Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, a prominent Sri Lankan politician and a long-time advocate for the country’s Tamil minority, passed away at the age of 91. Sampanthan, a lawyer and one of Sri Lanka’s longest-serving Members of Parliament, died in the capital, Colombo, late Sunday.
For the past 23 years, Sampanthan led the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a diverse coalition representing Tamils in Sri Lanka’s north and east. Even after the defeat of the Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009, he continued to advocate for equal rights for the often marginalized Tamil ethnic group. His death was confirmed by TNA leader MA Sumanthiran on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In 2015, Sampanthan made history by becoming the leader of the opposition, the first member of an ethnic minority to hold the parliamentary post in 32 years. In 2022, he wrote a letter to the UN Human Rights Council, alleging that the Sinhalese-led government was oppressing Tamils, indefinitely detaining political prisoners, preventing displaced civilians from resettling on their land in former war zones, and continuing to militarize the area. He urged the international body to condemn the government’s failure to investigate alleged violations against the minority group.
Tributes for Sampanthan have poured in from across Sri Lanka’s political spectrum. Among those paying tribute was former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who oversaw the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009.