Thileepan dies and thousands grieve  Place: Nallur, Jaffna |
Date: 19870926  The Citizen Committees, trade unions, students
unions, teachers associations, religious leaders, all held
meetings and discussed the issues relating to Thileepan's fast
and passed resolutions and submitted memoranda to the overall
commander of the IPKF, Lt. General Depinder Singh requesting the
Indian representatives to intervene and stop the fast and
initiate immediate efforts to set up the interim administration
in the North and East. But nothing moved fast enough to stop
Thileepan's death. Thileepan died on the 26th of September 1987.
There was widespread grief in the North. There can be little
doubt that Thileepan's martyrdom had a profound effect on every
Tamil soul in Sri Lanka. Thousands of people from the North and
East poured into Jaffna as the news of his death spread.  But no
violent reaction at funeral  Judging by past events, everyone
expected a violent reaction in the North and East, following
Thileepan's death, but to