Life and Times of LTTE’s Ex-Jaffna Commander “Col” Kittu

An LTTE bike platoon in Kilinochchi, most likely reminiscing the “Freedom from Oppression”days of the 80s where the population was living freely without fear of searches, round ups, arrests and detention

Nowadays the 33 year long war between the armed forces of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is slowly receding into memory. The LTTE, known generally as the tigers, was formed officially on May 5th 1976. After three decades of conflict, the LTTE met its waterloo by the waters of Nandikadal Lagoon on May 18th 2009. The war waged against the Sri Lankan state by the Veluppilai Prabhakaran-led LTTE is an important and integral part of Sri Lanka’s post-independence history. 

A key turning point in the long war was the metamorphosis of the LTTE from that of a guerilla organization into an outfit engaging in positional warfare. It was in 1985 that the LTTE established control over substantial areas of the Jaffna peninsula. Policing ceased in practice. The army was essentially confined to barracks. Soldiers would however break out of their camps occasionally, get embroiled in skirmishes and return to camp. 
With the functioning of the Army and Police being curtailed, the  greater part of the peninsula came under the control of the armed Tamil groups. Soon there was internecine warfare and the LTTE  became the dominant force. The tigers began establishing a de facto administration. The state was compelled to resort to shelling and bombing the areas under LTTE control. It was only after the “Operation Liberation” military offensive that the Sri Lankan army was able to re-capture areas in  the Vadamaratchy region of the Jaffna peninsula.

Sathasivampillai Krishnakumar

The man primarily responsible for the tiger transition in the north from a guerilla outfit to a conventional militia was “Col” Kittu, the then tiger Jaffna commander. Kittu whose real name was Sathasivampillai Krishnakumar served as the LTTE’s Jaffna district commander from February 1985 to May 1987. This sturdy son of the Valvettithurai(VVT) soil lost a leg in an explosion on March 30th 1987 when an attempt was made to assassinate him. 
Kittu was in Madras now known as Chennai when war erupted between the Indian Army and LTTE. He was placed under house arrest by the Indian authorities. Kittu later went to Europe and set up the international secretariat of the LTTE in London, UK. He was returning to Sri Lanka in an LTTE ship when the Indian navy surrounded the vessel he was aboard. Kittu and eight other tigers committed suicide on 16 January 1993 to prevent being arrested  and imprisoned by Indian authorities.
Kittu is one of the top leaders of the LTTE with whom I have interacted closely in my professional capacity as a journalist. In fact it was I who first interviewed him for an English publication. Excerpts of the interview were published in the Indian news magazine “Frontline” in November 1986. After his death, I wrote a series of articles about him in the Tamil weekly that I was editing then in Toronto. It was titled “Our Vada Maravan Veera Kaathai”(The heroic saga of a northern warrior).
Krishnakumar alias Kittu would have celebrated his 65th birthday on 2nd January if he were among the living now. He was born on 2nd January 1960. It is against this backdrop that this column focuses on Kittu this week.

The Saturday Review

I first met Kittu in person when I worked for some months in Jaffna  as the deputy editor of the Jaffna-based English weekly “The Saturday Review” edited back then by Gamini Navaratne. This was in 1986. Kittu was then all powerful as the LTTE Jaffna district commander. The other LTTE commanders then were Victor - Mannar, Aruna - Batticaloa, David - Amparai, Santhosham - Trincomalee and Mahathaya - Wanni. The Wanni under Mahathaya was subdivided into the areas of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya. The respective commanders were Suseelan, Paseelan and Jeyam.
Very little was known about the other LTTE commanders to the general public then. The Police and armed forces were functioning in those districts and the tigers had to move about cautiously and somewhat furtively. Media access also was unavailable. This was not the case in Jaffna as it was then in a “semi-liberated” state. The tiger commander Kittu moved about freely and was accessible to the Jaffna based newspapers and also the western media. Thus Kittu had greater media coverage than any other LTTE regional commander. The LTTE spokesperson in Jaffna  Srikumar alias Raheem also  received much media exposure then.

Vijaya Kumaratunga

Furthermore Kittu and Rahim received a lot of positive publicity  when well-known film star and political leader Vijaya Kumaratunga went to Jaffna in 1986. The Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya (SLMP) leader was accompanied by Ossie Abeygunasekera and Felix Perera. They were received well by the LTTE and interacted with Kittu. The video of Vijaya’s trip and meetings with Kittu were circulated widely in the south. To use a current term it went “viral”. One of the things that impacted on many in the south was the appearance of Kittu.
Kittu’s fearsome reputation as a LTTE commander had made many visualise him as an ogre-like figure. The real life Kittu was totally different to that of his image. Kittu was a short, balding, be-spectacled person with a seemingly docile demeanour. He was generally soft-spoken. He looked more like a bank clerk or primary school teacher rather than a dangerous guerilla. There was in the past an incident which illustrated this vividly. 

Innocuous Looking Kittu

Once in 1984 when the armed forces were moving about freely in Jaffna, two Tamil youths on a motorcycle were detained on suspicion by the army. The rider was a young teacher who was an LTTE supporter. The balding, be-spectacled passenger on the pillion was none other than Kittu himself. The soldiers took the dangerous looking teacher into the army truck. They ordered the innocuous looking Kittu to follow on the motorcycle without realising that this was the LTTE Jaffna commander. At one point Kittu deviated sharply into a side lane and sped off to safety. The soldiers could do nothing. It was only after they interrogated the teacher that the security forces knew who they had in their grasp and got away.
The eighties of the twentieth century were the halcyon days of the LTTE. They enjoyed a great amount of genuine support and popularity among the people at large. This was especially so in Jaffna where the population was living freely without fear of searches, round ups, arrests and detention. This “Freedom from Oppression” and liberty was perceived as being due to the LTTE that was preventing the armed forces from venturing outside their camps. The LTTE cadres were seen as heroes with some of the  handsome tigers having fan followings among Jaffna schoolgirls .
The LTTE Jaffna commander Kittu was looked up to with awe, admiration and even regarded with affection by many people in Jaffna then. He was immensely popular. 

Pet Monkey “Belle”

Kittu had a pet monkey named “Belle”. He would travel about in the streets of Jaffna in a pick up with the monkey perched on his shoulder. 
Kittu would often be bare-bodied without wearing a shirt. If and when the army ventured out on a sortie, the LTTE command would be alerted on walkie-talkies by the tiger sentries. Tiger reinforcements would then be rushed to the trouble spot to engage the army and send them back to barracks.
Kittu himself would frequently lead the LTTE reinforcement convoys. I have seen this many times while living in Jaffna then. I also witnessed the reaction and response of ordinary people to the sight of Kittu rushing to the battlefront. They used to feel a sense of safety and reassurance that Kittu and his tigers wont let the army advance. Rightly or wrongly the tigers were seen as their protectors by the Tamil people then. That state of affairs began changing as the years progressed and the LTTE grew stronger and larger. This however is another story.

Tough and Ruthless

Kittu may have possessed an innocuous appearance and a docile demeanour but he was in reality a very tough man. He  demonstrated on more than one occasion that he could be ruthless whenever he thought it was necessary. It was under Kittu that fellow militant organizations like the TELO and EPRLF were attacked and undermined. Many including TELO leader Sri Sabaratnam were killed, Sri was executed by Kittu himself. The PLOTE too was compelled to “deactivate” itself in Jaffna.
There were also many killings of civilians including that of C.E. Anandarajan, the much-respected principal of St. John’s College, Jaffna. Despite the fratricidal warfare, civilian killings and many high-handed authoritarian acts, the bitter truth was that Kittu was generally well-liked and popular among a substantial portion of Jaffna’s population.
Many people were shocked and saddened when an assassination attempt was made and Kittu was in a critical condition. Niromi De Soyza, the author of Tamil Tigress, My Story as a Child Soldier in Sri Lanka’s Bloody Civil War, writes in her book about the sadness that prevailed among her schoolmates when they heard about the attack on Kittu. 

Kumar Achagam

Krishnakumar alias Kittu was the youngest son of Sathasivampillai and Rajalakshmi of Valvettithurai. He had three siblings, a brother and two sisters. His father Sathasivampillai owned a small printing press named Kumar Achagam (Kumar Printers). The press was named Kumar after his son Krishnakumar, generally known as Kumar in his boyhood. Incidentally Kittu’s father is frequently referred to as Sathasivam in the media. This however is wrong as his full name was Sathasivampillai. After the father’s demise,Krishnakumar’s elder brother Gandhithasan managed the press. Gandhi is living in Australia now.
Kittu’s mother Rajalakshmi was a housewife but very much interested in politics. She was a close supporter of former Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK and Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) MP for Point Pedro K. Thurairatnam. She was an active  participant in the “Satyagraha” Campaign conducted by the ITAK in 1961 opposite the Jaffna Kachcheri. She would take her son Krishnakumar, a tiny toddler, along with her to the Jaffna Satyagraha. In later years Rajalakshmi was widely referred to as “Kittammaa”(kittu’s mother) by VVT residents.
Krishnakumar studied at Velayutham Maha Vidyalayam in Point Pedro and Chithambara College in Valvettithurai(VVT). He also studied at the tutory Science Centre in Nelliaddy. According to  former classmates it was an incident at Nelliaddy that impelled  Kittu to join the LTTE. 
As is well-known VVT is regarded as the nursery of armed Tamil militancy. A very large number of Tamil militants including tiger supremo Prabhakaran hailed from VVT. The town had been under “Military occupation” since 1953 when a military camp was set up in VVT for the ostensible purpose of combating smuggling. This prolonged military presence in VVT and the friction it brought about with residents was a primary factor in radicalizing many VVT youths.

Police Brutality

Kittu being from VVT was also not immune to this radicalizing process. Besides, his politicized mother was an ardent Tamil nationalist. The defining moment in Kittu’s life however was an incident of Police brutality in Nelliaddy. A poor Tamil lad had stolen a loaf of bread from a bakery. Two Policemen both Sinhalese had brutally assaulted the “thief” in full view of the public. Krishnakumar had tried to go up to the cops and protest but he was restrained from doing so by his friends
Krishnakumar had brooded over this incident for a while and then decided to join the LTTE and fight back. That was the way to oppose “Khaki” oppression, he felt. The LTTE was then in an embryonic stage with about 40 to 50 members and helpers. The Umamaheswaran - Prabhakaran split had not occurred then.
Messages were conveyed on behalf of Krishnakumar to Prabhakaran that the youth wanted to join the LTTE. After some weeks a meeting was set up in the precincts of a small temple. A lengthy conversation ensued. Prabhakaran knew Krishnakumar’s family well and was distantly related. Some more clandestine meetings followed. Finally Prabhakaran was satisfied and inducted Krishnakumar into the LTTE as a helper. This was in 1978.

Venkat-Venkittu-Kittu

The 18 year old Krishnakumar was given the nom de guerre Venkat. This became Venkittu in conversations. Later Venkittu got shortened to Kittu. Krishnakumar was known as Kittu throughout his LTTE days. In later years when he reached a position of leadership the suffix “ar” was added as a mark of affectionate respect. He was called “Kittar”. Kittu was also known as Kittu Maamaa (uncle) and Kittu Anna (elder brother).
After joining the LTTE as a helper Kittu, he continued to stay at his VVT home enjoying the meals cooked by his mother who was a reputed cook. But the security authorities got wind of his tiger connections. One day when Kittu was bathing at noon in his underwear, the security forces swooped down on his home. Kittu ran away in his underwear and managed to escape. He borrowed a shirt and sarong from a friend and made his way to a farm run by the LTTE in the Wanni.
Kittu remained in the LTTE run farm and received arms training. It is said that Prabhakaran took a personal interest in Kittu and oversaw his arms training himself. Thereafter Kittu was made a full-fledged member of the LTTE. Kittu was stationed in the hinterland of Batticaloa district known as “Paduvankarai” (Shore of the setting sun) for a while. When the LTTE split into the Prabhakaran and Umamaheswaran factions, Kittu threw in his lot with Prabhakaran. He remained faithful to Prabhakaran until the end.
Kittu later moved to Jaffna and served under the command of Charles Anthony known as Seelan and Aaseer. Kittu participated in several operations including the LTTE attack on the Chavakachcheri police station in October 1982.

Umayalpuram Ambush

It was however in April 1983 that Kittu demonstrated his military skills on the battlefield. The LTTE had planned to ambush a military convoy in Umayalpuram near Paranthan and were lying in wait. Something went wrong and the landmines planted in advance did not explode. Kittu then stood in front of  the military vehicles and opened fire with his G3 main battle rifle. He succeeded in injuring the driver of a vehicle which toppled over
Kittu’s courage and marksmanship came in for praise then. He was also made a deputy commander.
When local authority elections were held in May 1983, the LTTE called for a boycott. The tigers also attacked a polling booth in Kantharmadam and killed a soldier on duty there. In July 1983, the LTTE ambushed an army patrol at Thirunelvely killing 13 soldiers. Kittu was actively involved in both these attacks. As is well known, the Thirunelvely ambush triggered off the island - wide anti - Tamil pogrom described as “Black July”.

Uttar Pradesh Training

Tamil militancy underwent a sea change after July 1983. India got involved in Sri Lankan affairs in a big way. Tamil militants were provided arms training by India on Indian soil. The first batch of LTTE recruits were trained in the Uttar Pradesh state of India. Yogaratnam Kugan alias Ponnamman was in charge of the LTTE first batch. His deputy was Kittu.

Ravindran alias Pandithar

The LTTE command was re-structured again in 1984, Ravindran alias Pandithar was appointed overall commander of the LTTE in Sri Lanka. Pandithar was stationed in Jaffna. Kittu functioned as commander of the military wing in Jaffna under Pandithar. Rasiah Partheeban alias Thileepan served as head of the political wing in Jaffna under Pandithar. Ravindran alias Pandithar was killed  by the armed forces at Atchuvely in January 1985. Thereafter Kittu was appointed as the  LTTEs Jaffna military commander. He was now in sole charge of Jaffna as military commander. The LTTE under Kittu’s leadership gained and retained control of territory in Jaffna. How and why this  happened and what occurred thereafter will be related in detail in the second part of this article.

D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at [email protected]