Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy (November 3, 1938 – December 12, 2006) was one of the founder member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students a

Tamil militant Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception among minority Sri Lankan Tamils t ...

group from

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and a noted Marxist-Leninist political leader.

Biography and political career

He was born in a small town called

Inuvil Inuvil ( ta, இணுவில், translit=Iṇuvil; si, ඉනුවිල්, translit=Inuvil) is a village in Northern Sri Lanka. It is situated along the KKS main road, Jaffna district. The area is mainly populated by people who speak the ...

in the

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mos ...

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...

in the minority

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern ...

dominated north of Sri Lanka. He migrated to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

when Sri Lanka was in the midst of its early stages of its

ethnic conflict An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more contending ethnic groups. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, economic or religious, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic group's positi ...

. Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS) was founded on January 3, 1975, at

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, in the residence of Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy. It was led by a unified command of three persons: Ratnasabapathy,

Shankar Rajee Nesadurai Thirunesan (11 November 1949 – 10 January 2005; commonly known by the nom-de-guerre Shankar Rajee) was a Sri Lankan Tamil militant and one of the founders of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students. Early life Thirunesan ...

and Velupillai Balakumar. EROS through its contacts with

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and st ...

sent many people including one

Arul Pragasam Arulappu Richard Arulpragasam (13 April 1948 – 3 December 2019); also known by the names Arular and A. R. Arulpragasam) was a Tamil activist and former revolutionary from Jaffna who had a part in forming the group Eelam Revolutionary Organisa ...

who became a leader of EROS to be trained in guerilla tactics in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. It was later alleged that it was

George Habash George Habash ( ar, جورج حبش, Jūrj Ḥabash), also known by his laqab "al-Hakim" ( ar, الحكيم, al-Ḥakīm, "the wise one" or "the doctor"; 2 August 1926 – 26 January 2008) was a Palestinian Christian politician who founded the ...

PFLP The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary soci ...

not the

that trained the early batch of Tamil militants from Sri Lanka. He contested the parliamentary elections in 1989 and was elected to the Sri Lankan Parliament along with nine other members of EROS, but later resigned.

Reactions

In a tribute to Mr. Ratnasabapathy, the Tamil Information Center (TIC) in London said:

References

MIPT terrorism database
* ttp://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=20593 EROS founder diesBy

Tamilnet TamilNet is an online newspaper that provides news and feature articles on current affairs in Sri Lanka, specifically related to the erstwhile Sri Lankan Civil War. The website was formed by members of the Sri Lankan Tamil community residing ...

.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratnasabapathy, Eliyathamby 1938 births 2006 deaths Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students militants Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students politicians Members of the 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Tamil politicians Sri Lankan Tamil rebels Sri Lankan Hindus English people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent

Biography and political career

Reactions

See also

References