The gunning down of a Tamil opposition politician when he prayed at a Hindu temple in Colombo on New Year’s eve has once again put pressure on the government to bring to book those, who were responsible for the political assassinations in recent months.

Assassinated MP T.Maheswaran of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) was a leading critic of the governments handing the violations of human rights particularly of members of the Tamil community residing in Colombo and the suburbs.

He has also been critical of the extra-judicial killings that have been taking place in the northern Jaffna peninsula in recent months.

He is the third Tamil Legislator to be killed in the past two years with Joseph Pararajasingham killed in December 2005 and Nadarajah Raviraj killed in November 2006. Both were members of the Tamil National Alliance, the main Tamil political party in Parliament and their murders remain unsolved.

Another Tamil Legislator from Colombo Mano Ganeshan announced last week that he was fleeing the country after intelligence sources warned him that his life was in danger. He too was a leading human rights advocator of the Tamils.

The latest killing is going to put further pressure on the government, which had been under fire for its poor human rights record.