S. Kanagaratnam

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

Hon.

S. Kanagaratnam

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

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 Sancheevan) and a daughter (Niriththana).[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 DistrictTNA30,390Elected
2010 parliamentary[17]Vanni DistrictUPFA3,570Not elected

References
  1. "Directory of Past Members: S. Kanagaratnam". Parliament of Sri Lanka.
  2. Rajasingham, K. T. (19 April 2011). "Final days in Vanni: 600 Tamils shot and killed as stray dogs- First Person Revelation". Asian Tribune.
  3. 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. "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.
  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. "Parliamentary General Election - 2010 Vanni Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2010.
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