By D. B. S. Jeyaraj
The "Karuna crisis" facing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) led by Velupillai
Pirapaharan took a significant turn when Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Col. Karuna
announced the formation of a new political party the Tamil Eelam Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal
(People's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Karuna was to be its president. This act of
defiance would no doubt have inflicted a serious wound to the Tiger psyche.
Adding salt to this wound would have been the subsequent announcement about the birth of
a new Tamil front. The party launched by Karuna along with the near defunct Eelam National
Democratic Liberation Front led by Gnanasekeram alias "Paranthan" Rajan came together as
the Tamil Eelam Ikkiya Viduthalai Munnani ( United Liberation Front of Tamil Eelam). Karuna
and Rajan were to be the front's joint leaders.
Assassination
How was the LTTE going to react to what was an unambiguously open challenge? The first
indication of the Tiger response - in typical LTTE fashion - came on Tuesday, October 19th
evening. Two assassins on a motorcycle shot dead the well known Eastern Tamil political
activist and ex-parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Kingsley Rasanayagam
around 6. 20 p.m. near the Kalliyankaadu cemetery in Iruthayapuram within Batticaloa
municipal limits.
Though Kingsley had fallen foul of the mainstream LTTE earlier and penalised, he had not
been executed. The Tiger's killing him now was an unmistakable message. It could be
interpreted as having two reasons.
Firstly, the LTTE suspected and feared that Kingsley would be in the forefront of Karuna's
new political party and front. From a Tiger perspective this cruel killing was a preemptive
strike to prevent such activity. Whether Kingsley was actually planning to do so or not was
immaterial to the LTTE.
Secondly, the Tigers wanted to convey a clear signal to any person of political or social
stature in the Eastern Province that joining Karuna's party was forbidden. If anyone chose to
do so their fate would be similar to that which befell Kingsley Rasanayagam. There would be
no mercy!
The killing of Kingsley Rasanayagam by the Tigers has shocked and dazed the people of
Batticaloa. Given his close association with the Tigers for nearly three decades and the
service he rendered the LTTE in the past many people believed that whatever his "offence"
Kingsley would not have been harmed physically by Pirapaharan.
Such belief can amount only to incredible naivete. The track record of the LTTE's Numero
Uno shows clearly that notwithstanding their past contributions to the Tigers any person
presently perceived as an impediment to Pirapaharan's progress will be eliminated. From the
likes of Amirthalingam, Yogeswaran, Thangathurai, Nimalanayagam, Premadasa and
Mahathaya to scores of lesser known people the list is endless.
Unarticulated fear
Now Kingsley Rasanayagam in spite of his past relationship with the LTTE has been killed. If
'terror' is the name of the LTTE game in the east the Tigers seem to have succeeded. People
in Mattakkalappu who knew of Kingsley's "record" with the LTTE realise now how ruthless the
Tigers could be. "If they can treat Kingsley in this way what will they do to us?" is the fear
articulated openly.
Sixty three year old Kingsley Rasanayagam hailed originally from Kallaru in the south of
Batticaloa District. He was a Tamil Christian (Methodist). Kallaru people are generally
well-educated and the village is popularly referred to as "Kalvi aaru" (river of education)
because of this. Kingsley's father who was a schoolmaster moved to Batticaloa town when
Kingsley was quite young. Kingsley himself married in Thamaraikerny in Batticaloa town and
settled down there.
Kingsley was involved in Federal Party politics from his student days. He was three years
younger to the Tamil nationalist poet Kasi Anandan from Amirthakali and was strongly
influenced by him. Even after becoming a People's Bank employee Kingsley kept on dabbling
in politics albeit keeping a low profile.
The rise of armed Tamil militancy saw Kingsley lending a helping hand. Without fanfare or
publicity Rasanayagam provided aid and assistance to militant activity clandestinely. His
sympathies were with the LTTE from the time the Tigers rooted themselves in Batticaloa. After
the Praba-Uma split Kingsley sided with the former. His loyalty to Pirapaharan had been
unquestionable for many, many years.
Kingsley began playing a prominent role as a member of the Batticaloa citizens committee in
the post-1983 period. His affinity with the LTTE became obvious only during the years of the
Indian army occupation (1987-90). He was closely associated with senior LTTE leader and
brother of Kasi Anandan, Sivajeyam alias Kugan in collecting funds for the LTTE
clandestinely.
Kingsley was also involved with the Batticaloa Mother's Front. He played an important role in
organising the protest fasts of Ponnammah David and Poopathy Kanapathypillai against the
Indian army excesses. The Indians aborted Ponnammah's fast by disrupting it and
force-feeding her. But Poopathy went on and like Thileepan died. She is now venerated as
"Annai" (Mother) Poopathy.
Role in LTTE
Kingsley acted as advisor to the Mother's Front during this period and accompanied their
delegations to Colombo to interact with former Indian envoy J. N. Dixit. He also acted as an
unofficial emissary between the High Commission and the Eastern LTTE. Once Kingsley was
asked to convey a particular message to the Tigers. The Indian army however was monitoring
Kingsley without his knowledge. They surrounded the place where Kingsley was talking to a
senior Batticaloa Leader, Sitha and arrested both. Kingsley was incarcerated by the Indians
for quite a while despite his role as messenger.
After the Indian army's departure the LTTE was openly active in Batticaloa. The first
convention of the newly formed LTTE political party, People's Front of Liberation Tigers
(PFLT) was held at Vaaharai. PFLT branches were opened all over the east. Kingsley being a
bank employee did not assume any official role in the PFLT, but there was no doubt about his
place in the LTTE scheme of things in Batticaloa.
The outbreak of war and the escalation of violence in the government controlled Batticaloa
made people like Kingsley vulnerable as their LTTE affiliations were public knowledge. So
Rasanayagam left his family behind in Batticaloa and obtained a transfer to Jaffna. The
northern region was fully under LTTE control then.
After the army regained Jaffna in 1995 Kingsley too relocated to the Wanni like the rest of
LTTE leaders. He retired from People's Bank and worked in the Tamil rehabilitation
organisation and later the consortium of NGOs.
He returned to Batticaloa and family after an absence of more than a decade after the
February 23rd ceasefire between Wickremesinghe and Pirapaharan. Kingsley worked in
Batticaloa as the transport manager of the LTTE. The man who was very close to
Pirapaharan at one time now came under the orbit of the LTTE's Eastern Commander Karuna
Amman.
Given Kingsley's sincerity to the Tamil cause and his long standing relationship with the LTTE
it was only a matter of time before he became a trusted confidant of Karuna. Kingsley was not
a creature of Karuna's as depicted in sections of the media. His role in the Tamil national
struggle preceded Karuna's. His relationship with the LTTE too was a fact long before Karuna
emerged on the Tiger scene. Nevertheless, with Karuna as Eastern Tiger Chief and Kingsley
returning 'home' - a close relationship between both became inevitable.
With parliamentary elections being announced and the LTTE backing a slate of TNA
candidates contesting under the house symbol of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK),
Kingsley too became a handpicked candidate of the Tigers. Karikalan selected the
candidates with Karuna's approval.
One month before polls the Karuna rebellion erupted. Apart from Joseph Pararajasingham all
other Eastern TNA candidates including Kingsley were regarded as Karuna's people now.
The situation was indeed tragi-comic. Before the rebellion they were all perceived as Tiger
nominees who took an oath of loyalty to Pirapaharan after nomination. With the rebellion the
situation transformed itself overnight.
Changing situation
Rumour mills began working overtime. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy and Kingsley Rasanayagam
were supposedly becoming ministers in a Chandrika Kumaratunga government it was said.
Sathiyamoorthy, a former UNP politician was killed by the LTTE. It was then felt that Kingsley
was not targeted because of his relationship with the LTTE in general and Pirapaharan in
particular.
The election results saw a surprise result. Kingsley had come fourth with 38,633 preferences
and was elected. One reason for Kingsley's victory was the fact that former Batticaloa District
TULF MP, Pon' Selvarajah had been debarred from contesting this time by the LTTE.
Selvarajah like Kingsley hailed from Kallar. Thus, the "kallaru" bloc vote came to Kingsley and
helped him win. His star was on the rise. Once again his name was bandied about as a
cabinet minister in a Kumaratunga government. Karuna's bloc of five MPs was to join the
government it was felt. Kingsley himself stated openly in interviews that his objective was the
development of Batticaloa.
Kingsley's world came crashing down one week after the elections when the LTTE launched a
military offensive. In a bid to avert eastern blood being shed unnecessarily Karuna entered
into an unofficial understanding with the Tiger leadership and called the fighting off. With
Karuna leaving Batticaloa the ground situation changed.
Acting under pressure
Joseph Pararajasingham despite his 14 years in parliament and open support of the Wanni
Tigers failed to get elected. So too was Ariyanendiran, the Kokkatticholai Sivan Temple
"Vannaakkar" (Trustee) and erstwhile editor of the Eastern Tamil newspaper Thamil Alai
(Tamil wave). Ariyanendran had the support of people like Ramesh, Kausalyan, Ram, etc., on
account of caste kinship. Both had to get MP posts.
Ariyam, Jeyanandamoorthy, Thangeswary, etc., had all changed 'promptly' and abandoned
Karuna after his fall. But Kingsley to his credit did not rush to denounce Karuna and swear
allegiance to Pirapaharan. People like Kingsley whose primary loyalty was to the Tamil cause
and movement were in a dilemma. A clear cut choice between Pirapaharan and Karuna was
something they wished to avoid. Events however were moving too fast and made the question
of choice meaningless.
Pressure was exerted on Kingsley to resign his seat. The idea was to appoint the "defeated"
Joseph as national list MP and for Ariyam to take Kingsley's place after he resigned. Both
Pararajasingham and Ariyanendran gave several interviews to Tiger controlled media organs
that elections in Batticaloa were seriously flawed. They attributed their failure to be elected to
the elections being unfair. People like Anandasangaree, Siddharthan and Devananda alleged
malpractices in northern elections. But telling indictments about eastern polls by people like
Joseph, Ariyam, etc., have gone unnoticed.
In a bid to clear himself Kingsley went to the Wanni with his wife and met the LTTE supremo.
They spent several days in Kilinochchi and Puthukudiyiruppu, but did not get an audience
with the self styled Sun God. In fact no LTTE leader of any standing met with Rasanayagam.
Kingsley realised what it meant to be to fall out of favour with the Tiger hierarchy.
Upon returning to Batticaloa, Kingsley was taken into custody by the LTTE. He was detained
in Aayithiyamalai and persuaded to tender his resignation letter. This he did and was
released. Though elected, Kingsley had not attended parliament and taken his oaths. He was
the only elected MP absent when parliament convened to elect the speaker. With media
reports of Kingsley being pressurised to resign he was required to present himself to the
Parliament Secretary General and confirm his resignation.
Powerful message
Kingsley came to Colombo and did so. There was speculation that he would not accept LTTE
diktat and would withdraw his forced resignation. Kingsley however was in no mood to take
risks. According to relatives he was deeply hurt by the way in which he was treated by the
LTTE. His health too was affected by the trauma. He did not wish to expose his family to
unnecessary danger. All that he wanted was to quit politics and return to a normal life. So he
resigned formally.
Kingsley was provided police protection in view of his peculiar predicament. He refrained from
politics and began some entrepreneurial activity. With the aid of relatives and friends living
abroad Kingsley started a small industrial unit manufacturing concrete casting blocks in
Iruthaiyapuram. He also bought a further 18 perches from two others in the area and began
expansion plans.
On that fateful Tuesday, Kingsley had gone to the workshop with his two police bodyguards.
When returning they found that they were extremely low on petrol due to a leak. One of the
constables went to bring a mechanic and petrol while Kingsley remained in the car with the
other policeman,Hemantha Withanage. It was about 6.20 p.m. when the two assassins on a
motorcycle struck. Kingsley was killed while Withanage sustained injuries.
The LTTE had delivered a powerful message. The Tigers will not allow the political party
floated by Karuna to function in the north-east let alone Batticaloa. Anyone suspected of
playing a part in Karuna's politics like Kingsley will definitely be bumped off. It did not matter to
the Tigers whether Kingsley was really involved in Karuna's party or not. He had to be
eliminated as a warning to both prevent the new party taking root and also to discourage
potential recruits.
Continuing killings
Thus Kingsley despite his long relationship with Tamil nationalism and the LTTE was gunned
down by the very same Tigers he helped nurture and nourish at one time. His death was not
the first tragedy of this sort in the family. His brother in law, Mala Ramachandran - married to
his wife's sister Susheela - had been assassinated some years ago bythe Tamil "cobra army"
(Naagappadai). Ramachandran too was an ardent Tamil nationalist and was one of those
detained for Tamil politics. Yet the same man was perceived as a traitor at a later stage and
killed.
Now it was Kingsley's turn. The "Tiger man" of not very long ago was viewed as an
expendable traitor amid changed circumstances. The practice of killing perceived opponents
as traitors was now turning inward. If the Mahathaya episode resulted in a deadly purge the
Karuna revolt has been worse. Both sides suspect each other and even their own cadres.
Demarcating lines are blurred. So both sides go on killing in the name of the Tamil people.
The killing spree however displays signs of a qualitative change after the advent of Karuna's
political party and front. Apart from young fighters, elders and others suspected of playing a
political role too are likely to be targeted. Kingsley Rasanayagam is the first such victim. He
leaves behind his wife Sugirtha, two daughters Narmatha, Tharpana and son Sathish.
[Sunday Leader Oct 24, 2004]
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