As regards the second matter, Sivanesan’s death, if the Brigadier is really interested in an impartial investigation, I suggest he write to President Rajapakse and request that journalists be allowed free access to the said areas, where the latter can glean valuable info from eye-witnesses and the like. However, given the present state of media restrictions, which the whole world knows are partly a cover-up for the human-rights violations going on in the North-East, no objective observer need lend much credibility to Nanayakkara’s objections, rebuttals, and denials. A defendant basing his innocence on the total absence/silencing of any and all witnesses does not PROVE his innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt, even if he, the defendant, is acquitted for lack of evidence. Unfortunately, SL will never learn that “lack of evidence” does not make for a clean human rights record. Furthermore, “lack of evidence” is a poor excuse these days, given that satellite technology can transmit plenty of “evidence”, in some form or another, in mere milliseconds. Of course, the bottom line is that there is almost never a “lack of evidence.” There is an attempt to hide evidence, distort the present evidence, and sideline attempts to dig up new evidence – usually as a means to sabotage any judicial process. The Brigadiers objections, rebuttals, and denials fit this process exactly. The fact that a Brigadier is even the “Media Director”, during a time when censorship of war-reporting has reached its peak, shows the extent to which SL has embraced such methodology wholesale.

You are right about not knowing the Motive… I told you before I could CARE LESS if it was the GoSL, it might well have been them but I doubt it for the reasons I have stipulated before. I don’t consider TNA members anything less than LTTE sock puppets, although they do not wear uniform or carry a gun they are just as much a part of the Enemy trying to destroy Sri Lanka as the rest of the Militaristic wing of the group.

At the end of the day there are far more reasons to believe the LTTE bumped this guy off than the Armed Forces…even if you think this was an error in judgment or a mistake on the part of the armed forces.

Among other atrocities against innocent Tamils, killing of AID workers, Journalists, and Parliaments including one from UNP accounted as war crime.

Mahinda (or Mahendra) might escape to a Western country with his loot, as Chadirika did after her time in the Office.

The ordinary person will be carrying the cost plus the loot for generations to come, while their ‘leaders’ enjoy life in the West.

Gothabaya/Basil your days are numbered as you both are proud U.S naturalized citizens. No where to hide, Basil you may want to make another deal with VP to hide in the Vanni jungle!

My point is that the location of the hit isn’t evidence of innocence or guilt. However the modus operandi points to the LRRPs. You’re assuming that multiple claymores were never used in other hits, but they might have been. Sivanesan’s vehicle was ambushed on a straight piece of road where timing a command-detonated mine isn’t always an exact science. In such situations, small unit tactics reccommend a kill-zone rather than a point contact. When Charles was killed he was hit at a bend in the road where a vehicle would have to slow down, enabling more pinpoint accuracy.

If the LTTE wanted to conclusively frame the GoSL, I’m sure they’d have come up with planted evidence from the ambush site. Or better still, killed Sivanesan and claim he was killed in a SLAF airstrike. The fact that none of this happened is what leads me to my conclusion.

its not about the money. it never was. its all about attitudes. people in there own minds have a scale. they always try to balance it. thats how everything keeps happening.

including the war…

Blacker,

If it was tit-for-tat for Damu, then why so late? Two months later kinda defeats the point of Tit for tat.? Was Damu even killed by the LTTE? If it were a Political hit (which I don’t buy at all) then why not a gun man in Colombo? 4 Claymore mines is either the LTTE or the GoSL not the work of Mervin Silva’s Mafia type goons.

While you make a very valid point about there not being any independent investigation I would say that even Maheswaran’s killers still roam free and probably are very well know to us here, so if someone in the GoSL thought through this the did not do it well at all weighing up the pros and cons.

Also. why do it when the UN Delegation in Geneva is meeting on the reason to establish a Permanent Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Sri Lanka? The last thing they need is an incident like this to provoke the Media and the Diaspora to bring Negative attention to the situation. The implementation of R2P would mean Game Over for the GoSL. And I ask you again….

Who is K. Sivanesan again, that the GoSL would risk all these other far more important factors for?

But if we take it as given that there was a motive, the next question, as you have already said, is ‘Why in LTTE territory and not in GoSL territory?’ I think if it was a politically-motivated hit, then it won’t matter where he was killed. Even if the GoSL blamed the paramilitaries, the blame would ultimately be on the GoSL for failing to protect an opposition MP, and failing to control its auxiliaries. It would be unlikely that any blame would fall on the LTTE ‘cos the buggers would say ‘Hey if we wanted to kill him we could easily do it in the north’, just as you’re saying about the GoSL. On the other hand, killing him in LTTE territory means that no independent investigation can be carried out and all allegations will be tainted by the fact that it was gathered by the Tigers. So the GoSl cannot be proven guilty, nut they win the psychological battle by looking like they can get anyone anytime.

What is important is that the Brigadier is unhappy with DBS’s guess work that then leads DBS to blame the GOSL for killing someone or other in LTTE held areas.

To afford the SLA such powers as killing pro-LTTE operatives in LTTE areas is a bit too much. If the SLA is that effective, how is that they have not killed so many leaders of the LTTE, who are far more important targets?

DBSJ RESPONDS: There is no guesswork here. The LRRP killed TNA Parliamentarian Kiddinan Sivanesan