The Death Of Neelan Tiruchelvam: A Grave Loss To The Tamil People

By Pitasanna Shanmugathas –July 30, 2016

Pitasanna Shanmugathas

On July 29th 1999, Neelan Tiruchelvam was killed by an LTTE suicide bomber. Dr. Tiruchelvam’s death proved to be a grave loss for the Sri Lankan Tamils. Tiruchelvam, as a constitutional lawyer, was determined to settle the ethnic conflict in a peaceful manner.

Even though Neelan Tiruchelvam did not agree with LTTE’s objectives of using violence to solve the ethnic conflict, he was very sympathetic to the young Tamils who were dying in the armed struggle, and in certain instances, Neelan used his authority protected the welfare of those within the LTTE. For example, in the late 1990s, the Canadian government was about to deport Suresh Manickavasagam—the LTTE chief in Canada. However, Neelan Tiruchelvam as a key political advisor in Chandrika’s government wrote a letter to the Canadian Globe and Mail stating that Suresh was likely to be “interrogated aggressively” if he was deported to Sri Lanka. Subsequently, Suresh’s defense lawyers were able to use Neelan’s written statements in postponing his deportation.

In 1995, Neelan Tiruchelvam and G.L Peiris proposed a set of constitutional reforms known as the GL-Neelan package. The GL-Neelan package involved “merging of the Northern and Eastern provinces, expanding the subjects devolved to provincial councils, establishment of a mechanism to resolve disputes between the central and provincial governments and greater recognition of Sri Lanka’s many minorities.”

Neelan and his wife Sithie / File photo

However, despite proposing sweeping constitutional reforms, the LTTE dismissed the GL-Neelan package without having even read it and condemned Neelan as a traitor. In the late 1990s, Neelan worked to initiate peace talks between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government under a third party peace facilitator.

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