Rajapakse condemns assassination of Tamil peace official

Colombo, Aug 12: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse today vehmently condemned the assassination of Deputy Director General of the government Peace Secretariat, Kethesh Loganathan, and accused the Tamil Tiger rebels of being behind the killing.

''President Rajapakse was shocked to hear the assassination of Mr Loganathan and vehemently condemned it. President believed it to be the work of the LTTE,'' President's spokesman Chandrapala Liyanage told over the phone.

Mr Liyanage said the President believed that Mr Loganathan was on the hit-list of the LTTE and had offered him tight security, but he did not want any bodyguards as he was leading a simple life with his wife Bawani.

His domestic aide confirmed that he was shot at his house in Dehiwela. He had died while being taken to the hospital.

Mr Loganathan was appointed to the Peace Secretariat by President Rajapakse early this year.

Mr Loganathan graduated from Georgetown University, Washington D C in 1975 and obtained his MA in Development Studies at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, in 1985.

Mr Loganathan was directly involved in the ethnic conflict as well as attempts at seeking a negotiated settlement during the periods 1983-88 and 1992-94. He was the only member of the Tamil delegation who participated in both rounds of Thimpu talks.

He also participated in the formal and informal processes of negotiations relating to the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement (1987) and the Parliamentary Select Committee process in 1992-93.

In early 1995 Mr Loganathan withdrew from party politics and affiliations. He is a well-known writer, journalist and a political think tank. Prior to his appointment at the Peace Secretariat, he was Research Consultant at the private Centre for Policy Alternative (CPA).

UNI