by T. Sabaratnam, December 11, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 21 Original index of series| President Jayewardene thought that Brigadier Weeratunga’s Operation Round Up had sufficiently weakened Tamil militants and decided to consolidate his position .”through political process by implementing the proposals of the Presidential Commission on District Development Councils, which he had appointed on 8… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Biography
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap. 21 The Split of the LTTE
by T. Sabaratnam, December 3, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 20 Original index of series| The Uma – Urmila Affair Pirapaharan could not believe his ears when his colleagues told him that Uma Maheswaran was having sex with Urmila. When convinced, he thundered: The chairman is flouting the code of conduct he is expected to strictly… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap. 20 Jaffna Turned Torture Chamber
by T. Sabaratnam, November 24, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 19 Original index of series| State Terrorism in Action Jaffna tasted state terror on a gruesome scale for the first time on the night of 13 July 1979. Around midnight that dark night two vehicles without number plates left the Jaffna Residency, which had been hurriedly taken… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap. 19 Balasingam Enters the Scene
by T. Sabaratnam, November 17, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 18 Original index of series| Chat Session #217 November 2003 Dear Readers, I think we have struck the correct wavelength. I received three mails, on 28, 29 and 30. In the second, A. Mylvaganam from Toronto, Canada pointed out the slip I made about the author of… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap. 18 Tamils Lose Faith in Commissions
by T. Sabaratnam, November 12, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 17 Original index of series| Lost Faith in Judiciary Police Inspector Gurusamy was killed by TELO as punishment for the role he played in the police cover game of the events connected to the August 1977 anti- Tamil riots. His assassination was the signal of the loss… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap. 17 Sinhala-Tamil Tension Mounts
by T. Sabaratnam, November 4, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 16 Original index of series Hate Campaign The Tinnaveli Bank robbery angered Jayewardene and annoyed the police and the army. Jayewardene and his backers stepped up their campaign against the TULF and the Tamils, and the police and the army increased their attacks on the Tamils. The… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap. 16 Wresting Weapons from the Enemy
by T. Sabaratnam, October 27, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 15 Original index of series| Original Vol. 1, Chapter 16 Chat Session Now that we have progressed to some extent we must start talking. Talking to the readers is one of the facilities the internet offers; we can talk as we progress. The purpose of this session… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1 Chap. 15: The Ban, J.R.’s Gift
by T. Sabaratnam, October 20, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 14 Original index of series| Typed in Amir’s Typewriter The group that killed Bastiampillai traveled in his Peugeot 404 to Kilinochchi where they burnt the vehicle in the midst of the thick jungle. They then split into small groups and went to their Vavuniya camp, Poonthoddam…. Read more »
Piraparaharan: Vol.1, Chap.14 The LTTE Comes into the Open
by T. Sabaratnam, October 13, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 13 Original index of series| Destroying the Police Network The Sirimavo Bandaranaike government took Alfred Duraiappah’s murder as a challenge. It ordered the arrest of the killers before his funeral. The task was given to the police party headed by Inspectors Bastiampillai and Pathmanathan. Both had… Read more »
Piraparaharan: Vol.1, Chap.13 Militants Come to the Fore
by T. Sabaratnam, October 19, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 12 Original index of series| Chapter 13: Militants come to the Fore Jayewardene’s media attack on Amirthalingam, the police rampage in Jaffna and the 1977 riots had the combined effect of pushing the Tamil moderates aside and brought the militants to the fore. Jayewardene’s expectation that… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap.12 Moderates Ignore Mandate
by T. Sabaratnam, September 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 11 Original index of series| Original Chapter 12 Opposition Leader Tamils of the north and east of Sri Lanka had declared “their will to exist as a separate entity ruling themselves in their own territory” since the Kankesanthurai by-election held on 6 February 1975. As Thanthai Chelva declared… Read more »
Piraparaharan: Vol.1, Chap.11 The Mandate Ratified
by T. Sabaratnam, September 25, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 10 Original index of series| Original Vol. 1, Chapter 11 Thanthai’s Final Declaration For five reasons 1977 was an important year in the history of the Sri Lankan Tamil problem. In that year both major Sinhala parties, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United… Read more »
G. G. Ponnambalam (1902-1977): His Power and Plight as a Tamil Leader
by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 8, 2020 Front Note: My father Siva Sachithanantham (1923-2003) was a fan of G.G. Ponnambalam’s theatrics in the political platforms and legal arena. He developed this fascination during the 1930s (when he was a teenager, and ‘Ponnan’ was his first local political hero), when Ponnambalam first contested the Point Pedro… Read more »
Dharmaretnam Sivaram: ‘Appa died doing what he loved most’
By Vaishnavi Sivaram, Vaitheki Sivaram & Andrew Seralaathan Dharmaretnam, Journalists for a Democracy in Sri Lanka, April 29, 2020 This year marks the 15th anniversary of our father’s death and to this day, no one has been convicted for his murder. We are not surprised by this and neither is our family looking for justice. The Sri… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap.10 The Mandate Affirmed
by T. Sabaratnam, September 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 9 Original index of series| Original Vol. 1, Chapter 10 Chapter 10: The Mandate Affirmed Vaddukoddai Resolution Nine days after Pirapaharan founded the LTTE, the Tamil United Front held its first national convention at Pannakam in Vaddukoddai in the Jaffna Peninsula. It passed the historic ‘Vaddukoddai Resolution’… Read more »
Piraparaharan: Vol.1, Chap.9 TNT Matures into the LTTE
by T. Sabaratnam, September 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 8 Original index of series| Original Vol. 1, Chapter 9 Chapter 9: TNT matures into the LTTE The need for a Veeran The Duraiappah murder delivered the message Pirapaharan wanted to convey: a new force prepared to hit back had entered the Tamil scene. That created a… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap. 8 First Military Operation
by T. Sabaratnam, September 1, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 7 Original index of series| Original Vol. 1, Chapter 8 Pirapaharan Returns Pirapaharan did what Sivakumaran failed to do. He killed Alfred Duraiappah. Sivakumaran’s death was one of the factors that induced Pirapaharan to return to Jaffna, the scene of action. With the death of Sivakumaran, the… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol. 1, Chap. 7 The Cyanide Suicide
by T. Sabaratnam, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 6 Original index of series| Original Vol. 1, Chapter 7 Sivakumaran The death of nine spectators during the closing ceremony of the Fourth International Tamil Research Conference ended all the efforts Sirimavo Bandaranaike government had been making in 1973 to pacify the Tamil United Front. The deaths pained… Read more »
Pirapaharan: Vol.1, Chap.6 Birth of Tamil New Tigers
by T. Sabaratnam, August 15, 2003 Volume 1, Chapter 5 Original index of series Original Volume 1, Chapter 6 Pirapaharan entered the freedom struggle in the role of a leader of an armed group when he was 17 years old. He led a bomb attack on 17 September 1972 at the carnival held at Duraiappah… Read more »
Tanthai Chelvanayagam Remembrance
by M K Eelaventhan, March 26, 2019 M.K. Eelaventhan spoke at the Mullivaikal May 18th Remembrance Day at Queens Park, Toronto, Canada: Tamils’ freedom struggles have undergone three stages of development. First thirty years was unarmed struggle headed by Thanthai Chelvanayagam, the venerated leader of the Tamils. But the Sinhala fanatics refused to give a… Read more »