Anton Balasingham

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Voice of the Nation
Adele Ann Wilby

Anton Balasingham Stanislaus (

Sri Lankan Tamil journalist, rebel and chief political strategist and chief negotiator for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka
.

Early life and family

Balasingham was born on 4 March 1938.

Hindu priest.[7][1]

Balasingham's parents

Nelliady Central College.[5][7][1]

Balasingham was raised a

Adele Ann Wilby
.

Career

Colombo

With Sivagnanasundaram's help, Balasingham became a

hypnotism.[7][1]

Balasingham then got a job as a

translator at the British High Commission in Colombo.[5][7][1][8] He fell in love with Pearl Rasaratnam, a Tamil Methodist woman and daughter of a former principal of Hartley College, who was working at the British Council next to the High Commission.[7][1][9] The couple married on 16 July 1968 at Kollupitiya Methodist Church.[9] Pearl was a sick woman and so the couple decided to move to the UK for treatment.[7][1][9] With the help of the British High Commission the couple left Sri Lanka on 3 August 1971.[7][1][9]

London

Balasingham and Pearl lived in a small flat in

interred at Kanatte Cemetery following a memorial service at Kollupitiya Methodist Church.[9] Balasingham returned to the UK.[9]

During his wife's illness Balasingham became acquainted with

dissertation on Marxism.[7][1] He started a PhD course under John Taylor but didn't complete his studies.[7][1][10][a]

Balasingham's interest in left-wing politics continued in London, getting involved in Marxism and the

E. Ratnasabapathy and K. Pathmanabha.[7][1] He was recruited into the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by its London representative N. S. Krishnan.[7][1][10] Balasingham wrote leaflets and pamphlets in English and Tamil and carried out translation for the LTTE.[7][1]

LTTE

Balasingham and Wilby travelled to

Madras, Tamil Nadu.[7][1] Balasingham became the LTTE's theoretician and chief spokesman.[7][1] Though Balasingham didn't take part in the 1985 Thimpu talks he was in constant contact with the LTTE delegation (Lawrence Thilagar and Anton Sivakumar) and gave them instructions.[7][1][11] Following the failure of the peace talks the Indian government expelled Balasingham who returned to London.[7][1] Pressure from Tamil Nadu politicians resulted in the Indian government allowing Balasingham to return to Tamil Nadu.[7][1]

Sri Lankan intelligence tried to assassinate Balasingham by planting a bomb in his house.[7][1] Kandasamy Naidu, a former Sri Lankan police officer and politician, was arrested in connection with the attempted assassination.[7][1] Balasingham accompanied Prabhakaran to important meetings, such as that with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Bangalore in 1986, to act as translator and political adviser.[7][1][11] When Prabhakaran returned to Jaffna in 1987 Balasingham remained in Madras to oversee political work but later he and Wilby also moved to Jaffna.[7][1] When war erupted between the LTTE and Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in late 1987 Balasingham and Wilby became targets for the Indian Army.[7][1] The couple went on the run and managed to evade capture by moving from house to house.[7][1] They eventually returned to London via India.[7][1]

Balasingham returned to Sri Lanka in 1990 to lead the LTTE delegation in the peace talks in Colombo.

Jaffna peninsula in 1995/96 the LTTE withdrew to the Vanni and Balasingham and Wilby relocated to Thiruvaiyaru near Kilinochchi.[7][1] Later they moved to Puthukkudiyiruppu.[7][1]

By now Balasingham's health was deteriorating due to renal complications.

Phuket in Thailand.[7][1][3] Balasingham was taken to hospital in Bangkok where it was discovered that he had an enlarged kidney which needed to be removed.[7][1] Balasingham was taken to Singapore and onto London.[7][1][3] He was allowed to go to Oslo, Norway where he received a transplanted kidney donated by Donald, a young Sri Lankan Tamil.[7][1]

Balasingham and Lasantha Wickrematunge discuss cease-fire agreement for Wickrematunge’s talk show

After recovering Balasingham resumed his pursuit of peace.

bile duct cancer and given 6–8 weeks to live.[7][1][14] The cancer spread to his liver, lungs, abdomen and bones.[7][1][14][15] Speaking of his illness, Balasingham told the TamilNet website "when compared to the vast ocean of the collective tragedy faced by my people, my illness is merely a pebble".[8][14][16] Balasingham died on 14 December 2006 at his home in South London.[3][17] On that day the LTTE conferred the title Thesathin Kural (Voice of the Nation) on Balasingham.[1][2][18] Balasingham's funeral was held on 20 December 2006 at Alexandra Palace, London with a parallel service in the Vanni region.[19]

Further reading

Notes

  1. ^ Another source states that Balasingham gained a PhD.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (17 December 2006). "Bala Annai was the voice of the Tamil Eelam nation". The Sunday Leader.
  2. ^ a b "LTTE leader salutes 'Voice of the Nation'". TamilNet. 14 December 2006.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Obituary: Anton Balasingham". The Times. 15 December 2006.
  4. ^ "Tamil Tigers' top negotiator dies". BBC News. 14 December 2006.
  5. ^ a b c d Gardiner, Barry (2 January 2007). "Obituary:Anton Balasingham". The Guardian.
  6. ^ Bastians, Dharisha; Indraguptha, Gihan (17 December 2006). "Prabha loses his 'guiding star'". The Nation (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 13 January 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  7. ^
    The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)
    .
  8. ^ a b c Huggler, Justin (18 December 2006). "Obituary: Anton Balasingham". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Fernando, Nalin (18 February 2007). "Who was Anton Balasingham?". The Island (Sri Lanka).
  10. ^ a b c d Nathaniel, Camelia (10 August 2014). "The White Tiger In London". The Sunday Leader.
  11. ^ a b Liyanage, Priyath (14 December 2006). "Brain behind the Tigers' brawn". BBC News.
  12. ^ Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (13 April 2002). "Now to Bangkok". Frontline. 19 (8).
  13. ^ "Balasingham returns to Vanni". TamilNet. 25 March 2002.
  14. ^ a b c "Tamil Tigers mourn for ideologue". BBC News. 15 December 2006.
  15. ^ "Tamil Tiger negotiator has cancer". BBC News. 23 November 2006.
  16. ^ "Anton Balasingham afflicted by rare cancer". TamilNet. 22 November 2006.
  17. ^ "Anton Balasingham passes away". TamilNet. 14 December 2006.
  18. ^ "Situation Report". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 17 December 2006.
  19. ^ "Thousands throng Balasingham's funeral held in London". TamilNet. 20 December 2006.

External links

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