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In the name of liberation:
LTTE assassinated outstanding intellectuals
by Indeewara THILAKARATHNE
 During
the three decades of terrorism, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or
better known for its acronym LTTE assassinated a large number of
academics, intellectuals, promising national leaders and statesmen whom
LTTE perceived as potential threats to its bloody military campaign to
curve out a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka. Some of outstanding
personalities were cold-bloodedly assassinated by using suicide members
in order to establish the myth that the LTTE was the sole representative
of Tamils. The long list includes Dr. Rajini Thiranagama, Dr. Neelan
Thiruchelvam who was the head of Bandaranaike Centre for International
Studies (BCIS) and Lakshman Kadirgamar.
Dr. Rajini Thiranagama (nee Rajasingham)
Perhaps the most famous Tamil Human rights activist gunned down by
LTTE following her criticism of the movement over LTTE's atrocities. She
was assassinated in September 21, 1989 in Thirunelvely, Jaffna by the
LTTE whilst serving as the Head of Department of Anatomy at the
University of Jaffna. She was also a founder member of the Jaffna branch
of University Teachers for Human Rights.
A remarkable characteristic of her struggle for the rights of the
Tamils and particularly of the women was the radical shift of her
political positions from firm believer in the armed struggle to a fierce
human rights activist.
In her early days, she joined the LTTE inspired by her elder sister
Nirmala.
However, having witnessed the human rights violations and LTTE's
narrow nationalism, Rajini thoroughly disenchanted with the LTTE and
co-authored a book titled "The Broken Palmyra".
Following her assassination, the late Rajini wentdown in history as a
worldwide icon of the human rights crusade. Her mammary and life was
immortalized with the launch of the documentary titled "No More Tears
Sister' An Anatomy of Hope and Betrayal" produced in 1985 by the
National Film Board of Canada.
Rajini's assassination goes down in the history as a potent symbol of
LTTE's brutality and its total disregard for Human Rights.
Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam, internationally respected academic
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Dr. Rajini Thiranagama |
Uma
Maheshwaran |
"For reasons best known to themselves, colleagues from Neelan
Tiruchelvam's party, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), have
pointedly refrained from naming the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
as the perpetrator of the crime. The LTTE in its customary fashion
neither claimed credit nor denied responsibility. Yet two factors point
significantly to the involvement of the Tigers in the murder. First, the
human bomb has become the trademark of an LTTE-type assassination. The
second and more important factor was the consistent hostility displayed
by the LTTE towards Neelan Tiruchelvam. Tiger-controlled media organs in
Sri Lanka and abroad had been attacking him for nearly four years now.
Tamil politicians and newspapers in Colombo, seeking to curry favour
with the Tigers, too followed suit. As for LTTE propaganda, Neelan
Tiruchelvam had been the most reviled Tamil politician and the pet
object of hate. The LTTE's poet laureate, Puthuvai Rathinadurai, writing
under the pseudonym Viyaa san, constantly referred to him as a throgi
(traitor), who clung to President Chandrika Kumaratunga's munthanai
(free end of the saree) and who had to be destroyed.
The LTTE had been preparing the ground for the assassination. This is
the method it has usually adopted: first it would denigrate Tamil
politicians thereby creating a hostile climate and building up mass
ill-feeling towards them, and then strike. Now, the LTTE-controlled
media started its second phase of the campaign. While the "official"
LTTE remained silent, its minions in the media attacked Neelan
Tiruchelvam, describing him as a traitor. The Tiger mouthpiece in
Canada, Muzhakkam (Thunder), for instance, published a diatribe, which
accused Tiruchelvam, among other things, of intending to "implement the
devolution package during his visiting professorship tenure scheduled
for this autumn/fall."
The LTTE and its supporters had been critical of the constitutional
reforms proposals, known generally as the devolution package which seek
to find a solution to the decades-old ethnic strife. It was the legal,
constitutional and political expertise of Neelan Tiruchelvam that
contributed to the formulation of the package. While Sinhala hardliners
accuse him of promoting separatism by trying to push through the
devolution package, the LTTE and its cohorts accuse him of betraying
Tamil interests. These contrasting allegations made by the hawks on both
sides are proof enough that Tiruchelvam was on the right track in
seeking a negotiated settlement that would provide maximum devolution.
The criticism of Tiruchelvam by Tamil separatists and the silence of the
"official" LTTE showed clearly who was behind the assassination.
 Ironically,
the Sinhala sections, which had earlier maintained that the package was
detrimental to their interests, now state that the LTTE killed Neelan
Tiruchelvam because he was trying to promote a package that was harmful
to the interests of the Tamils. It is not difficult to discern that
beneath the veneer of professed sympathy, the Sinhala sections want
devolution denied and a hard line adopted against the LTTE. It would be
doubly ironical to abort the devolution exercise on the pretext of the
death of a person, whose political passion was to see it through.
Various theories are afloat about the motive and timing of the
killing.
While the most common one is that it was a signal to the proponents
of devolution to abandon the process, others believe that it was part of
an overall assault on TULF itself. Another view is that the Tigers
feared that Neelan Tiruchelvam would indulge in international propaganda
against them during his tenure at the Harvard University and so launched
a pre-emptive strike. There is also the personality factor. While there
is no definite answer to the question of why now, some reflection on the
possibilities, nevertheless, throw more light on the question.
In the first place, Tiruchelvam was under LTTE threat ever since the
original set of devolution proposals were released in August 1995. The
state provided some security. Given the relative "ease" with which the
lone assassin carried out his assignment at the Rosemead Place-Kynsey
Road intersection in Colombo on July 29, the question that arises is why
it was delayed.
 While accepting the fact that the LTTE required a certain amount of
time for reconnaissance and planning, it is improbable that it needed
four years to demolish what was essentially a soft target. There are
four probable reasons for this delay. It may have been that the cadres
assigned this task were probably not able to accomplish it owing to
unforeseen circumstances. For instance, members of that specific
assassination cell or those providing logistical support may have been
arrested unintentionally by the authorities or may have had to shift
duties. These complications may have hindered an early execution of the
plan.
The second reason could perhaps have been Tiruchelvam's extensive
travel schedule. As one of the world's leading intellectuals and
constitutional experts, he was in constant demand. His general itinerary
was flitting from country to country to attend seminars, deliver
lectures and workshops and so on. On several occasions he would return
to Colombo on one day and undertake another trip the following day. Such
frequent travel meant irregular periods of stay in Colombo. His
infrequent and unpredictable movements may have thwarted the plans of
his potential assassins.
Neelan
Tiruchelvam himself believed that the LTTE would not deploy a suicide
bomber but only use a gunman/woman to kill him. He felt that human bombs
were meant only for important and high-profile targets such as Rajiv
Gandhi and R. Premadasa. It was perhaps a manifestation of his modesty
that he considered himself a target of lesser importance. But when the
LTTE used suicide killers to target Chief Inspector of Police Mohammed
Nilabdeen in an abortive bid in Mount Lavinia and another to kill Eelam
People's Revolutionary Liberation Front's (EPRLF) para-military leader
Razeek in Batticaloa, it became clear that the Tigers had reached a
desperate situation wherein relatively unimportant victims too had
become their targets. In that sense, it was inevitable that Neelan
Tiruchelvam too would have be targeted by a suicide killer. "states
J.B.S. Jeyaraj in an article in the aftermath of assassination of Dr.
Neelan Tiruchelvam. It is obvious that LTTE perceived Dr. Tiruchelvam as
the biggest ideological threat to its military campaign for Eelam.
Although Sinhala hardliners believed that devolution package was the
first step towards separatism, LTTE perceived it as the biggest threat
for its Eelam project. Dr. Tiruchelvam founded the International Centre
for Ethnic Studies and also founded the Law and Society Trust.
Internationally respected academic, social scientist, feminist and
humanist, Tiruchelvam was one of the best product of Sri Lanka who was a
role model of a Sri Lankan. Dr. Tiruchelvam was an ardent advocate of a
non-violent and negotiated solution for the crisis and was a staunch
critic of LTTE's gross violations of human rights and it's reluctance to
enter into serious negotiations. In recognition of his outstanding
contribution to the field of law, scholars from 57 countries voted to
award him posthumously with the first Law and Society Association
International Prize in 2001. It is "in recognition of scholarship that
has contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge in the
field of law and society". Dr. Tiruchelvam was assassinated by LTTE's
suicide member on July 29, 1999.
Sri Lankabhimanya Lakshman Kadirgamar PC (April 12, 1932 - August
12, 2005)
Hailed as the best Foreign Minister Sri Lanka ever had, Lakshman
Kadigamar PC was responsible for officially banning the LTTE
internationally and making the world at large aware of the LTTE which
was masquerading as freedom fighters, sometimes, drawing parallels with
the struggle of Palestine and struggle launched against apartheid in
South Africa. LTTE terrorist sniper assassinated him at his private
residence on August 12, 2005.
LTTE could not tolerate Kadirgamar being the Foreign Minister of Sri
Lanka which was identified as Sinhalese government and that the LTTE was
the sole representative of the Tamils. Foreign Minister Lakshman
Kadirgamar became the prime target of LTTE following its international
ban and cracked down on its multimillion fund-raising campaign which
sustained LTTE's killing machine in Sri Lanka. |
