T Kumar, former political prisoner and veteran activist, passes away in Washington

Veteran Eelam Tamil activist Thambithurai Muthukumarasamy passed away in the United States earlier this month, bringing to a close the life of a man who spent decades on the frontlines of human rights advocacy.

Known affectionately as T. Kumar, his political life spanned the formative decades of Tamil resistance, from the emergence of militant consciousness among Tamil youth in the early 1970s to sustained international advocacy for justice and accountability in the decades that followed.

Muthukumarasamy belonged to a generation that came of age at a time when constitutional politics had collapsed for the Tamil nation, and when state repression had rendered peaceful protest both ineffective and dangerous. As a member of the Tamil Student Movement, he was part of the radicalised youth milieu that responded to systematic discrimination, cultural erasure, and state violence by seeking new political pathways beyond parliamentary engagement.

This was a period in which early armed fighters of the Tamil Eelam liberation struggle operated as fragmented and independent groups, often without formal structure or coordination. Yet it was also a period of decisive political awakening. The defiance embodied by Pon Sivakumaran, whose sacrifice electrified Tamil youth, and the organisational momentum generated through the Students’ Council initiated by Ponnuthurai Saththiyaseelan, marked a historic turning point. It was within this crucible that Muthukumarasamy emerged as a key organiser and political thinker.

He was among those involved in the formation of the Students’ Council, which played a foundational role in transforming spontaneous resistance into organised political activity. 

The early years of the armed struggle were marked by intense state repression, and Muthukumarasamy was not spared. He was subsequently arrested by the Sri Lankan security forces, whilst he was still a student.

Muthukumarasamy endured imprisonment in some of the most notorious detention facilities of the time, including Jaffna Fort Prison and Kandy Bogambara Prison.

In a 2023 interview he described how “Amnesty International adopted me as a Prisoner of Conscience and initiated a worldwide campaign, putting pressure on the Sri Lankan government to secure my release”. 

“A Prisoner of Conscience is someone who has not used or advocated violence in the circumstances leading to their imprisonment,” he said. “They are imprisoned due to who they are, whether that is their ethnicity, race, sex, economic status, social origin, or what their religious, political, or other conscientiously held beliefs are. Under international human rights law, one cannot be detained without a legitimate reason, and all have the right to a fair trial but in many countries, there are no safeguards in place to ensure this.”

Following his release, his commitment to memory and resistance found expression in a deeply symbolic act. It was by his own hands that the first statue of Pon Sivakumaran was inaugurated at Urumpirai.

His life and struggles also entered the realm of Tamil political literature. Thambithurai Muthukumarasamy was the central character in Langarani, a novel written by Arular (Arul Prakasam), one of the founders of EROS. The novel offers a stark portrayal of state repression, political betrayal, and the injustices carried out under the guise of democracy by the Sri Lankan state, capturing the moral and political environment in which early Tamil militants operated.

In later years, Muthukumarasamy migrated to the United States, where his struggle took on a different but no less significant form. A qualified attorney-at-law, he devoted himself to international human rights advocacy, bringing the lived experience of political imprisonment into global legal and institutional spaces.

He served as Amnesty International's Advocacy Director for over 22 years, and worked as a human rights monitor across multiple regions. He also served as a Professor at the Academy of Humanitarian and Human Rights Law at Washington College of Law, educating new generations of lawyers in the principles of humanitarian law and accountability.

His work extended into international election monitoring, where he served as an Election Judge in Philadelphia. He also functioned as an Advisor to the United Nations Quaker Office and provided advisory input on United Nations related affairs to the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE).

Throughout these roles, Thambithurai Muthukumarasamy embodied a rare continuity. He was part of a generation that moved from underground resistance to international advocacy, yet never detached its legal and humanitarian work from the political roots of Tamil oppression. 

Recognised as one of the patriarchs of the armed struggle in Eelam history, Thambithurai Muthukumarasamy leaves behind a legacy defined by personal sacrifice, and unwavering commitment to justice.