UPFA lead candidate attacked in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 March 2011, 11:40 GMT]
Ali Zahir Mowlana, former parliamentarian of the Batticaloa district and currently the lead candidate of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance contesting the Ea'raavoor Urban Council that is scheduled to held on Thursday, was critically injured in an attack that took place Wednesday afternoon at Ea'raavoor, sources in the East said.

Mowlana was first admitted to the Ea'raavoor general hospital and later transferred to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital as his condition is reported to be critical, sources said.

Mowlana was elected to parliament in the 2004 general election on the ticket of the main opposition United National Party (UNP). He later went abroad following allegation that he was responsible for the breakaway of the LTTE by bringing Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan alias Karuna to the government side.

After the end of the war he returned and joined the ruling UPFA.