Posts Categorized: Biography

by T. Sabaratnam, March 11, 2005 Chapter 37 Original index to series Original Chapter 38 [renumbered from Chapter 36, Part II] – The Tamil delegation did not permit the government representatives to present their proposals.  The Tamils told the government delegation they wanted to raise two matters that flowed from the opening statement of Hector… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, March 4, 2005 Chapter 36 Original index to series Original Chapter 37 [renumbered from Chapter 36, Part 1] I covered the press conference at the Indian High Commission at Colombo Fort on 14 July 1985, the day after the collapse of the First Round of the Thimpu talks.  That was the first… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, February 25, 2005 Chapter 35 Original index to series Original Chapter 36 [renumbered from Chapter 35, Part II] The First Round (Continued) As indicated in the previous chapter, the first day of the Thimpu Talks was devoted to the inauguration.  Talks commenced on the second day, 9 July 1985. The entire morning… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, February 18, 2005 Chapter 34 Original index to series Original Chapter 35 On 3 July 1985 the ENLF leaders – Pirapaharan, Sri Sabaratnam, Pathmanabha and Balakumar – and their assistants were flown in an airforce plane to Delhi and were accommodated in the five-star Hotel Ashok. RAW officials accompanied them and kept… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, February 11, 2005 Chapter 33 Original index to series Original Chapter 34 The ceasefire came into effect on 18 June 1985.  The ENLF leaders realized that Athulathmudali had outsmarted them by declaring the ceasefire unilaterally.  Tamil liberation groups were forced to observe the ceasefire for fear of offending India and the international… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, February 5, 2005 Chapter 32 Original index to series Original Chapter 33 Special note: Mr. J. N. Dixit and Mr. Shankar Raji died while I was writing this chapter.  Both were younger than me.  Both provided me with a wealth of information concerning the events about which I am currently writing.  Dixit… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, January 28, 2005 Chapter 31 Original index to series Original Chapter 32 I was with Indian Foreign Secretary Romesh Bhandari in his office in South Block doing an interview for the Daily News on 23 May 1985 when the door opened and a short person peeped in.  “Excuse me for two minutes,” Bhandari told… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, January 21, 2005 Chapter 30 Original index to series Original Chapter 31 On 10 April 1985, the day the Jaffna police station was flattened, the LTTE joined the Eelam National Liberation Front (ENLF), an umbrella organization of Tamil militant groups formed exactly a year earlier.  The three groups, TELO, EPRLF and EROS,… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, December 24, 2004 Chapter 29 Original index to series Original Chapter 30 The Kokkilai attack of 13 February 1985, which Jayewardene acknowledged had changed the character of the Tamil armed struggle and had been timed to coincide with the Rajiv – Gandhi – Athulathmudali meeting, was not a total success.  It failed… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, December 17, 2004 Chapter 28 Original index to series Original Chapter 29 Indira Gandhi’s assassination on 31 October 1984 provided President Jayewardene an opportunity to wriggle out of the peace process and pursue the military option he had carefully mapped out.  He abruptly discontinued the All Party Conference on 26 December 1984… Read more »

By  T. Sabaratnam, December 10, 2004 Chapter 27 Original index to series Original Chapter 28 On the Cover Page Sunday, India’s leading news magazine in 1984, created a sensation in India and Sri Lanka by featuring Pirapaharan’s first media interview in its 11-17 March issue. The cover carried a colour photograph of a wide-eyed, chubby-cheeked… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, December 3, 2004 Chapter 26 Original index to series Original Chapter 27 Massive Fund In April 1984 Pirapaharan met for the first-time Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran, idol of legions of Tamils. The meeting bonded them and brought about a historic change in the freedom struggle of the Sri Lankan… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, November 25, 2004 Chapter 25 Original index to series Original Chapter 26 Three Factors 1984 is a milestone in the life of Pirapaharan and in the history of Tamil freedom struggle.  In that year, as I indicated in Chapter 21, Pirapaharan switched over from hit-and-run guerrilla combat to sustained guerrilla warfare, and… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, November 19, 2004 Chapter 24 Original index to series Original Chapter 25 Dear Editor, This is my personal experience with Lalith Athulathmudali regarding the Jaffna violence in reference to the ongoing articles by Mr. Sabaratnam.  It was 1986 and I was the vice-president of the Government Medical Officer’s Association (GMOA).  Dr. Stanmore… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, November 15, 2004 Chapter 23 Original index to series Original Chapter 24 Bus Massacre  I traced in Chapter 21 the events that led Pirapaharan to switch the mode of struggle from hit and run guerrilla warfare to sustained guerrilla combat and the manner in which the country slipped into the First Eelam… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, November 5, 2004 Chapter 22 Original index to series Original Chapter 23 On the Sly The Yan Oya settlement that would break the territorial contiguity of Tamil Eelam between Trincomalee and Mullaitivu districts was started on the sly.  The planners of the project wanted to settle Sinhalese along the Yan Oya (river)… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, October 29, 2004 Chapter 21 Original index to series Original Chapter 22 Smashing the Basis Home Minister K. W. Devanayagam’s coordinating secretary K. G. John telephoned me in the morning of 8 September 1983 and said the minister wanted to meet me on an urgent matter.  I met him in his ministry…. Read more »

A reader sent the following information to add to this series on the life and times of Pirapaharan. We encourage all readers to send us their understanding of this history of us all. It is no exaggeration Pirabakaran’s life is also the history of the heroic Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.  Pirabakaran joined the Tamil Students Forum… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, October 15, 2004 Chapter 19 Original index to series Original Chapter 20 Shift in Allegiance 1984 is a milestone in the Tamil freedom struggle.  In that year, Tamils finally abandoned their faith in non-violence and peace talks.  In that year, they shifted their allegiance from the ‘non-violent leaders’ to the ‘violent boys.’ And… Read more »

by T. Sabaratnam, October 8, 2004 Chapter 18 Original index to series Original Chapter 19 In Lake House, there was jubilation when the story of the TULF satyagraha held in Jaffna on 25 July spread. The joy infected the Sinhala people as radio and television broadcast the news. I was at the weekly press briefing at the… Read more »