S. Kanagaratnam

Hon.
S. Kanagaratnam
MP
ச. கனகரத்தினம்
Member of Parliament
for Vanni District
In office
2004–2010
Personal details
Born (1946-12-28) 28 December 1946 (age 77)
Nallur, Ceylon
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partyUnited People's Freedom Alliance
OccupationDriving instructor

Sathasivam Kanagaratnam (Tamil: சதாசிவம் கனகரத்தினம்; born 28 December 1946) is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former Member of Parliament.

Early life and family

Kanagaratnam was born on 28 December 1946 Nallur, northern Ceylon.[1][2] He was educated at Senkuntha Hindu College.[2] He had two brothers (Chelvanayakam and Rajaratnam) and two sisters.[2] Lieutinent Chelvanayakam (alias Amman, Chandran, Chellakili) was a member of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who was killed in the Thirunelvely ambush on the Sri Lankan military in July 1983.[2]

Kanagaratnam has two sons (Aathithan and Shanseevan) and a daughter (Niruththana).[2]

Career

After school Kanagaratnam worked in various jobs including as a salesman and a chauffeur.[2] He joined the Ceylon Transport Board in 1978 as a bus driver at the Mattakkuliya depot.[2] He transferred to the Mullaitivu depot in 1980.[2] After retirement in 2000 he worked part-time for the Vanni Private Bus Operators’ Association.[2] He lived in Suthanthirapuram near Udayarkaddu in Mullaitivu District.[2]

Kanagaratnam was selected by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to be one of the Tamil National Alliance's (TNA) candidates in Vanni District at the 2004 parliamentary election.[3] He was elected and entered Parliament.[4]

Kanagaratnam and his family were amongst the 300,000 civilians trapped in the No Fire Zone during the final months of the civil war.[5] He disappeared after the end of the civil war in May 2009.[6] He was picked by the police at the Menik Farm IDP camp and taken to Colombo.[7][8] He had been detained on the orders of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for allegedly violating emergency regulations and assisting the LTTE.[9][10][11] After eight months of detention Kanagaratnam was released in January 2010 in return for agreeing to support Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election.[3][12][13] He was provided with a newly built bungalow inside the Northern Province Governor’s residential complex in Vavuniya.[14][15]

Kanagaratnam left the TNA and joined Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA).[16] He contested the 2010 parliamentary election as one of the UPFA's candidates in Vanni District but failed to get elected after coming sixth amongst the UPFA candidates.[17]

Electoral history

Electoral history of S. Kanagaratnam
Election Constituency Party Votes Result
2004 parliamentary[4] Vanni District TNA 30,390 Elected
2010 parliamentary[17] Vanni District UPFA 3,570 Not elected

References

  1. ^ "Directory of Past Members: S. Kanagaratnam". Parliament of Sri Lanka.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rajasingham, K. T. (19 April 2011). "Final days in Vanni: 600 Tamils shot and killed as stray dogs- First Person Revelation". Asian Tribune.
  3. ^ a b Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (3 April 2010). "Tamil National Alliance enters critical third phase-2". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 16 May 2010.
  4. ^ a b "General Election 2004 Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2010.
  5. ^ "TNA dissidents to give it tough fight". The Nation (Sri Lanka). 28 February 2010.
  6. ^ "TNA MP missing in Vanni". TamilNet. 20 May 2009.
  7. ^ "Sri Lanka Police questions TNA MP". TamilNet. 23 May 2009.
  8. ^ "TNA in dilemma". The Nation (Sri Lanka). 24 May 2009.
  9. ^ "TNA MP Kanagaretnam ordered further detention in Colombo court". TamilNet. 23 June 2009.
  10. ^ "Tamil MP arrested in Sri Lanka for LTTE links". NDTV. Press Trust of India. 23 June 2009.
  11. ^ "Tamil legislator arrested in Sri Lanka". The New Indian Express. Indo-Asian News Service. 23 June 2009. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014.
  12. ^ "TNA MP Sathasivam Kanagaratnam released". TamilNet. 15 January 2010.
  13. ^ Natarajan, Swaminathan (15 January 2010). "Detained Sri Lankan Tamil MP is released". BBC News.
  14. ^ "TNA says released MP forced to back MR". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 17 January 2010.
  15. ^ "Missing MP Kanagaratnam in Vavuniya". The Nation (Sri Lanka). 31 January 2010.
  16. ^ Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (17 April 2010). "T.N.A. Performs creditably in parliamentary elections". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 28 April 2010.
  17. ^ a b "Parliamentary General Election - 2010 Vanni Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2010.