Security heightened in Sri Lankan capital ahead of march for slain lawmaker

Associated Press, Sun November 12, 2006 23:12 EST . DILIP GANGULY - Associated Press Writer - COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) Security was tightened in the Sri Lankan capital Monday ahead of a planned march with the body of a slain Tamil lawmaker who was gunned down last week by unidentified assailants outside his home.

The National Anti-War Front a coalition of 120 civic groups, human rights organizations and opposition political parties also called for a shutdown of Colombo on Monday to protest increasing violence in the country.

``We are closing several roads and there is increased security in the city,'' police spokesman Rienzie Perera told The Associated Press.

Nadaraja Raviraj, a Tamil lawmaker from the pro-rebel Tamil National Alliance party, was assassinated and his bodyguard also killed in Colombo on Friday. The Tamil party has blamed the government for the killing an accusation the administration has denied.

March organizers said the procession with Raviraj's body will culminate in a mass gathering at a popular city park.

Many fear that near-daily attacks and killings are driving the country back toward full-scale war, though the government and Tamil Tigers both say a 2002 cease-fire, which had halted two decades of civil war, is still in place.

Military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said the army was aiding police with security preparations ahead of the march. ``The military is also standing by and will be deployed if there is an emergency,'' Samarasinghe said.

The family of the slain lawmaker and the pro-rebel party want the government to open the key A-9 highway so Raviraj's body can be driven to his hometown of Chavakachcheri, in the Tamil-dominated Jaffna peninsula.

The government has refused to reopen the vital artery that links the country's south to the rebel-controlled north, saying it would allow the guerrillas to freely transport weapons and fighters. The government closed down the highway on Aug. 11 after rebels attacked a military checkpoint.

``Interested parties should not make the opening of the A-9 road an issue for narrow political gain,'' said chief government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella.

The government has said it was willing to fly Raviraj's body to Jaffna for cremation, but the family and his party have yet to agree. The cremation is scheduled for Wednesday.

The failure of talks on reopening the key road led to the collapse of peace talks in Switzerland last month aimed at salvaging the 2002 cease-fire.

The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 in a bid to carve out a separate homeland in the country's north and east for the minority Tamils, who cite discrimination by the ethnic Sinhalese majority.