Balanadarajah Iyer

Background

Balanadarasan was born on June 6, 1957 in Urelu Jaffna to a Teacher named N. Kandasamy Iyer and his wife Ambigai Amma.

Career

He became a leader of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students and worked for the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist movement, advocating for the liberation of Tamils from the Government of Sri Lanka. After the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students merged with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, he left EROS and the LTTE. He also contested the 2000, 2001 and 2004 elections in Jaffna unsuccessfully for the EPDP. He took part in Timbu talks along with Vellupilai Balakumaran and Shankar Raji. Iyer and an associate were killed by two men on motorcycles who shot at him with pistols.

Iyer was shot him in the face and chest.

His murder was the second major murder of a journalist in Sri Lanka in 2004.

Achievements

• He was a comrade of the founder of EROS, Ratnasabapathy. He then joined the Eelam People"s Democratic Party and worked with founder Douglas Devananda to promote the rights of Jaffna Tamils and Eastern Tamils.

Membership

He was also a member of the editorial board for Ellanatham (News Paper for Tamils). On August 16, 2004 he was gunned down in Colombo by gunmen believed to be members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.