Pon Sivakumaran remembered by Tamil politicians in North-East

Tamil parliamentarians, politicians and civil society gathered to mark the 42nd anniversary of his death on Sunday.
Speaking at an event held by a statue erected to remember Sivakaumaran,Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian D Siddhartan said Sivakumaran was a pure fighter who fought to secure the legitimate rights of the Tamil people.
Also present at the event were former TNA parliamentarian Suresh Oremachandran, Northern Provincial Councillors Ananthy Sasitharan and MK Sivajalingam and the Northern Provincial Council opposition leader S Thavarasa.

See also:

Pon Sivakumaran remembered in North-East (05 Jun 2015)
Remembering Sivakumaran 40 years on (05 Jun 2014)

In 1974, years of discrimination and oppression of the Tamil nation reached a new stage when the World Tamil Research Conference of 1974, an acclaimed event that appreciated and furthered Tamil culture, was marred by the brutality of Sri Lankan security forces. The Sri Lankan state was angered after organisers defied Sri Lankan government calls to hold the event in Colombo, and held it in Jaffna between the 3rd - 6th January instead. The violence unleashed by the state’s forces at the event, left nine people dead.

Despite several months and widespread out-pouring of Tamil grief and anger at the event, the killings were met with impunity. With no justice or accountability for the crimes in sight, Sivakumaran along with other Tamil youth looked to assassinate individuals alleged to be responsible for the deaths at the World Tamil Research Conference.

However, on 5th June, Sivakumaran was surrounded by Sri Lankan security forces. Evading torture, Sivakumaran committed suicide using a capsule of cyanide, in order to negate the risk of revealing information that jeopardised the growing Tamil armed resistance movement. He had previously been tortured during an earlier detention in police custody for damaging property of those responsible for the conference killings.