Sivagnanam Sritharan is a Sri Lankan Tamil teacher, politician and Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

.

Early life

Sritharan was originally from the island of Neduntivu (Delft), Jaffna District

Jaffna District

Jaffna district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The headquarters is located in Jaffna city. Parts of the district were transferred to...

. He then moved to Kandawalai, Kilinochchi District

Kilinochchi District

Kilinochchi district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The headquarters is located in Kilinochchi town...

. He was principal of Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam. 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

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...

.

Political career

Sritharan was one the Tamil National Alliance

Tamil National Alliance

The Tamil National Alliance is a powerful minority Sri Lankan Tamil political alliance in Sri Lanka. It was formed as an amalgamation of moderate Tamil parties as well as number of former rebel groups...

's candidates for Jaffna District

Jaffna Electoral District

Jaffna Electoral District is one of the 22 multi-member electoral districts of Sri Lanka created by the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka. The district covers the administrative districts of Jaffna and Kilinochchi in the Northern province...

 at the 2010 parliamentary election

Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2010

The 2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election was held on April 8 and April 20, 2010, to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 14th Parliament. 14,088,500 Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in the election at 11,102 polling stations...

. He was elected and entered Parliament.

Assassination attempt

On 7 March 2011 Sritharan was traveling in a van from Kilinochchi

Kilinochchi

Kilinochchi is a city in the Kilinochchi District, part of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Kilinochchi is situated at the A9 road some south-east of Jaffna...

 to Colombo

Colombo

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

 to attend a meeting of Parliament

Parliament of Sri Lanka

The Parliament of Sri Lanka is the 225-member unicameral legislature of Sri Lanka. The members of Parliament are elected by proportional representation for six-year terms, with universal suffrage. Parliament reserves the power to make all laws...

 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

A12 highway (Sri Lanka)

The A 12 road is an A-Grade trunk road in Sri Lanka. It connects the Puttalam with Trincomallee.The A 12 passes through Karuwalagaswewa, Palugassegama, Kala Oya, Nochchiyagama, Maha Bulankulama, Anuradhapura, Mihintale, Tammanewa, Kahatagasdigiliya, Morakewa, Horowapotana, Morawewa , Pankulam and...

 near Nochchiyagama, Anuradhapura District

Anuradhapura District

Anuradhapura is a district in North Central Province, Sri Lanka. Its area is 7,179 km².-Demographics:The population according to 2001 census is 745,693 of which 90.7 % are sinhalese, 8.3 % Sri Lankan Moors, 0.7 % native Sri Lankan tamils and 0.1 % tamils of Indian origin...

, when three men standing by a white van parked on the roadside pulled out guns and started shooting at Sritharan's van. 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

Eelam People's Democratic Party

The Eelam People's Democratic Party is a political party and a pro-government paramilitary organization in Sri Lanka. It is led by its founder Douglas Devananda.-Background:...

, a government backed paramilitary group, for the assassination attempt. The EPDP has been implicated in a number of assassinations. Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa

Chamal Rajapaksa

Chamal Jayantha Rajapaksa is the current Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and former Cabinet Minister of Ports, Aviation, Irrigation and Water Management. He hails from a well known political family in Sri Lanka. His father, D. A...

has ordered an investigation into the assassination attempt.