Arunasalam Thangathurai (; 17 January 1936 – 5 July 1997) was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.

Early life and family

Thangathurai was born 17 January 1936. He was from the village of Killiveddy near Mutur in

Trincomalee District Trincomalee District ( ; ) is one of the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka, districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a Government Agent (Sri Lanka), D ...

, along the bank of Allai

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

. His father was a rural registrar and a land-owning farmer. Communal tension in the Allai area grew in the 1950s after Sinhalese were

settled A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...

in the area. However, Thangathurai's family had good relations with the Sinhalese villagers, particularly those from Dehiwatte, many of whom would come to Killiveddy to buy

curd Curd is obtained by Denaturation (biochemistry), coagulating milk in a sequential process called curdling. It can be a final dairy product or the first stage in cheesemaking. The coagulation can be caused by adding rennet, a Kefir cheese, ...

and register with his father. Thangathurai was educated at Mutur, Government College, Batticaloa and Stanley College, Ariyalai. Thangathurai was married to Sathyashri. They had two daughters (Dharmini) and one son (Ahilan).

Career

Thangathurai's family's financial situation meant that he did not pursue higher education but opted instead to join the clerical service. He worked for the Department of Irrigation. He was an active member of the Government Clerical Services Union and worked to improve the lives of the residents of Killiveddy and adjoining areas. As a leftist he did not identify with the Tamil nationalist Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi's (ITAK) (Federal Party) and

All Ceylon Tamil Congress All Ceylon Tamil Congress (), is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka. History The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament (50% for the majority Sinhalese, and 50% for ...

(ACTC). Thangathurai's family's agricultural activities increased as they purchased and leased more land. They also farmed land belonging to Hindu temples on a contractual basis. All of this resulted in the family amassing a huge amount of wealth which in turn gave them a great amount of social/political stature in the area. Thangathurai passed the Ceylon Administrative Service examinations and became a Divisional Revenue Officer. Local people in the Killiveddy area were alarmed at the state-sponsored colonisation schemes. The ITAK was critical of the colonisation schemes and as a result Thangathurai joined the party. He was in charge of ITAK's Youth League. He and his younger brother Kumarathurai started establishing Tamil settlements in secure border areas. Thangathurai stood as the ITAK candidate in Mutur at the 1970 parliamentary election. He won the election and entered

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. In the 70s Thangathurai gained a reputation for being one of the young militants in ITAK and faced arrest. On 14 May 1972 the ITAK, ACTC, Ceylon Workers' Congress, Eelath Thamilar Otrumai Munnani and All Ceylon Tamil Conference formed the Tamil United Front, later renamed Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). A delimitation committee reduced Mutur from a two-member constituency to a single-member constituency by carving out the Sinhalese dominated Seruvila Electoral District. As a result Thangathurai did not contest the 1977 parliamentary election. Before the 1977 parliamentary election a bo tree was cut down in Killiveddy resulting in minor communal violence. Thangathurai was believed to have been behind the felling and was questioned but being an MP wasn't arrested. Kumarathurai was however arrested over the incident. Communal violence resumed after the election but this time Thangathurai and Kumarathurai were both arrested, detained and released after a while. After 1977 Thangathurai started studying law and qualified as a lawyer. In the late 1970s/early 1980s, as Sinhalese settlements started to encroach onto Tamil lands in Trincomalee District, Tamils, led by Thangathurai, started organising themselves to protect their traditional homeland. Amongst those protecting Tamil lands was Kandapodi, the

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

of southern Trincomalee District/northern Batticaloa District. Kandapodi was eventually shot dead by the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

but it is believed that his

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

was Thangathurai. Following the 1981 District Development Council (DDC) elections, Thangathurai was made chairman of Trincomalee DDC. After the Black July anti-Tamil riots many TULF leaders went into

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

but Thangathurai stayed in Trincomalee District. Following Black July the Sri Lankan government increased its repression of Tamils and in January 1984 Kumarathurai was arrested. He was taken to Boosa prison, tortured but never charged. On 30/31 May 1985 the police and

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

massacred 44 civilians in Killiveddy. The massacre received international coverage after Thangathurai spoke to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' about it. Thangathurai and his family fled to

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, India after Minister of National Security Lalith Athulathmudali ordered Thangathurai's arrest for "spreading false rumours". Kumarathurai was released in 1986 and, as by this time Killiveddy had disappeared, moved to Denmark. Whilst in India Thangathurai had contacts with Sri Lankan Tamil militants, including

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...

(LTTE) leader V. Prabhakaran. Thangathurai returned to Sri Lanka in 1988 to serve the people of Trincomalee District during a difficult period. Thangathurai was one of the TULF candidates for

at the 1994 parliamentary election. He was elected and re-entered Parliament. Following the massacre of 24 civilian in Kumarapuram on 11 February 1996, Thangathurai blamed the army for the killings and called for an independent public inquiry. Important information about the perpetrators of the massacre, including Colonel Nihal Silva, was provided to Thangathurai by the Sinhalese villagers of Dehiwatte. On 5 July 1997 Thangathurai was attending a function at

Sri Shanmuga Hindu Ladies College Sri Shanmuga Hindu Ladies College (also known as Trincomalee Ladies College or Trinco Ladies College) is a National school (Sri Lanka), national school in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. History The school was founded on 20 October 1923 by Thangamma S ...

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

, an area controlled by the Sri Lankan military. As he was leaving the function at around 7.30pm, a grenade was thrown at the group and shots fired. Thangathurai and six others (Sri Shanmuga principal Rajeshwari Thanabalasingham, Namagal Vidyalayam principal S. Joseph, principal K. Seevaratnam, civil engineer V. Retnarajah, social worker P. S. Ganeshalingam and a police bodyguard) were killed. Hundreds of people, including school children, attending the function witnessed the incident. The LTTE was blamed for the assassination. However, TULF leaders such as V. Anandasangaree and M. Sivasithamparam have cast doubts over this, stating that there were many armed groups and that the TULF had opponents amongst the Sinhalese, as well as Tamil, population. Several people with alleged links to the LTTE - including rickshaw driver Muttiah Koneswaran alias Babu, ports authority security guard Satkunanathan Nijanthan alias Nijan, Manikkam Murugathasan alias Jerome and Sivaprakasam Akilarupan alias Ahilson - were quickly arrested by the police. According to the police the suspects had confessed to the assassination and claimed it was as result of Thangathurai's co-operation with the Sri Lankan government. In October 1999 seven people - Sivaprakasam Akilarupan alias Ahilson, Navaneethan Jeevakumar alias Jeyanth, Muttiah Koneswaran alias Babu, Manikkam Murugathasan alias Jerome, Satkunanathan Nijanthan alias Nijan, Ratnam Yogambal and Karthigesu Yogaranee - were charged with the murder of Thangathurai and six others. According to the lawyers for some of the suspects, they had been tortured by the police.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thangathurai, A. 1936 births 1997 deaths Tamil politicians assassinated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi politicians Members of the 7th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 10th Parliament of Sri Lanka People from Eastern Province, Sri Lanka People killed during the Sri Lankan civil war People from British Ceylon Sri Lankan Hindus Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan civil servants Sri Lankan lawyers Tamil politicians Sri Lankan terrorism victims Tamil United Liberation Front politicians Terrorism deaths in Sri Lanka Asian politicians assassinated in the 1990s Politicians assassinated in 1997