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Anton Balasingham: The Political and Diplomatic Face of the LTTE

LTTE's negotiator, strategist, and political advisor, Anton Stanlislaus Balasingham, died on 14 December 2006 in London due to bile duct cancer. Since its inception (until recently when SP Tamilselvan - political head of the LTTE - replaced Balasingham), Balasingham had been part of the LTTE's negotiating team. He was one among the few who Prabhaharan trusted and treated like an equal and as a friend. In his condolence message, Prabhakaran admitted, "From the beginning of our struggle, when we first met, there was a deep mutual understanding. The fondness that rose from that understanding developed into a rare friendship. We thought and acted in unison. Our friendship grew in strength through our shared day-to-day experiences. This friendship stands apart from ordinary human relationships. It matured with time and was shaped by our shared history."

Born in 1938 in the Jaffna peninsula, Balasingham initially worked as a journalist in a local Tamil daily in Jaffna and later as Tamil translator in the British High Commission in Colombo. Subsequently, he joined the LTTE. Known in short as "Bala Annai" (elder brother) by the LTTE cadres, he received his PhD in the 'Psychology of Marxism' from the South Bank Polytechnic of London. He wrote extensively in both Tamil and English on the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict from the Tamil perspective. His writings form a part of the compulsory reading about political lessons for the LTTE cadres during their training and periodic orientation. His most widely know work is War and Peace: Armed Struggle and Peace Efforts of Liberation Tigers (2004). In 1978, he married Adele, an Australian nurse, who went on to become a leader of the women's wing of the LTTE. She wrote Women Fighters of Liberation Tigers (1989) and The Will to Freedom - An Inside View of Tamil Resistance (2003).

Balasingham has had mixed experiences with India. He took refuge in Tamil Nadu along with other prominent members of various Tamil militant groups in the early eighties. After the failure of talks at Thimpu, Balasingham was deported from India by New Delhi in August 1985. On Prabhakaran's request to Rajiv Gandhi, the LTTE ideologue was later allowed to stay in India. Leaving India at the signing of India-Sri Lanka Accord in July 1987, Balasingham never came back to India. He wished to stay in India to take care of his health during the peace talks between the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka in 2002 but New Delhi refused to heed to the idea as the LTTE was a proscribed organisation in India in the aftermath of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. Balasingham, however, continued to describe India as "superpower" and "fatherland to Sri Lankan Tamils".

Balasingham was said to have taught Marxism and other political issues to the LTTE members, including its chief Prabhakaran. He acted as a mouthpiece for the LTTE for a long time, and was perhaps the only one not to have participated in any of the LTTE's military operations. In Prabhakaran's own words, "I do all the thinking and planning in the LTTE. As I am bad in English, Balasingham articulates my views." Moreover, Balasingham had the rare ability and authority to influence the LTTE supremo. It is said that Prabhakaran agreed to the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002, and later many rounds of talks between the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka, based on Balasingham's concrete inputs. There were limits, however, to the extent to which his views were accepted by the Tiger leadership.

The death of Anton Balasingham is a major loss to the LTTE. To Prabhakaran, being "a source of unwavering strength in the political and diplomatic efforts of our freedom movement" the demise of Anton Balasingham is "an irreplaceable loss for our entire nation and for me." Undoubtedly, his "death comes at a time when we needed him the most". Given his importance and standing, however, the title "Voice of the Nation" bestowed on him by the LTTE is not too big.