan said,
It’s interesting how often a “claim” is enough to establish responsibility. This is true of events that occur later in the timeline as well. Responsibility simply needs to be publicly assigned for it to enter popular consciousness and then magically become incontrovertible fact!