Rudrakumaran

The  organizations in this category are of  three types. One is the Transnational Tamil Eelam Government (TGTE) and organizations. Media and individuals aligned to it. New York based Lawyer Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran known generally as Rudra is the driving force behind the TGTE. Earlier Rudra was the legal adviser to the LTTE international secretariat and participated in the  Oslo brokered Govt-LTTE peace talks as a resource person to the LTTE delegation.

Rudra  was unanimously elected as the TGTE “Prime minister” and has recently announced a Transnational cabinet of three deputy –premiers, seven ministers   and ten deputy – ministers. Two ministers and three deputy ministers are from the fairer sex. The TGTE assembly has a male speaker and female deputy speaker.Rudra is also planning to set up a Senate.

While “Prime minister”  Rudrakumaran and his ministers and deputy ministers  provide comic relief to a number of , senior officials of  some western nations are  receptive to the TGTE concept at present. These officials feel that such democratic activity could wean emotional members of the Diaspora away from potential violence.

Some members of the TGTE harbour illusions of their self-importance and status. One “cabinet” minister  awaits an official invitation from Colombo to touch down at Katunayake as a state guest of the Rajapaksa government on par with Indian Foreign minister SM Krishna. Others anticipate invitations for official negotiations with representatives of the Sri Lankan government.

The reality is that all identified members of the TGTE are black listed by Colombo and there is no prospect of the organization being treated seriously as a legitimate negotiating partner. Still the TGTE members delude themselves and deceive their supporters through these grandiose hallucinations. Western officials are willing to honour TGTE officials and would even have low-level unofficial talks with them because they perceive the Rudrakumaran set-up as a harmless joke and lesser of the evils.

The greater evil in western security perception  are the structures controlled or guided by the Nediyavan  faction. Those within the Nediyavan orbit of influence are the various LTTE branches, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and its constituents and the newly formed Peoples fronts and national  councils in different countries.

The Global Tamil Forum consists of fourteen organizations in different countries. Chief among these are the British Tamil Forum(BTF) of UK and Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC)of Canada. The BTF  has been quite active and has established contact at high levels with many British politicians and media personalities. The  CTC has not done as well and is constantly embarrassed by the pronouncements of  its public face and spokesperson David Poopalapillai whose  brothers in law  were  Vasudeva former deputy leader of PLOTE and journalist “Taraki” Sivaram.

Nediyavan

Constituent members of the GTF enjoy a certain amount of autonomy and adopt contrary positions on issues. There are divisions within member constituents too. The GTF is headed by Rev. Fr. SJ Emmanuel, former Catholic Vicar-General of the  Jaffna diocese. Fr. Emmanuel now based in Germany speaks out in a moderate, pious manner that is most becoming of a man of cloth. It t is open knowledge that the clergyman holds rigid ,hawkish views on the Tamil national question and is the ideological “Godfather” to Nediyavan and his minions.

Much has been written in these columns about Nediyavan whose real name  is Perinbananayakam Sivaparan. He had been earlier appointed  co-ordinator of overseas LTTE branches by Manivannan alias Castro  the former LTTE leader in charge of Tiger operations abroad. After Castro’s death last year Nediyavan has been in de-facto control of LTTE overseas branches .  Perinpanayagam Sivaparan  bore the nom de guerre “Nediyavan” meaning Tall man. In recent times he has changed it to “Nediyon” which means the same but is in chaste Tamil and has a ring of respectability.

Thirty-four year old Nediyavan   had joined the LTTE when he was 18. He was sent to Russia for higher education by the LTTE but apparently Sivaparan did not complete his degree there.

Nediyavan functioned in the LTTE’s political wing and accompanied  former LTTE political commissar Suppiah Paramu  Thamilselvan for the 4th round of peace talks in Thailand. Thereafter he re-located to Europe.

The LTTE during the peace talks period from 2002-2005 had sent a number of operatives abroad. Most of these cadres were from the political and intelligence wings. Nediyavan took up residence in Norway.

Sivaparan alias Nediyavan married Sivagowri Shanthamohan. Her father’s brother was Gnanendramohan alias Ranjan Lala. Gnanendramohan was one of the pioneering members of the LTTE and a trusted confidante of Prabhakaran. Ranjan Lala was shot in Jaffna by the Army when riding a motor cycle.

This matrimonial alliance strengthened Nediyavan’s clout within the LTTE.With Castro’s authority he spearheaded resistance to KP taking over as global Tiger chief. After KP’s capture in Malaysia last August , Nediyavan or Nediyon was able to establish greater control of the LTTE overseas branches.

The TGTE concept was originally a brainchild of KP. Rudrakumaran regarded as a KP loyalist was entrusted with the task of steering the TGTE project even when KP was a free man. After KP’s capture all  contact between KP and Rudra was lost. Rudrakumaran took over the project in full and devoted his time and talents towards implementing it.

The Nediyavan  cabal perceived Rudrakumaran and the TGTE as a KP projection. It tried in many ways to obstruct its progress. One was to set up a rival network of transnational Tamil organizations.Another was to gain directional  control of the Global Tamil Forum by exerting influence on Fr.Emmanuel.

The Nediyavan faction set up a network of organizations in the countries with large concentrations  of Tamils. They were called Peoples Assemblies and/or national councils. As in the case of the TGTE where democratic elections were held in each country the Nediyavan network also held polls.