A protest has been launched in Thirunelveli, Jaffna, calling for the release of Tamil political prisoner Vigneshwaranathan Parthipan, who has spent more than three decades behind bars after being arrested under Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) at the age of just 17.
The protest, initiated by the organisation Voice of the Voiceless, was launched at the family’s home on Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the death of Parthipan’s mother, Vigneswaranathan Vagheeswari Ammaiyar.
“Let the great tree of liberation take root, may a single offering of lily water loosen its chains, and let us free our kin,” read the protest’s rallying cry.
Parthipan, who was sentenced under the widely condemned PTA, has now spent more than 30 years in prison. Over that time, his parents, unable to endure the pain of their son’s imprisonment, passed away. Parthipan was allowed out of prison only briefly to attend their final rites - brought in shackles to light his mother’s funeral pyre before being returned to his cell.
In his memory and in the continued call for freedom, organisers of the protest have invited people from all backgrounds, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or language, to participate in a simple yet poignant ritual: the pouring of a single cup of water from their homes into a communal vessel. This act, protestors say, symbolises the collective nurturing of the “great tree of liberation” and a shared commitment to breaking the chains that continue to imprison Tamil political detainees.
Activists and civil society members have rallied behind the initiative, urging wider public support and international attention to Parthipan’s case and that of other Tamil political prisoners who remain incarcerated under repressive laws.
