S. Sritharan

Honourable
 S. Sritharan
MP
Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament
for Jaffna District
Incumbent
Assumed office
2010
Personal details
Political party Tamil National Alliance
Residence 72, 7/2, Hambden Lane, Wellawatta, Colombo 06, Sri Lanka
Profession Teacher
Religion Hindu
Ethnicity Sri Lankan Tamil
Website www.shritharan.com

Sivagnanam Sritharan (also spelt Shritharan) is a Sri Lankan Tamil teacher, politician and Member of Parliament.

Contents

Early life

Sritharan was originally from the island of Neduntivu (Delft), Jaffna District. He then moved to Kandawalai, Kilinochchi District. He was principal of Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam.[1] He is married to the sister of Velayuthapillai Baheerathakumar (alias Brigadier Theepan) who was a senior military commander in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Political career

Sritharan was one the Tamil National Alliance's candidates for Jaffna District at the 2010 parliamentary election. He was elected and entered Parliament.[2]

Assassination attempt

On 7 March 2011 Sritharan was traveling in a van from Kilinochchi to Colombo to attend a meeting of Parliament the following day. Traveling with Sritharan in the van were three others including a police guard. At around 5.30pm the van was on the A12 highway near Nochchiyagama, Anuradhapura District, when three men standing by a white van parked on the roadside pulled out guns and started shooting at Sritharan's van.[3][4] The men also threw hand grenades at the van. Sritharan's police guard fired back, forcing the attackers to flee in their white van which had no number plates. No one was hurt in the incident. Sritharan has blamed the Eelam People's Democratic Party, a government backed paramilitary group, for the assassination attempt.[5] The EPDP has been implicated in a number of assassinations. Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa has ordered an investigation into the assassination attempt.[6]

References

  1. ^ "SLA soldiers obstruct ITAK candidate from campaigning in Ki'linochchi". TamilNet. 12 March 2010. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31349. Retrieved 14 April 2010. 
  2. ^ "Parliamentary General Election - 2010 Jaffna Preferences". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/GE2010_preferences/Jaffna_pref_GE2010.pdf. 
  3. ^ "TNA MP’s car shot at". Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 8 March 2011. http://print.dailymirror.lk/news/front-page-news/37611.html. 
  4. ^ "TNA MP Sritharan narrowly escapes assassination in Anuradhapura". TamilNet. 7 March 2011. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33642. 
  5. ^ D. B. S. Jeyaraj (12 March 2011). "ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TNA PARLIAMENTARIAN SRITHARAN". Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). http://print.dailymirror.lk/opinion1/37958.html. 
  6. ^ Indrajith, Saman (8 March 2011). "Speaker says will have attack on TNA MP probed". The Island, Sri Lanka. http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=20184.