His Death has Created Void in
Sri Lankan Politics
K.P.Silva, General Secretary, Communist Party of Sri Lanka.
The tragic death of K.Pathmanabha , Secretary General of the Eelam People’s revolutionary Liberation Front has created a void in Sri Lankan politics that is hard to be filled.
Pathmanabha was one of the most prominent leaders of the new generation of Tamil politicians who came to the fore with the intensification of the struggle of the Tamil people for their national rights. His dedication and sincerity to the cause of the Tamil people are widely acknowledged. He died a martyr to that cause which he expoused all his adult life.
Under the influence of Marxist thought Pathmanabha led the EPRLF to make a realistic re-appraisal of the course of the struggle of the Sri Lankan Tamil people for self determination and social emanicipation. He concluded that the Sri Lankan Tamil people would be best served by exercising their right of self determination by seeking autonomy for the Tamil nationality within a united Sri Lanka and by cooperating with the progressive sections of the Sinhala people for its realisation.
Contacts between the CPSL and EPRLF grew under Padmanabha’s stewardship of the EPRLF. Despite differences on several issues we had fruitful cooperation with the EPRLF on a number of matters of national and regional importance.
Padmanabha led the EPRLF to support the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, surrender its weapons and enter the democratic process, when elections were held for the North-East Provincial Council Pathmanabha was at helm of of an alliance of Tamil Political parties which boldly participated in the elections and thereby helped to begin the devolutionary process. He was also behind the fight of the EPRLF led administration of the North East Provincial Council for proper and effectful devolution.
It was the Government’s reluctance to devolve necessary powers to the North-East Provincial Council and its act of undermining the authority of the Council in concert with the LTTE that further complicated the efforts to find a political solution to the remaining problems of the Tamil Nationality. The present war as well as the brutal assassination of Pathmanabha were the results of this destructive policy of the Government.
Pathmanabha’s contribution to the fight for the national rights of the Tamil people, towards the restoration of national unity and finding a political solution to the demands of the Tamil nationality will always be remembered.
