Kethesh Logananathan, Deputy Secretary General of Sri Lanka Government’s Peace Secretariat and a former member of the militant group, EPRLF, was shot dead by unknown gunmen on August 12.
The Sri Lankan government blamed the Liberation Tigers for the killing, which came amid heavy fighting in the Jaffna peninsula (see pages 1-5).
The killing near Vandervet place in Dehiwela Colombo occurred at 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Mr Loganathan received serious gunshot wounds and died on the way to Kalubowila Hospital.
On April 1, 2006, Mr. Loganathan resigned from the Board of Directors and as Head of the Peace and Conflict Analysis Unit of the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a well known Colombo-based think-tank to take up a post with the government’s Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP).
Mr. Loganathan was a member of the EPRLF between 1983 and 1994, and took part in the negotiations between the Sri Lankan Government and Tamil militant groups. These included the Thimpu Peace talks of 1985, at which a coalition of 4 Tamil groups participated, to the Mangala Moonesinghe Parliamentary Select Committee of 1992.
Mr. Loganathan, who resigned from EPRLF in 1995, was a scathing critic of the LTTE.
His killing came two days before Sri Lankan air force bombers attacked a children’s home in LTTE-controlled Mullaitivu, killing 55 youngsters, and a bomb blast in Colombo narrowly missed the vehicle of the Pakistani High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. (see page 11)
The United States condemned the killing of Mr. Loganathan and the attack on the convoy, but was did not comment on the massacre of the teenagers.
In a statement, the US said “it condemns the murder of Mr. Loganathan and mourns the loss of an individual dedicated to bridging communities and building peace in Sri Lanka.”
The Sri Lankan government blamed the Liberation Tigers for the killing, which came amid heavy fighting in the Jaffna peninsula (see pages 1-5).
The killing near Vandervet place in Dehiwela Colombo occurred at 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Mr Loganathan received serious gunshot wounds and died on the way to Kalubowila Hospital.
On April 1, 2006, Mr. Loganathan resigned from the Board of Directors and as Head of the Peace and Conflict Analysis Unit of the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a well known Colombo-based think-tank to take up a post with the government’s Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP).
Mr. Loganathan was a member of the EPRLF between 1983 and 1994, and took part in the negotiations between the Sri Lankan Government and Tamil militant groups. These included the Thimpu Peace talks of 1985, at which a coalition of 4 Tamil groups participated, to the Mangala Moonesinghe Parliamentary Select Committee of 1992.
Mr. Loganathan, who resigned from EPRLF in 1995, was a scathing critic of the LTTE.
His killing came two days before Sri Lankan air force bombers attacked a children’s home in LTTE-controlled Mullaitivu, killing 55 youngsters, and a bomb blast in Colombo narrowly missed the vehicle of the Pakistani High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. (see page 11)
The United States condemned the killing of Mr. Loganathan and the attack on the convoy, but was did not comment on the massacre of the teenagers.
In a statement, the US said “it condemns the murder of Mr. Loganathan and mourns the loss of an individual dedicated to bridging communities and building peace in Sri Lanka.”
