Anton Balasingham

Infobox Person
name = Anton Balasingham


image_size = 150px
caption = Balasingham in June 2006
birth_date = birth date|1938|3|4|mf=y
birth_place = Jaffna, Sri Lanka
death_date = death date and age|2006|12|14|1938|3|4|mf=y
death_place = London, United Kingdom
occupation = chief political strategist,
chief negotiator
spouse = Adele Ann Wilby
parents =
children =

Anton Stanislaus Balasingham (March 4 1938 – December 14 2006) was the chief political strategist and chief negotiator of the separatist militant group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He was a British citizen of minority Tamil origin from Sri Lanka.

Biography

He was born in Batticaloa on the 4th of March in the minority Sri Lankan Tamil dominated district in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. His father was a Hindu and mother a Christian Roman Catholic. His father also hailed from Eastern province where as his mother was a native Jaffna Tamil.

Career

After his graduation from school in Jaffna, he worked as a journalist in a Colombo newspaper and as a translator at the British High Commission in Colombo. Balasingham was initially married to a Sri Lankan Tamil. After she died due to the complications of chronic renal failure, he married Adele Ann Wilby in London, UK, in 1978. Adele, an Australian citizen and a nurse by professional training, became a prominent member of the women’s wing of the LTTE.

In the past, Adele herself has been involved in the peace talks, as the secretary of the LTTE delegation. In April 2002 , Anton Balasingaham appeared alongside LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in a rare press conference in the LTTE held town of Kilinochchi in Sri Lanka.

From the Thimphu talks in 1985 to the first round of the Geneva talks held on February 22-23, 2006 Balasingham was the head of the LTTE delegation in all the peace negotiations with the government of Sri Lanka.cite web |url=http://www.peaceinsrilanka.com/peace2005/Insidepage/PeaceTalks/PeaceTalksMain.asp. |title= Ceasefire Talks |accessdate=2006-11-26 |format= |work=Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process ] However, he could not participate in an October round because of ill health, and in November 2006, Balasingham was diagnosed with cancer. He suffered from diabetes, Motor Neurone Disease, a degenerative disease of the nervous system, and possibly medicine-induced bile duct cancer.cite web |url=http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/2545 |title=Anton Balasingham – will he or will he not lead LTTE delegation to Geneva talks? |accessdate=2006-11-26 |format= |work=Asiantribune ]

Death and funeral

Asian Tribune, an Anti-rebel website, alleged that there were posters posted in Tamil in Britain that condemed the alleged 8 million Sri Lankan rupees was spent on the funeral while people faced faced death due starvation in Sri Lanka. [cite web |url=http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/3753 |title=Posters condemn funeral show for Anton Balasingham |accessdate=2006-12-21 |format= |work=Asian Tribune ] .

Reactions

LTTE

Rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran said in a rare emotional statements that cquote|The light of our nation is extinguished, there is no Bala with me today to seek counsel and solace. [LTTE's Anton Balasingham 68, Dies of Cancer. (2006, December 22). India-West, p. A8.] and that:cquote|His death comes at a time when we needed him most, as our freedom struggle intensifies. I cannot find words to express my grief and loss. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6182381.stm Tamil Tigers mourn for ideologue] BBC - December 15, 2006]

Government of Sri Lanka

The Ministry of Defence of Sri Lanka commented cquote|His life long achievement is considered to be his ability to manipulate peace negotiations and postpone them indefinitely under various ruses until his movement could raise enough funds from the Tamil Diaspora and rearm the Tamil Tiger cadres strong enough to face the Sri Lanka army. [http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20061215_01] .

tate Government of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi who in his condolence message had stated cquote|I am unable to bear the sorrow over the death of my friend Mr Anton Balasingham, who I have known for many years.

International Media

According to BBC, Balasingham's death is a loss to both sides of the Sri Lankan civil war. Balasingam was credited as the only moderating force within an otherwise belligerent rebel group and the only man within the group that could criticize and influence the leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Balasingam was known for his relentless attempts to bring the Tigers to the international negotiating arena. It was mainly due to his perseverance that the Tigers acquired a reputation as a progressive organization among certain liberals in the west.

Balasingam was also credited with bringing the attention of the world to a forgotten war in this small island nation. Although Balasingham was plagued with physical ailments he valiantly attended all the peace talks. According to BBC, Balasingam’s death will be a blow not only to the Tamil Tigers but also to many in the south of the country as he provided a thread of hope for a peaceful resolution to the seemingly intractable and escalating conflict of Sri Lanka. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6180653.stm|title=Anton Balasingham |accessdate=2006-12-22 |format= |work=BBC world ] .

According to the Asian Tribune, an anti-rebel website, Balasingham was criticised by Dr. Subramanian Swamy : cquote|Balasingham was a terrorist who at least once has publicly and arrogantly relished the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. In 1995 he had warned the then President of Sri Lanka, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga that she would face the same fate as Rajiv Gandhi if she confronted the LTTE. [http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/3714] .

References

reflist

External links

* [http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/827 Anton Balasingham's Apology to India]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6180301.stm BBC report on his death]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2505422,00.html Obituaries TIMES ONLINE]