R. Sampanthan, the face of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority and its struggle post-civil war, dies at 91

Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Rajavarothiyam Sampanthan, a senior ethnic Tamil leader and lawmaker, who became the face of the minority community’s campaign for autonomy in Sri Lanka since the end of a brutal quarter-century civil war, has died. He was 91. A lawyer by profession, Sampanthan entered Parliament for the first time in 1977 becoming prominent in 2001 when he was elected under an alliance brought together by the Tamil Tigers rebel group to be their democratic voice, as they agreed to a Norway-brokered peace process. After peace talks broke down and the rebels were crushed by government forces in 2009, Sampanthan has taken the task being a leader to the Tamil community.