Kumar Ponnambalam facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Maamanithar Kumar Ponnambalam
குமார் பொன்னம்பலம்
All Ceylon Tamil Congress candidate for President of Sri Lanka
Election date 20 October 1982
Opponent(s)	J. R. Jayewardene, Hector Kobbekaduwa and others
Incumbent	J. R. Jayewardene
Personal details
Born	(1938-08-12)12 August 1938
Died	5 January 2000(2000-01-05) (aged 61)
Political party	All Ceylon Tamil Congress
Alma mater	King's College London University of Cambridge
Profession	Lawyer

Gaasinather Gangaser Ponnambalam (Tamil: காசிநாதர் காங்கேசர் பொன்னம்பலம்: 12 August 1938 – 5 January 2000; known as Kumar Ponnambalam) was a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. Leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, he was the party's presidential candidate in 1982. He was shot dead on 5 January 2000 in an assassination many suspect to be ordered by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Early life and family

Ponnambalam was born on 12 August 1938. He was the son of G. G. Ponnambalam, a leading Tamil politician and lawyer, and Rose Alagumani Clough. He was educated at St. Patrick's College, Jaffna and Royal College, Colombo. He studied at Aquinas University College, Colombo before joining King's College London, graduating with a LL.B. degree. He then proceeded to the University of Cambridge, graduating with a MA degree. He was a contemporary of leftist politician Vikramabahu Karunaratne at Cambridge.

Ponnambalam married Yogalakshmi, a surgeon and eldest daughter of T. Murugesapillai, a former Additional Government Agent for Jaffna. They had a daughter (Mirinalini, a doctor) and a son (Gajendrakumar, lawyer and politician).

Career

Law

Ponnambalam was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1974. Returning to Ceylon, he started practicing law as an advocate. He was a successful lawyer and became very rich as a result. He learned Sinhala so he could argue his cases in the language.

Ponnambalam became involved in human rights activism in the 1970s and co-founded the Civil Rights Movement. He would represent pro bono Sinhalese youths who had been victims of human rights abuses. He opposed the Criminal Justice Commission as it violated the rule of law and the right to a fair trial and two parallel systems of justice. He also opposed the 1982 referendum on extending the life of Parliament by six years. He addressed the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in 1997 and 1999 and the European Parliament in 1998 on the grievances of Sri Lanka's Tamil population. He was involved in the Krishanti Kumaraswamy case and was instrumental in bringing attention to the Chemmani mass graves. He was noted for his appearances, pro bono, on behalf of Tamil youth detained by the state under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and emergency regulations.

Politics

Ponnambalam joined the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) led by his father in the 1960s and became president of its youth wing in 1966. On 14 May 1972, the ACTC, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, Ceylon Workers' Congress, Eelath Thamilar Otrumai Munnani and All Ceylon Tamil Conference formed the Tamil United Front, later renamed the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). The TULF failed to select Ponnambalam as one of its candidates for the 1977 parliamentary election. As a result, Ponnambalam stood as an independent candidate in Jaffna but was defeated by TULF candidate V. Yogeswaran.

In 1978, Ponnambalam re-registered the ACTC as a separate political party. The ACTC contested elections thereafter but with little success. Ponnambalam was the ACTC's candidate at the 1982 presidential election. He came fourth after receiving 173,934 votes (2.67%), though he did win a majority of votes in the Jaffna District, the heartland of the Sri Lankan Tamil population. Ponnambalam was one of the ACTC's candidates in the Jaffna District at the 1989 parliamentary election, however the ACTC failed to win any seats in Parliament.

Initially, Ponnambalam did not support the separatist agenda espoused by Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups and worked closely with the Sinhalese politicians, co-authoring Sirimavo Bandaranaike's manifesto in 1988. But as the Sri Lankan Civil War progressed, he grew disillusioned and distrustful of Sinhalese politicians and began to adopt a more nationalistic stance. Ponnambalam contested in the 1994 parliamentary election as part of an independent group in the Colombo District, but the group failed to win any seats in Parliament. Thereafter Ponnambalam became a more radical, vociferous supporter of the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and an ardent critic of the Sri Lankan government and moderate Tamil political parties such as the TULF which he branded "quislings" and "collaborators". Ponnambalam travelled the world to promote the LTTE and its cause.

Ponnambalam was a vocal critic of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and unsuccessfully attempted to field a Tamil candidate against Kumaratunga in the 1999 presidential election. Kumaratunga was reelected, and the day after her victory, Kumaratunga gave a speech in which she warned LTTE supporters living in the south (Sinhalese-majority areas) to be aware. A few days later, Ponnambalam wrote an open letter to Kumaratunga saying that he was "an unalloyed, unrepentant supporter of the political philosophy of the LTTE", condemning "the naked threats that dot[ted] [Kumaratunga's victory] speech" and concluding that "a political solution to the Tamil Problem is in the hands of the Tamils themselves and only in their hands and that the Sinhalese and Tamils can continue to live in this island and in peace only if they live in two definite and distinct compartments each minding their own business unfettered by the other". The letter is regarded as an epitaph to Ponnambalam's commitment to the struggle for the equality and freedom of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

Death

On the morning of 5 January 2000, at around 10 AM, a man called "Shantha", who spoke fluent Sinhala, arrived at Ponnambalam's house, Gitanjali, on Queens Road in Colombo, and was shown inside. Ponnambalam and Shantha spoke for about thirty minutes before the pair left in one of Ponnambalam's Mercedes-Benz. Ponnambalam dispensed with his chauffeur and drove himself whilst Shantha sat in the front passenger seat. Ponnambalam told his servants that he was going out but didn't say where he was going. Ponnambalam seemed comfortable with Shantha but had removed his watch, gold chain and other jewellery before leaving.

About an hour later passers-by found Ponnambalam's car parked at Ramakrishna Terrace in Wellawatte with Ponnambalam slouched in the driver's seat. He had been shot twice. There was no sign of Shantha, though according to the police another person had been sitting in the rear seats of the car. According to Ponnambalam's family, Shantha had been speaking to Ponnambalam on the phone since November 1999. Ponnambalam had told his family that he was discussing a case with Shantha.

Ponnambalam was assassinated in the same area as MP and newspaper publisher Nadarajah Atputharajah (alias Ramesh) was assassinated in November 1999. Atputharajah's assassination was blamed on the Eelam People's Democratic Party, a government-backed paramilitary group. An unknown group calling itself the National Movement Against Tigers claimed responsibility for Ponnambalam's assassination. It is widely believed that the assassination was sanctioned by Kumaratunga.

According to The Sunday Leader, Ponnambalam's killing was organised by Baddegana Sanjeewa, a member of Kumaratunga's Presidential Security Division.

On 8 January 2000, the LTTE posthumously conferred the title Maamanithar (great human being) to Ponnambalam. His funeral was held on 9 January 2000 at the Kannate Hindu cemetery.

Ponnambalam was one of Colombo's wealthiest residents, owning a fleet of Mercedes-Benz cars. No one had been brought to justice for Ponnambalam's killing.

Electoral history