Trinco women rights activist passes away

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2004, 17:38 GMT]
Miss Harsini Antonysamy (26), a leading women rights activist in Trincomalee, died of cancer in a Colombo hospital Friday. She has been the Trincomalee district organizer of the Theatre Action Group of the Jaffna University, sources said.

She started her social service through the Development Unit of the Trincomalee District Young Men Association in 1997. Later she became the Trincomalee organizer of the Jaffna University Theatre Action Group, which was responsible for several plays staged in the northeast depicting the suffering of Tamil women due to atrocities, committed by the government troops during war, sources said.

Miss Harsini participated in several women rights agitations in Trincomalee, Jaffna, Colombo and Batticaloa during 1999 and 2000, sources said.

She had been in the forefront of the Tamil Resurgence (Pongu Thamil) celebrations held in Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Jaffna and Mannar and organized dramas and other cultural items giving importance to women rights, sources said.

Trincomalee has lost a leading women right activist at a time her services are needed to take forward the struggle of Tamil women in the district, sources said.

She was diagnosed of cancer two months ago and had undergone treatment first in Trincomalee general hospital and later in Colombo hospital. Finally she passed away in a Colombo hospital Friday, sources said.

She has been a resident of Orr's Hill in Trincomalee. Her body is to be brought to Trincomalee from Colombo on Saturday, sources said.