Sasirekha Thamilselvan
The arrival in France of Former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) political commissar Supiah Paramu Thamilselvan’s family has caused much excitement among tiger and pro-tiger circles in the Global Tamil Diaspora. Thamilselvan’s wife Sasirekha along with daughter alaimagal and son Olivaenthan arrived in France on April 24th 2014.
The family travelled from India to a south –eastern country and then reached France, it is learnt.
Although tiger circles have refrained from publicising the arrival so far, prominent LTTE activists in the Diaspora are however quite thrilled by the development as they hope to exploit the family for overt propaganda and covert fund raising activities abroad.There is a move on to get Ms. Sasirekha Thamilselvan appear on a publicly in a function organized in Europe to commemorate the events of May 2009 in Mulliwaaikkaal in Sri Lanka’s north –eastern Mullaitheevu district.
However a close relative of the Family said that Thamilselvan’s widow is not likely to make an appearance on a pro-tiger political platform at this point of time as her decision to relocate to France was due to a desire to lead a quiet life abroad and educate her children and not to be involved in Diaspora politics.
The relative however admitted that there is considerable pressure on Ms. Sasirekha Thamilselvan to play a political role abroad and that she has been resisting such pressure saying sheonly wanted to lead a normal life and not get embroiled in political issues again.
SASIREKHA
Sasireka hailing from Chulipuram in Jaffna was also a member of the LTTE until her marriage to Thamilselvan. Her nom de guerre in the LTTE was Isaichelvi. The daughter Alaimagal (meaning daughter of waves or Goddess Lakshmi)is 14 years of age and son Olivaenthan meaning king of light is ten years old.
Thamilselvan who bore the nom de guerre Dinesh in the LTTE served as the head of the LTTE political wing for over twelve years. He received wide international prominence during the Oslo facilitated peace process from 2001 to 2005.The tiger political commissar who was born at Madduvil in 1967 walked about with a walking stick due to injuries sustained during the war.He was noted for his ability to retain a perpetual grin on his face at all times.
The Thamilselvan –Sasireka wedding was one of the first in a new scheme introduced by the LTTE supremo. Prabakharan whereby women cadres of the LTTE were to be paired off with male cadres through suitable matchmaking. Since arranged marriages are a part of Tamil social practice this scheme was seen as mass scale arranged marriage.
PRABHAKARAN
Prabakharan himself selected the bride for Thamilchelvan from an upper caste family in a deliberate bid to erase caste inequalities . Sasirekha’s family hailing from Chulipuram in Jaffna once owned a lot of businesses in Bambalapitiya and sold them after July 1983.Her father is a retired Govt servant.
Prabakharan and his wife Mathivathany acted as Thamilchelvan’s “parents” while political adviser Anton Balasingham and wife Adele acted as the bride’s parents. Brahminic rituals were dispensed with at the wedding.
Thamilchelvan’s mother in Canada was not informed of the marriage until the last minute. When she asked the son why he did not inform them earlier Thamilselvan replied “I myself came to know only four days ago”.
BRIGADIER
Thamilselvan was killed at Thiruvaiaaru in Kilinochchi on November 2nd 2007 when the Sri Lankan air force bombed the underground bunker in which he was sleeping.
Supiah Paramu Thamilselvan
Supiah Paramu Thamilselvan
LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was devastated by the death and publicly stated it was a great personal loss to him. Subsequently Thamilselvan was promoted posthumously as “Brigadier” by Prabhakaran.He was the first to gain Brigadier rank in the LTTE.
Thamilselvan’s children Alaimagal and Olivaenthan were only eight and four years of age at the time of their father’s death. Sasirekha continued to live in Kilinochchi with the chidren after Thamilselvan’s demise. They relocated to Mullaitheevu district after the fall of Kilinochchi in January 2009.
After the military debacle at Mullaitheevu in May 2009, Sasirekha and the children surrendered to the army as civilians and were housed at a special camp for families of LTTE leaders in the Vavuniya district. The family was later moved to Panagoda and housed at a chalet within the army cantonment due to the efforts of former LTTE eastern regional head Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias “Col” Karuna.
PANAGODA
While living for about two and a half years under protective custody at the Panagoda cantonment chalet the family was allowed to maintain “supervised” contact with close relatives.They were also able to meet relatives with security personnel present.
In May 2011 the family was freed from protective custody under a restricted release order enabling the family to live in a particular locality subject to certain conditions.Sasirekha opted to stay with her parents at Dehiwela.She also cut off contact with many but not all of her relatives living abroad.
Finding it difficult to educate her children in Colombo Sasirekha Thamilselvan sought the consent of Sri Lankan authorities to let her relocate to India with her two children. Sri Lankan authorities treated her case with compassion and set her free from the restricted release order.Thereafter she went to Kilinochchi and obtained relevant official documents from the Govt offices there.
INDIA
She moved to India legally with proper travel documents last year.She was helped financially by a Brother in the UK to move to India.The family maintained a low profile in India fearing that they would be discovered and politically exploited by the LTTE lobby consisting of people like Nedumaran,Vaiko, Seeman and Kolathoor Mani.
Finding the situation in India unsuitable to bring up her children under normal conditions, Sasirekha again decided to relocate to Europe.Obtaing help from the brother and an aunt living in Britain and the family of Thamilselvan’s mother’s sister living in France, Sasirekha made arrangements to travel to France. She succeeded in her quest and arrived in France of April 24th.
It is learnt reliably from a close relative of Sasirekha that she only wants to live peacefully in France and educate her children without getting involved generally in politics and pro-tiger activity in particular. However prominent LTTE stalwarts are exerting pressure on her to participate in political activity though it has been pointed out that such conduct may jeopardise chances of gaining permanent residency in Europe.
PASSAGE
It is also learnt that some tiger activists are already engaged in collecting money clandestinely stating they have to pay the “agents”responsible for her passage to France. The circumstances of her arrival are being falsely depicted as an “escape from the clutches of the Sri Lankan state”whereas the family had been free to move to India from Colombo by the Sri Lankan authorities.
According to the close relative, Sasirekha may participate in the annual homage paid to Thamilselvan in France on his death anniversary in November. A bust of Thamilselvan has been erected in France.
Although Sasirekha is determined to avoid political activity and focus only on educating her children it is doubtful whether the tiger elements in the Diaspora will let her do so.For these circles, Sasirekha’s arrival is a God send to renew propaganda and enhance fund raising.
CHINESE
Thus in keeping with the Chinese saying about the wind not allowing the tree to keep still the tiger and pro-tiger elements in the Diaspora are not likely to let Thamilselvan’s widow Sasirekha keep aloof from politics.
It is the fervent hope and desire of this writer that Ms. Sasirekha and her two children are able to withstand Diaspora extremist pressure and lead a quiet peaceful and prosperous life in their new abode.
12 May 2014
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj
DBS Jeyaraj can be reached at djeyaraj2005@yahoo.com
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