Hundreds gathered in Nallur today to commemorate Lt. Col. Thileepan who fasted unto death 39 years ago, in a protest appealing to the Indian government to honour pledges made to the Tamil people.
Thileepan, the political wing leader of the LTTE, began his fast in Nallur, Jaffna, on September 15, 1987 and died 11 days later after refusing food and water. He had put forward five demands to the Indian government following the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord. However, none of his demands were met.
In Nallur, the commemoration began at 10:48am this morning, the exact time that Thileepan passed away on September 26, 1987.
Arunachalam Vallipuram and Vallipuram Selvarani, the parents of fallen LTTE cadres Anbukumaran and Thambamani, lit the flame of sacrifice in front of Thileepan's memorial.
Meanwhile, former cadre Subramaniam Malarvizhi, also the sister of two fallen fighters Chellakkan and Isai Selvan, lit another flame on Nallur North Road, the site where Thileepan originally began and continued his hunger strike.
Hundreds of attendees laid flowers and garlanded a bronze statue of Thileepan which as unveiled on September 15. The statue 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, reconstructed during the ceasefire period, destroyed a second time in 2007, and its remnants demolished further in 2012.
A vehicle carrying Thileepan's portrait left from the University of Jaffna campus, with students and members of the public marching alongside it as it travelled through the town and finally reaching Thileepan's memorial in Nallur.
A young Tamil man also performed a ‘Thooku Kaavadi’ ritual in honour of Thileepan’s sacrifice.
Despite disruptions by Sri Lanka's police, commemorative events have been taking place in Nallur and across the homeland over the last 11 days to remember Thileepan and the sacrifice he made for the Tamil struggle for liberation.
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.
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