Anton Balasingham

Anton Balasingham Stanislaus (அன்ரன் பாலசிங்கம் சிடானிசுலாசு; 4 March 1938 – 14 December 2006) was a Sri Lankan Tamil journalist, rebel and chief political strategist and chief negotiator for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.

Balasingham was born on 4 March 1938.

His father was an electrical foreman from Mandur in eastern Ceylon and his mother was a midwife from Jaffna in northern Ceylon who met whilst they were both working at Batticaloa Hospital.

Balasingham's paternal grandfather was a Hindu priest.

Balasingham's parents separated and following his father's death, Balasingham along-with his mother and sister moved to Karaveddy.

The family lived in a rented house and his mother worked as a midwife at the Ambam clinic.

Balasingham was educated at Sacred Heart College, Karaveddy and Nelliady Central College.

Balasingham was raised a Roman Catholic, the religion of his mother, but as he grew up he became a rationalist and agnostic.

He was also attracted to leftist politics which had strong support in the Karaveddy area.

He was an acquaintance of S. Sivagnanasundaram, editor of the Sirithiran magazine and cartoonist (using the pseudonym Sundar) of the Savari Thambar cartoon strip.

He was married to Australian born Adele Ann Wilby.

With Sivagnanasundaram's help, Balasingham became a sub-editor of the Colombo based Virakesari newspaper in the 1960s.

He was in charge of foreign news which entailed translating Reuters and other articles into Tamil.

Balasingham lived at a chummery (hostel) in Grandpass, close to the Virakesari's offices, and spent much of his free time reading.

He became interested in philosophy and psychology and occasionally practised hypnotism.

Balasingham then got a job as a translator at the British High Commission in Colombo.

He fell in love with Pearl Rasaratnam, a Tamil Methodist woman and daughter of a former principal of Hartley College, who was working at the British Council next to the High Commission.

The couple married on 16 July 1968 at Kollupitiya Methodist Church.

Pearl was a sick woman and so the couple decided to move to the UK for treatment.

With the help of the British High Commission the couple left Sri Lanka on 3 August 1971.

Balasingham and Pearl lived in a small flat in Camberwell, London.

Balasingham enrolled at the Institute of Psychotherapy and worked at the Inner London Executive Council.

Pearl's condition deteriorated and was diagnosed with pyelonephritis, chronic kidney failure which required haemodialysis.

Balasingham had to work, study and care for his sick wife.

He was also diagnosed with diabetes.

The couple later moved into a council house in the Blenheim Gardens Estate in Brixton, London.

Pearl died in November 1976.

Her cremated remains were taken back to Sri Lanka and interred at Kanatte Cemetery following a memorial service at Kollupitiya Methodist Church.

Balasingham returned to the UK.

During his wife's illness Balasingham became acquainted with Adele Ann Wilby, an Australian nurse working in the UK.

Balasingham and Wilby were married at Brixton registrar office on 1 September 1978.

Balasingham obtained a M.A. degree from the South Bank Polytechnic after completing a dissertation on Marxism.

He started a PhD course under John Taylor but didn't complete his studies.

Balasingham's interest in left-wing politics continued in London, getting involved in Marxism and the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

He became involved in the Tamil militant cause which was active amongst Tamil students in London and was associated with the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students.

He was acquainted with leading militants such as E. Ratnasabapathy and K. Pathmanabha.

He was recruited into the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by its London representative N. S. Krishnan.

Balasingham wrote leaflets and pamphlets in English and Tamil and carried out translation for the LTTE.

Balasingham and Wilby travelled to Tamil Nadu, India frequently where they met LTTE leaders such as V. Prabhakaran and Uma Maheswaran.

When Prabhakaran and Maheswaran split, Balasingham tried to reconcile the two but after having failed, sided with Prabhakaran.