The assassination came barely a week after the Colombo government had announced its intention of placing its constitutional package on which its peace hopes rest before Parliament in August. It has widely been acknowledged that Neelan Tiruchelvam provided most of the input into this package from the Tamil side. Although even his own party, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), did not directly accuse the Tigers of being responsible for the brazen attack, it was obvious to everyone that only the Tigers had a motive for the killing and, for that matter, had the capacity to execute it with the split-second precision that was clearly evident.T
Dr Tiruchelvam was a gifted lawyer, a President's Counsel in Sri Lanka, an intellectual, academic and human rights activist with ready access to the major players in the Lankan polity. Though not an elected Member of Parliament, he was nominated to the legislature by the TULF in preference to the son of S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, the idolised founding father of the Federal Party, the predecessor of TULF. Equipped with a razor-sharp mind and finely-honed debating skills, he was the natural choice for negotiations between the Tamil moderates and the Sinhalese majority belonging to both the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which dominates the ruling People's Alliance (PA) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP).
His killing has added to the conviction of many Sri Lankans who believe that the only way in which the troubled island can find peace, is by militarily subduing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and/or liquidating its megalomaniac leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. As a leading Colombo newspaper put it, "This incident is one more illustration of the futility of trying to resolve this country's internal conflict with constitutional reforms before the principal threat to constitutional government in this country, namely the LTTE, is neutralised."
The recent events in Northern Ireland have amply demonstrated that peace could be ultimately achieved not by the willingness of reasonable people on both sides of the divide to talk, but on the willingness of the militants (or "terrorists", as President Chandrika Kumaratunga no longer hesitates to brand the Tigers) to lay down their arms. There is no shortage of eminent people urging Kumaratunga to talk to the Tigers. They come from the political, academic, religious and business spheres and their calls have been becoming increasingly strident in recent months. In fact, one group used a condolence message issued in connection with Tiruchelvam's death to lament Colombo's failure "to engage constructively with the LTTE".