Anton Balasingham | |
|---|---|
| அன்ரன் பாலசிங்கம் | |
 Balasingham in June 2006 | |
| Born | A. B. Stanislaus (1938-03-04)4 March 1938 |
| Died | 14 December 2006(2006-12-14) (aged 68) London, United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | South Bank Polytechnic |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Spouse | Adele Ann Wilby |
Anton Balasingham Stanislaus (Tamil:அன்ரன் பாலசிங்கம் சிடானிசுலாசு,romanized: Āṇṭaṉ Pālaciṅkam Ciṭāṉisulās; 4 March 1938 – 14 December 2006) was a Sri Lankan journalist, rebel and chief political strategist and chief negotiator for theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, aseparatist Tamil militant organisation inSri Lanka.
Balasingham was born on 4 March 1938.[3][4] His father was an electrical foreman fromMandur in easternCeylon and his mother was a midwife fromJaffna in northern Ceylon who met whilst they were both working atBatticaloa Hospital.[5][1] Balasingham's paternal grandfather was aHindu priest.[5][1]
Balasingham's parentsseparated and following his father's death, Balasingham along-with his mother and sister moved toKaraveddy.[5][1] The family lived in a rented house and his mother worked as a midwife at the Ambam clinic.[5][1] Balasingham was educated at Sacred Heart College, Karaveddy andNelliady Central College.[3][5][1]
Balasingham was raised aRoman Catholic, the religion of his mother, but as he grew up he became arationalist andagnostic.[5][1] He was also attracted toleftist politics which had strong support in the Karaveddy area.[5][1] He was an acquaintance of S. Sivagnanasundaram, editor of theSirithiran magazine and cartoonist (using the pseudonym Sundar) of theSavari Thambarcartoon strip.[5][1] He was married to Australian-bornAdele Ann Wilby.
With Sivagnanasundaram's help, Balasingham became asub-editor of theColombo basedVirakesari newspaper in the 1960s.[3][5][1][6] He was in charge of foreign news which entailed translatingReuters and other articles intoTamil.[5][1] Balasingham lived at a chummery (hostel) inGrandpass, close to theVirakesari's offices, and spent much of his free time reading.[5][1] He became interested inphilosophy andpsychology and occasionally practisedhypnotism.[5][1]
Balasingham then got a job as atranslator at the British High Commission in Colombo.[3][5][1][6] He fell in love with Pearl Rasaratnam, a Tamil Methodist woman and daughter of a former principal ofHartley College, who was working at theBritish Council next to the High Commission.[5][1][7] The couple married on 16 July 1968 at Kollupitiya Methodist Church.[7] Pearl was a sick woman and so the couple decided to move to the UK for treatment.[5][1][7] With the help of the British High Commission the couple left Sri Lanka on 3 August 1971.[5][1][7]
Balasingham and Pearl lived in a small flat inCamberwell,London.[7] Balasingham enrolled at the Institute of Psychotherapy and worked at the Inner London Executive Council.[7] Pearl's condition deteriorated and was diagnosed withpyelonephritis, chronickidney failure which requiredhaemodialysis.[5][1][7] Balasingham had to work, study and care for his sick wife.[5][1] He was also diagnosed withdiabetes.[5][1] The couple later moved into acouncil house in the Blenheim Gardens Estate inBrixton, London.[7] Pearl died in November 1976.[7] Her cremated remains were taken back to Sri Lanka andinterred atKanatte Cemetery following a memorial service at Kollupitiya Methodist Church.[7] Balasingham returned to the UK.[7]
During his wife's illness Balasingham became acquainted withAdele Ann Wilby, an Australian nurse working in the UK.[5][1] Balasingham and Wilby were married at Brixton registrar office on 1 September 1978.[5][1][8] Balasingham obtained aM.A. degree from theSouth Bank Polytechnic after completing adissertation onMarxism.[5][1] He started aPhD course under John Taylor but didn't complete his studies.[5][1][8][a]
Balasingham's interest in left-wing politics continued in London, getting involved in Marxism and theAnti-Apartheid Movement.[5][1] He became involved in theTamil militant cause which was active amongst Tamil students in London and was associated with theEelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students.[5][1][8] He was acquainted with leading militants such asE. Ratnasabapathy andK. Pathmanabha.[5][1] He was recruited into theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by its London representative N. S. Krishnan.[5][1][8] Balasingham wrote leaflets and pamphlets in English and Tamil and carried out translation for the LTTE.[5][1]
Balasingham and Wilby travelled toTamil Nadu, India frequently where they met LTTE leaders such asV. Prabhakaran andUma Maheswaran.[5][1] When Prabhakaran and Maheswaran split, Balasingham tried to reconcile the two but after having failed, sided with Prabhakaran.[5][1] Balasingham grew close to LTTE leader Prabhakaran and, following theBlack July anti-Tamil riots in 1983, he and his wife moved toMadras, Tamil Nadu.[5][1] Balasingham became the LTTE's theoretician and chief spokesman.[5][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.[5][1][10] Following the failure of the peace talks the Indian government expelled Balasingham who returned to London.[5][1] Pressure from Tamil Nadu politicians resulted in the Indian government allowing Balasingham to return to Tamil Nadu.[5][1]
Sri Lankan intelligence tried to assassinate Balasingham by planting a bomb in his house.[5][1] Kandasamy Naidu, a former Sri Lankan police officer and politician, was arrested in connection with the attempted assassination.[5][1] Balasingham accompanied Prabhakaran to important meetings, such as that withIndian Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi inBangalore in 1986, to act as translator and political adviser.[5][1][10] When Prabhakaran returned to Jaffna in 1987 Balasingham remained in Madras to oversee political work but later he and Wilby also moved to Jaffna.[5][1] Whenwar erupted between the LTTE andIndian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in late 1987 Balasingham and Wilby became targets for the Indian Army.[5][1] The couple went on the run and managed to evade capture by moving from house to house.[5][1] They eventually returned to London via India.[5][1]
Balasingham returned to Sri Lanka in 1990 to lead the LTTE delegation in the peace talks in Colombo.[5][1] Following the collapse of the peace talks Balasingham and Wilby moved to Jaffna which had been taken over by the LTTE following the withdrawal of the IPKF.[5][1] As well as political matters Balasingham was in charge of the media in Jaffna.[5][1] Balasingham wrote numerous articles including those under the pseudonym "Brahma Gnani" in theVelicham.[5][1] Balasingham did not take any direct part during the 1994/95 peace talks inChundikuli but instead monitored the talks from another room and exchanged notes withS. P. Thamilselvan who led the LTTE delegation.[5][1] When theSri Lankan military recaptured in theJaffna peninsula in 1995/96 the LTTE withdrew to theVanni and Balasingham and Wilby relocated toThiruvaiyaru nearKilinochchi.[5][1] Later they moved toPuthukkudiyiruppu.[5][1]
By now, Balasingham's health was deteriorating due to renal complications.[5][1] The LTTE sought Sri Lankan government permission on humanitarian grounds to allow Balasingham to fly abroad via Colombo for medical treatment.[5][1] The LTTE released a large number of Sri Lankanprisoners of war as a goodwill gesture.[9] InitiallyPresidentChandrika Kumaratunga was favourable to granting permission but, after consulting withForeign MinisterLakshman Kadirgamar, made a series of demands in return for granting permission.[5][1] The Sri Lankan government was exploiting Balasingham's health to extract major military concessions from the LTTE.[5][1] Balasingham asked Prabhakaran to reject the demands, saying he was "prepared to die with honour and self-respect rather than accede to these humiliating demands".[5][1] The LTTE came up with another way of sending Balasingham abroad and on 23 January 1999 he was taken by sea toPhuket in Thailand.[5][1][9] Balasingham was taken to hospital inBangkok where it was discovered that he had an enlarged kidney which needed to be removed.[5][1] Balasingham was taken toSingapore and onto London.[5][1][9] He was allowed to go toOslo, Norway where he received atransplanted kidney donated by Donald, a young Sri Lankan Tamil.[5][1]
After recovering, Balasingham resumed his pursuit of peace.[5][1] He led the LTTE's discussions with the Norwegian government which resulted in the ceasefire that came into force on 23 February 2002.[5][1] Balasingham returned to Sri Lanka on 25 March 2002, arriving by seaplane atIranaimadu Tank viaMaldives.[9][11][12] He was at Prabhakaran's side when the LTTE leader met various Sri Lankan politicians.[5][1] Balasingham's health meant he couldn't stay in the Vanni long but nevertheless he led the LTTE delegation at Norwegian mediated peace talks with the Sri Lankan government in Thailand, Norway, Germany, Japan and Switzerland.[5][1] The peace talks failed and as the situation in Sri Lanka deteriorated so did Balasingham's health.[5][1] He was diagnosed withbile duct cancer and given 6–8 weeks to live.[5][1][13] The cancer spread to his liver, lungs, abdomen and bones.[5][1][13][14] Speaking of his illness, Balasingham told theTamilNet website "when compared to the vast ocean of the collective tragedy faced by my people, my illness is merely a pebble".[6][13][15] Balasingham died on 14 December 2006 at his home in South London.[9][16] On that day the LTTE conferred the title Thesathin Kural (Voice of the Nation) on Balasingham.[1][2][17] Balasingham's funeral was held on 20 December 2006 atAlexandra Palace, London with a parallel service in the Vanni region.[18]
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