Commemorations at the Thileepan memorial in Nallur, Jaffna
Prakalathan Marysanthi, the sister of three fallen LTTE fighters, lit the flame of sacrifice at the Thileepan memorial in Nallur on Friday, as commemorations marking 39 years since Lt Col Thileepan's fast unto death reached their eleventh day.
Her siblings Yogavathy, Jude and Major Sothiya were all killed in the armed struggle. Following the lighting of the flame, a garland was placed on Thileepan's portrait and floral tributes were paid.
Thileepan, whose given name was Rasaiah Parthipan, was the political wing leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He began his fast at the Nallur Kandaswamy temple on 15 September 1987, taking neither food nor water, in protest at India's failure to honour the pledges it had made to the Tamil people following the Indo-Lanka Accord signed that July.
He placed five demands: that new settlements planned in the North-East under the guise of resettlement be halted, that all Tamil political prisoners held in prisons and in military and police detention camps be released, that emergency law be repealed in full, that weapons issued to home guard units be withdrawn, and that moves to open new police stations in Tamil areas be stopped.
None were met. He died on the morning of 26 September 1987.
The memorial at which Friday's tribute was paid stands at a site the Sri Lankan state has repeatedly tried to erase. A memorial tower built at the spot where Thileepan began his fast was destroyed by the Sri Lankan army after it captured Jaffna in 1996, rebuilt during the ceasefire period, destroyed again in 2007, and its remnants demolished further in 2012.
This year's commemorations have again drawn the attention of Sri Lankan police. On 18 September, officers seized loudspeakers from the Nallur memorial, saying the equipment had not been authorised. Police in Nelliady refused permission for commemorative arrangements at the town centre this week, warning that anyone organising or assisting would face legal action. On Friday, officers questioned students holding a token fast at the University of Jaffna and refused them permission to use loudspeakers.
Events at Nallur are due to continue until 26 September, the anniversary of Thileepan's death.
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