US embassy cable - 02COLOMBO1682

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001682 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA, S/CT; 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD; LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  09-11-12 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PINR, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Biographic sketches of members of Tamil Tiger 
negotiating team slated to attend upcoming talks 
 
(U) Classified by W. Lewis Amselem, Charge d'Affaires. 
Reasons 1.5 (b, d). 
 
1.  (C) Para two contains brief biographic sketches of 
the members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE) team attending the upcoming talks with the Sri 
Lankan government.  (Note:  The talks are scheduled to 
take place in Thailand, September 16-18.)  The four 
members of the LTTE team are:  Anton Balasingham, head 
of delegation and LTTE spokesman; Adele Balasingham, 
secretary for the team (she is the spouse of Anton 
 
SIPDIS 
Balasingham); Jay Maheswaran, a development expert; and 
Viswanathan Rudrakumar, a LTTE legal adviser based in 
the U.S. 
 
2.  (C) Brief biographic sketches of the LTTE delegation 
members follow: 
 
-- Anton Balasingham, age 60, is the LTTE's London-based 
spokesman and the head of the group's delegation to the 
Thailand talks.  He is originally from the coastal town 
of Point Pedro in Jaffna.  Before becoming active in 
Tamil militant politics in the early 1970s, he was a 
journalist at the "Virakesari" Tamil newspaper and later 
an information specialist at the British High Commission 
in Colombo, where he was responsible for Tamil language 
translation services, among other duties.  He has done 
some post-graduate work in London and worked as a 
lecturer at a university in the UK.  He holds UK 
citizenship.  His first wife (a Sri Lankan Tamil) died 
in the mid-1970's and he married Adele, a nurse from 
Australia, in 1978 (see below).  Balasingham has very 
serious kidney problems and is also believed to suffer 
from diabetes.  He speaks excellent English, Tamil, and 
Sinhalese. 
 
According to those who have met him, Balasingham is 
intelligent and well mannered.  He is dogmatic regarding 
the Tamil nationalist cause and is generally leftist in 
his politics.  He seems willing to listen to the views 
of others, however, and is considered up-to-date on 
world events.  An experienced negotiator, he was the 
head of the LTTE's team that negotiated with the GSL 
from 1988-90.  One of the highest ranking LTTE 
officials, he has long been a key and loyal adviser to 
LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran.  He served as translator 
during Prabhakaran's press conference in April 2002, 
often expanding on his leader's generally clipped 
responses. 
 
-- Adele Balasingham, 52, an Australian national and 
nurse by profession, is Anton Balasingham's spouse 
(marrying him in 1978; they have no children).  Her 
maiden name is Wilby and her mother is believed to live 
in Victoria state.  She is secretary of the LTTE team 
going to Thailand.  Based on all reports, she came from 
a middle class background in Australia, and became 
involved in LTTE and radical politics only after her 
marriage.  Adele Balasingham is considered extremely 
dogmatic and inflexible regarding LTTE issues.  A 
"Marxist-feminist" (to use her term), she had for years 
been deeply involved in the LTTE women's wing.  Her key 
party duty now (ironically) is serving as assistant to 
her husband, who needs constant medical attention for 
his kidney ailment. 
 
-- Dr. Jay Maheswaran, who is in his early 50's, is a 
key figure in the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization 
(TRO), a pro-LTTE development assistance organization. 
He is believed to be an Australian national.  He is a 
development expert and NGO activist, who often visits 
Sri Lanka from his home in Australia.  He is probably 
the LTTE's key adviser on rehabilitation/resettlement 
issues.  He represented the TRO during a large demining 
meeting hosted by the GSL on August 29, 2002.  U.S. 
officials present at the meeting found him articulate, 
apparently well-educated, and capable of presenting the 
LTTE's views in a constructive manner.  He speaks 
excellent English and Tamil. 
 
-- Mr. Viswanathan Rudrakumar, 45, is considered a key 
adviser for the LTTE on legal issues.  He hails from 
Jaffna and is the son of former Jaffna Mayor Raja 
Viswanathan (who now lives in Canada).  A lawyer, he was 
educated at Jaffna Central College, receiving his legal 
degrees from Colombo University and Southern Methodist 
University in Texas.  He also studied comparative and 
constitutional law for a period at Harvard, and has 
expertise in immigration law.  He now lives in the U.S. 
and is apparently an American citizen.  He is probably 
the LTTE's chief representative in the U.S., meeting 
with State Department officials on a number of 
occasions.  Rudrakumar was involved in initiating legal 
action  against the U.S. decision to ban the LTTE in 
1997, an effort that proved unsuccessful. 
 
3.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
AMSELEM