Ananthi Sasitharan

Honourable
Ananthi Sasitharan
MPC
அனந்தி சசிதரன்
Member of the Northern Provincial Council for Jaffna District
Assumed office
11 October 2013
Personal details
Born (1971-09-10) 10 September 1971
Political party Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi
Other political
affiliations		 Tamil National Alliance
Alma mater Victoria College, Chulipuram
Occupation Management Assistant
Ethnicity Sri Lankan Tamil

Ananthi Sasitharan (Tamil: அனந்தி சசிதரன்; born 10 September 1971 ) is a Sri Lankan Tamil activist, politician and provincial councillor. She is the wife of Velayutham Sasitharan (alias Elilan), the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's political head for Trincomalee.[1][2]

Early life and family

Ananthi was born on 10 September 1971.[3] Her parents were from Kankesanthurai and Chulipuram in northern Ceylon.[3] Ananthi's sister Vasanthi was a member of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front and was killed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1989.[3] Her younger brother went missing whilst fighting for the LTTE.[3]

Ananthi was educated at Victoria College, Chulipuram.[3] Whilst at school she met Velayutham Sasitharan (alias Elilan) who was active in the political wing of the rebel LTTE.[3] Ananthi fell in love with Elilan but Elilan told her to concentrate on her studies.[3]

Life with the LTTE

After school Ananthi studied accountancy but gave this up in 1992 after getting a job at the Jaffna District Secretariat.[3] She worked for Valikamam West Divisional Secretariat between 1993 and 1996.[3] After the Sri Lankan military re-captured the Valikamam region in 1996 Elilan and the LTTE re-located to the Vanni. Ananthi followed them and worked as a clerk for the Mullaitivu District Secretariat between 1997 and 2003.[3] She worked as a management assistant at Kilinochchi District Secretariat from 2003 to 2013.[3]

Ananthi and Elilan were eventually married, on 6 June 1998 at Mulliyawalai.[3] Elilan rose up the ranks with the LTTE and was appointed political head for Vavuniya District.[3] After the 2002 Norwegian mediated peace he was appointed political head for Trincomalee District.[3] After the Sri Lankan military re-captured the Eastern Province Elilan re-located to the Vanni and worked at the Kilinochchi District Secretariat alongside his wife.[3]

The Sasitharan family were amongst 300,000+ people from the Vanni who fled as the Sri Lankan military advanced in late 2008/early 2009.[3] According to Ananthi the family, along with senior LTTE leaders, surrendered to the Sri Lankan military on 18 May 2009 at Vattavaagal.[3][4] Elilan disappeared after surrendering to the Sri Lankan military.[5][4]

Ananthi and her three daughters ended up in the IDP camps before she resumed her work as an Management Assistant in the Samurdhi Department of the Kilinochchi District Secretariat.[3] Her children were sent to live with her family in Chulipuram.[3]

Activist life

Ananthi, who believes that her husband Elilan is in the custody of the Sri Lankan government, has been campaigning to find him and get him released.[6][7] She has also campaigned on behalf of families of others who disappeared during the civil war and war widows.[8][9] She has met with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues Stephen Rapp during their visits to Sri Lanka.[10][11]

Ananthi contested the 2013 provincial council election as one of the Tamil National Alliance's candidates in Jaffna District and was elected to the Northern Provincial Council.[12][13] During the election campaign she was the target of several attacks. On 20 September 2013 a vehicle carrying Ananthi was attacked by men on a motorbike near Chunnakam.[14][15] On 20 September 2013 a group of around 70 armed men in military uniform attacked Sasitharan's home in Chulipuram, injuring some of her supporters and an election monitor.[16][17][18] On 21 September 2013, the day of the election, a fake edition of the pro-TNA newspaper Uthayan appeared, falsely claiming that Ananthi had defected to the governing United People's Freedom Alliance.[19][20][21] This false story was repeated in pro-UPFA Dan TV and Asian Tribune website.[19][22]

After the election Ananthi was appointed to assist the Chief Minister on the rehabilitation of war victims.[23] She took her oath as provincial councillor in front of Chief Minister C. V. Vigneswaran at Veerasingam Hall on 11 October 2013.[24][25]

In January 2014 the nationalist Island newspaper reported that the Sri Lankan military was considering sending Ananthi for "rehabilitation", a move that Ananthi has stated she would defy.[26][27][28]

References

  1. ↑ "UN's Navi Pillay visits Sri Lanka former war zone". BBC News. 27 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Ananthi to brief Pillay about the disappeared". Ceylon Today. 19 August 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (18 January 2014). "the Vibrant Wife of Senior Tiger Leader Ezhilan". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
  4. 1 2 "Relatives of Sri Lanka's Missing Vent Grievances at UN". Voice of America. Reuters. 27 August 2013.
  5. ↑ Haviland, Charles (20 September 2013). "Sri Lanka's Tamil community finally get provincial council vote". The Independent.
  6. ↑ Natarajan, Swaminathan (24 September 2010). "Tamil Tiger's wife pleads for help in finding him". BBC News.
  7. ↑ Wijedasa, Namini (1 September 2013). "Navi Pillay confronted with 'missing' stories, demos on 7-day visit". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka).
  8. ↑ Bastians, Dharisha (30 September 2013). "TNA names councillors for bonus seats". Daily FT.
  9. ↑ Palakidnar, Ananth (28 August 2013). "Pillay meets families of the disappeared". Ceylon Today.
  10. ↑ Palakidnar, Ananth (28 August 2013). "Pillay meets families of the disappeared". Ceylon Today.
  11. ↑ "Stephen Rapp was briefed on structural genocide at Bishop's House in Jaffna". TamilNet. 9 January 2014.
  12. ↑ "PART I : SECTION (I) — GENERAL Government Notifications PROVINCIAL COUNCILS ELECTIONS ACT, No. 2 OF 1988 Northern Province Provincial Council" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary. 1829/33. 25 September 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 December 2013.
  13. ↑ "PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS 2013 – Results and preferential votes: Northern Province". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 26 September 2013.
  14. ↑ "TNA candidate Ananthi narrowly escapes attack in Jaffna". TamilNet. 11 September 2013.
  15. ↑ "TNA candidate attacked". Ceylon Today. 12 September 2013.
  16. ↑ "SL military attacks Ananthi's residence in Jaffna, 8 wounded". TamilNet. 19 September 2013.
  17. ↑ Aneez, Shihar (20 September 2013). "Sri Lankan polls monitor, party workers, attacked in north". Reuters.
  18. ↑ "Candidate's home attacked ahead of historic Sri Lanka poll". BBC News. 20 September 2013.
  19. 1 2 "Uthayan faked, SL forces focus on targeting Ananthi on election day". TamilNet. 21 September 2013.
  20. ↑ "Sri Lanka holds historic vote in Tamil-majority north". BBC News. 21 September 2013.
  21. ↑ Mohan, Sulochana Ramiah (21 September 2013). "Fake Uthayan in Jaffna". Ceylon Today.
  22. ↑ Rajasingham, K. T. (21 September 2013). "TNA candidate Ananthi joins the ruling party: ITAK ignores the elections – Uthayan Special Edition". Asian Tribune.
  23. ↑ "Division of Ministries of the Northern Provincial Council & Subjects for Councillors" (PDF). TamilNet. 11 October 2013.
  24. ↑ "NPC members take oath in Jaffna after honouring fallen Tamil Heroes". TamilNet. 11 October 2013.
  25. ↑ "Northern Provincial Council TNA members take oaths". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 11 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013.
  26. ↑ Ferdinando, Shamindra (15 January 2014). "MOD ponders rehabilitating NPC member Ananthi". The Island (Sri Lanka).
  27. ↑ "Colombo targets NPC member Ananthi for witnessing against Sri Lanka". TamilNet. 16 January 2014.
  28. ↑ Mohan, Sulochana Ramiah (18 January 2014). "If I need to be rehabilitated so should all the Tamils – Sasitharan". Ceylon Today.

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