Dilrook Kannangara

Ganesan was elected to parliament for the first time in 1994 with close to a hundred thousand votes. He did very well at subsequent elections in 2000, 2001 and 2004. A very good election performance in four consecutive elections; facing stiffest competition as he contested the Colombo district. He maintained a low profile until 2004. However, after 2004 he became an active participant of LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s peaceful operations. That made him unpopular among his voters who never supported the LTTE, TNA or other LTTE connected entities. He was taken out of Colombo and introduced in Kandy where there is a larger Indian Tamil population percentage than Colombo. And he lost!

His brother made it to parliament from the Colombo district and subsequently crossed the floor to the government side in order to better serve his people. GanesanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s petty party ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” DPF ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” had no other MPs. Ganesan was furious with his brother for doing the right thing. He tried various means to creep into parliament and all his attempts failed.

Having failed in all democratic attempts to get to power, his party activists tried violence. A usual trend in all peaceful LTTE supporters. They take up weapons when things donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t go their way. A DPF activist by the name Darsan was arrested in Thalawakele for possession of firearms ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” a few T56 automatic assault rifles to be precise. He was crossing from party to party but this was the first time he was found to have taken up arms! Obviously the plan was to entice him to take up weapons by his petty partyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s leadership. Given DarsanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s allegiance with the ruling party, Ganesan would have thought his man could escape punishment. It was a costly mistake.

The background to attempted violence by the DPF activist can be traced to some isolated but organised violent events in the upcountry. Recently a mob of violent Indian Tamil men killed a Sinhala security guard sparking a small riot. Among the murderers were many recent illegal immigrants from Tamil Nadu. There were many reported attempts of using weapons to terrorize locals by mobs connected to this group. T56s recovered from the possession of the DPF activist and explosives earlier recovered are all part of this plot.

By allowing a known LTTE supporter to roam free, now in the upcountry, since the 2010 April election, the government is unnecessarily putting the security in the hills at risk. Coupled with poverty, frustration, illegal migration and lack of education facilities, a few upcountry Tamils may be fooled by this known LTTE supporter to crime and violence. His action threatens the peaceful political activists of CWC and UPF too. Government should urgently look into this known LTTE supporterƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s activities closely.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

When he was transferred from Colombo to the upcountry after a 16 year spate, the security establishment should have realized the shift in his clandestine activities from Colombo to the upcountry. At one point he addressed LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Pongu Tamil events, regularly visited LTTE leaders and acted as an authorised doorkeeper to LTTE leaders. According to his own admissions, he was approached by high ranking UNP and SLFP activists to get appointments with SP Tamilchelvam ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” a hardcore terrorist also known as the smiling assassin. Such dangers to national security should not be overlooked