K. Pathmanabha

K. Pathmanabha
Native name க. பத்மநாபா
Born (1951-11-19)19 November 1951
Died 19 June 1990(1990-06-19) (aged 38)
Kodambakam, Madras, India
Other names Ranjan
Ethnicity Sri Lankan Tamil
Years active –1990
Organization Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front

Kandasamy Pathmanabha (Tamil: கந்தசாமி பத்மநாபா; 19 November 1951 – 19 June 1990) was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and founder/leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.

Early life

Pathmanabha was born on 19 November 1951.[1][2] He was from Kankesanthurai in northern Ceylon.[2]

Pathmanabha became interested in radical politics in the late 1960s. He was one of the members of the Tamil Student Federation/Tamil Students' League which was formed in 1972 as a reaction to the discriminatory Policy of standardisation.[3] The 1974 Tamil conference incident further radicalised Pathmanabha.[1]

ELO

In 1974/75 Pathmanabha and others founded the Eelam Liberation Organisation (Eela Viduthalai Iyakkam) (ELO).[4] On 10 May 1976 the ELO robbed the Puloly Multi-purpose Cooperative Society's bank in Puloly.[5] Pathmanabha was personally involved in the robbery.[4] Others involved in the robbery included Varatharaja Perumal (later Chief Minister of North Eastern Province), V. Balakumaran (later leader of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students) and S. Thavaraja (later an Eelam People's Democratic Party MP and leader of the opposition on the Northern Provincial Council).[6][7] After the robbery Pathmanabha went on the run whilst the ELO disintegrated due to the security crackdown.[4]

GUES/EROS

Pathmanabha moved to London in 1976 to study accountancy.[1] Here he met met with other Tamils who shared his views. Together they formed the General Union of Eelam Students (GUES) and the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS).[4] Said Hammami, the Palestine Liberation Organization's representative in London, helped a small group Tamils including Pathmanabha take military training in the Lebanon.[1][4] In 1978 he went to India to establish a base for GUES/EROS.[4] He then returned to Sri Lanka but the security forces were still looking for him so he had to travel in disguise.[1][4]

EPRLF

Pathmanabha and other members, including Douglas Devananda, Varatharaja Perumal and Suresh Premachandran, left the EROS in 1981 and formed their own militant group which would come to be known as the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).[4] Pathmanabha moved to Kodambakam, Madras, India in 1981 to establish the new group.[1]

In December 1986 the rival Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attacked the EPRLF in Sri Lanka, inflicting a heavy losses and killing Gaffoor, the EPRLF's military commander.[8][9] Many EPRLF cadres were killed or taken prisoner and EPRLF camps and weapons were seized by the LTTE.[8][9] Devananda was blamed for the debacle.[8] The LTTE's animosity against the EPRLF, which it considered to be pro-India, increased following the outbreak of fighting between the LTTE and the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in October 1987.[10] The LTTE called for a boycott of the 1998 North Eastern Provincial Council election, stating that anyone who contested would be labelled a traitor and punished.[10] The EPRLF nevertheless contested and, with the connivance of the IPKF, secured 41 of the 71 seats on the North Eastern Provincial Council.[11] Varatharaja Perumal became the first (and only) Chief Minister of North Eastern Province.[10] On 1 March 1990, just as the IPKF were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Perumal moved a motion in the North Eastern Provincial Council declaring an independent Eelam.[12] Fearful of the consequences once the IPKF had pulled out, the EPRLF leadership fled to India.[10][13] On 11 March 1990 Pathmanabha was flown from Trincomalee to Bhubaneswar in an Indian military aircraft.[13] President Ranasinghe Premadasa imposed direct rule on the North Eastern province on 25 March 1990.[14]

On the evening of 19 June 1990 the EPRLF central committee were meeting at a flat at the Zachria Colony in Kodambakam.[15][16] At around 7pm gunmen broke into the flat and started firing.[15] Eight people including Pathmanabha, Member of Parliament G. Yogasangari and provincial minister P. Kirubakaran were killed.[15][16][17] Five EPRLF cadres waiting outside the block of flats were also killed.[15] The assassination was blamed on the rival rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.[15][16][18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Swamy, M.R. Narayan (19 November 2011). "A Sri Lankan Tamil who could have made a difference". Yahoo! News. Indo-Asian News Service.
  2. 1 2 "Comrade Pathmanabha Our Leader and Mentor". dbsjeyaraj.com/EPRLF Central Committee. 18 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "A history unlikely to be repeated". Ceylon Today. 16 May 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jayatilleka, Dayan (15 August 1990). "K. Pathmanaba: Political Philiosophy and Praxis" (PDF). Lanka Guardian 13 (8): 16–19.
  5. ↑ Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 24: Tamil militancy - a manifestation". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story.
  6. ↑ "LTTE Seniors Balakumaran, 8 other hardcore in police custody". Asian Tribune. 12 June 2009.
  7. ↑ Jayadevan, Rajasingham (4 August 2013). "Hypocrisy of Paramilitary Leader Douglas Devananda". Sri Lanka Guardian.
  8. 1 2 3 Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (18 November 2001). "The Dougles Devananda phenomenon". The Sunday Leader.
  9. 1 2 "Report No. 1 - Appendix 1: The Snares of Violence". University Teachers for Human Rights. January 1989.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "End of a trial: Padmanabha murder case". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 23 November 1997.
  11. ↑ "Election Results" (PDF). Tamil Times VIII (1): 4. December 1988. ISSN 0266-4488.
  12. ↑ Ferdinando, Shamindra (10 September 2000). "I'm no traitor, says Perumal". Sunday Island (Sri Lanka).
  13. 1 2 "Chief Minister Flees as IPKF Pulls Out" (PDF). Tamil Times IX (4): 5. 15 March 1990. ISSN 0266-4488.
  14. ↑ "President Orders Direct Rule Over N-E Council" (PDF). Tamil Times IX (5): 7. 15 April 1990. ISSN 0266-4488.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Parthasarathy, R. (15 July 1990). "A Massacre in Madras" (PDF). Tamil Times IX (8): 9. ISSN 0266-4488.
  16. 1 2 3 Subramanian, T. S. (14 August 1999). "Chronicle of murders". Frontline 16 (17). ISSN 0970-1710.
  17. ↑ Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 44: Eelam war - again". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story.
  18. ↑ Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (16 March 2008). "Assassinating Tamil Parliamentarians: The unceasing waves". The Nation (Sri Lanka).
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