The importance of being Pillayan

By Kassapa 

There is never a dull moment in Sri Lankan politics these days and not even the general state of inertia imposed by the Sinhala and Tamil New Year could dampen the excitement generated from the detention of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, better known by his nom de guerre, ‘Pillayan’, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Pillayan has had a colourful history, both in an out of politics. Now a few months shy of his 50^th birthday, he was recruited to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the age of sixteen and was the best known among its so-called ‘child soldiers’. This is not the first time he has been in the limelight- and when he is, it has mostly been for the wrong reasons.

Pillayan and Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, better known as ‘Karuna Amman’ broke away from the LTTE in 2004. Together, they formed the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) of which Karuna was the de facto leader and Pillayan his apparent deputy. They were more or less in control of the Eastern province at a time when the government was battling the LTTE in the North. 

It was shortly afterwards, on Christmas Day in December 2005 that Batticaloa district parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham was gunned down after attending Christmas mass at the St. Mary’s Cathedral in Batticaloa. However, it was not until 2015, when the Mahinda Rajapaksa government was voted out, that Pillayan was arrested and detained, also under the PTA, for alleged involvement in this crime.

In the intervening decade, Pillayan’s TMVP teamed up with the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) to contest the Eastern province’s first ever provincial council election in 2008, after its de-linking from the Northern Province. By this time, Pillayan had assumed leadership of the TMVP after ousting Karuna Amman who left for London. Having won the election, Rajapaksa overlooked his other ally in the region, M.L.A.M. Hizbullah in favour of Pillayan, appointing the latter as the East’s first Chief Minister, a post he held until 2012. He remained active in politics even thereafter.

Under detention since 2015 for his alleged involvement in Pararajasingham’s murder, Pillayan contested the 2019 general elections from the TMVP while in prison – this time, as an ally of the newly formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)- polled the highest number of preferences in the Batticaloa District and was returned to Parliament.

His turn of fortune for the better co-incided with the SLPP regaining power. In early 2021, the courts acquitted Pillayan of the charges against him relating to Pararajasingham after the Attorney General’s Department indicated it will not be pursuing with his prosecution. In April 2022, Pillayan was appointed State Minister of Rural Road Development by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

In September 2023, a documentary by Britain’s Channel 4 television network saw Pillayan’s former associate and former TMVP spokesman Azad Maulana making sensation claims. Maulana alleged that, at Pillayan’s request, he arranged a meeting between former military intelligence chief Suresh Salley and members of the radical Islamic movement National Thowheeth Jama’ath in 2018. He also alleged that the April 2019 Easter Day bombings were done to create a climate of fear to facilitate Gotabaya Rajapaksa getting elected as President. Pillayan has vehemently denied these claims. Maulana remains overseas.

In the September 2024 presidential election, Pillayan changed loyalties to support and campaign for then President Ranil Wickremesinghe. This was while Namal Rajapaksa contested from the SLPP.   

Pillayan’ recent arrest was for alleged involvement in the disappearance of the Vice-Chancellor of the Eastern University, Professor Sivasubramanium Raveendranath in 2006. Raveendranath had received deaths threats and offered his resignation to the University Grants Commission but had been advised to work from Colombo. He was in Colombo attending a conference when he disappeared. He has not been found since then.

Although initially arrested over Raveendranath’s disappearance, Pillayan is now detained under the PTA. Minister of Public security Ananda Wijepala told Parliament that a significant amount of information has been uncovered linking him to the 2019 Easter Sunday Attacks.

What has happened since then is even more interesting. Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila has requested -and obtained -access to Pillayan stating he was Pillayan’s legal counsel. Another request from former President Ranil Wickremesinghe to speak to Pillayan while in custody has been denied, Minister Wijepala revealed.

These events have led to much speculation. Gammanpila, for all his political theatrics, is not known for his legal acumen. Politically, Pillayan represented Tamil separatism while Gammanpila even today stands unashamedly for Sinhala supremacy. How their interests merge can lead to very interesting speculation.

While it is true that Pillayan supported Wickremesinghe at the last presidential election, the latter is not renowned for his empathy for those supported him. What discussions he would want to have with the detained Pillayan leads to even more conjecture.

The government, on the other hand, faces significant pressure from the Catholic church to unravel the mystery behind the Easter Sunday attacks and unveil its masterminds. Recently the church hierarchy hinted that they expected answers by the next anniversary of the Easter Day attacks- which is only a few days away. One fervently hopes that the detaining of Pillayan under the PTA and Wijepala’s statement that there is information linking him to the Easter day attacks is not mere theatrics to ward off the Catholic church and that there is substance behind that statement.

Given his complex political leanings, changing loyalties and alleged complicity in many serious incidents, Pillayan is of great value to investigators, if only he will talk. Similarly, for those who may have colluded with him at different stages of his political journey, Pillayan being in custody poses a grave and imminent danger. That may explain the indecent hurry with which they want to liaise with him.

The government meanwhile knows only too well that its primary mandate is to create a political culture that abhors corruption and abuse of power and ensures punishments for criminal activity. Pillayan may hold the key to the first major case that the government undertakes in that effort.