Tigers condemn TNA candidate’s killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 07:27 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Tuesday said they strongly condemn the killing of Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance candidate for Batticaloa. “The people of Batticaloa should not to be perturbed by such incidents of violence in the district that create fear. We call on them to vote for the TNA and show the world the national strength of the Tamil people”, the LTTE said in statement issued in Tamil from their political headquarters in Kilinochchi Tuesday. Mr. Sathiyamoorthy was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his residence Tuesday morning.

The LTTE statement says: “The increasing incidence of shootings at this juncture when the election is nearing will jeopardise the democratic conduct of the polls and affect the peace process.

“The killing of Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy has created confusion in Batticaloa at a time when the people of northeast were preparing to express their political aspirations through the elections.

“The peaceful conduct of the election campaign in the Batticaloa-Amparai district was plunged in crisis when the Karuna group began to interfere and disrupt it”.