Former MP M.K. Sivajilingam dies at 69

Former Jaffna District MP and Northern Provincial Councillor M.K. Sivajilingam, who was serving as Mayor of the Valvettithurai Urban Council, died on the night of November 14. He was 69.

Sivajilingam had been suffering from a serious kidney condition and had undergone a kidney transplant at a private hospital in Colombo. He later fell ill again in Jaffna and was admitted to the Valvettithurai Hospital, where he died.

Born in Valvettithurai in Vadamarachchi, Sivajilingam began his political career with the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO).

He contested parliamentary elections in 2001 and 2004 from the Jaffna District under the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and was elected to Parliament on both occasions.

Sivajilingam also contested the 2010 presidential election as an independent candidate.

He was elected to the Northern Provincial Council in 2013 and was active in campaigns highlighting issues affecting people in the North and East. Following the end of the war, he took part in and helped organise a number of protests and hunger strikes in the two provinces.

Sivajilingam, who was related by marriage to LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, later established the Tamil National Party and served as its chairman.

He was also among the Tamil political figures who played an active role in the formation of the Tamil National Alliance, which brought together several Tamil political parties.

His funeral is scheduled to be held in Valvettithurai, Jaffna, on November 16.