THE DEATH OF THE TIGER

The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse announced victory in the war against the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Elam last yesterday. The Sri Lankan army today released video footage of what they claim to be LTTE supremo Vellupillai Prabhakaran’s body, with a huge bullet wound on his forehead. Yesterday, they had released images of the dead bodies of LTTE’s top brass including that of Prabhakaran’s eldest son, Charles Anthony and that of the chief of sea tigers, Soosai.

Vellupillai Prabhakaran was born in Valvettiturai, a small fishing town on Sri Lanka’s northern tip as the son of a minor civil servant and a religious woman. It is said that young Prabhakaran, who was a dutiful son and an introvert, got influenced by his parents’ recollection of the 1958 racial riots directed against the Tamils. His private tutor who was a member of the Tamil Federal Party also influenced him. Prabhakaran was drawn into the Tamil struggle after the Sri Lankan Government passed a series of legislations against the Tamils. The repeated violence against the Tamils in the 1950s, 60s and 70s motivated him to find a military solution for the Tamil problems.

Prabhakaran, still in his teens, in 1972, gave form to the Tamil New Tigers which soon got morphed into the LTTE. His first major assassination was in 1975, when he killed the mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duriappa. Thereafter he entered the wanted list of the Sri Lankan Police. He came to India to mobilize support for the Tamil cause.

Prabhakaran could not accept any other political organization or group coming forward for the Tamil cause except his. He wanted monopoly over it. Sohe murdered other Tamil Organizations’ Leaders who stood in his way. Anyone who opposed/disturbed his course of action would be in his hit list. The LTTE had grown from a small group of typical guerrilla fighters to a full fledged military, complety with navy and air force. The LTTE opposed the India- Sri Lanka Agreement signed between Indian PM Rajeev Gandhi and the Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayawardhane (1987). LTTE fought the Indian Peace Keeping Force deployed in Sri Lanka and defeated them, leaving almost 1200 Indian Troops dead. He was not ready for any sort of solution other than a separate nation for the Tamils.

The assassination of Rajeev Gandhi In Sri Perumbattoor by a suicide bomber, shortly followed (1991). This incident proved to cost a lot for the Tigers, as they lost the political support of the Indians. A string of assassinations and attacks followed, and it seemed that the war would never end. The northern Jaffna peninsula was virtually under the rule of the LTTE with Prabhakaran as its ruler. Funds flowed in from the Sri Lankan Tamil non-residents who supported the cause. Then in 2002, a cease fire was signed between the Sri lankan president, renal Wikramasinge and the Tamil Tigers in the mediation of Norway. The Tigers used this opportunity to fill their arsenals and to get ready for the next assault.

By mid 2006, the Tigers broke the cease-fire pact and resumed their attacks. In the summer of 2007 the government recaptured the Tiger- occupied area in the South eastern parts, forcing the tigers to retreat to their Vanni heartland. The govt. formally withdrew from the cease-fire agreement in January 2008. By now, the Tigers were losing heavily to the government due to many reasons:
· The switching of sides of many of the main commanders of the LTTE like col. Karuna, (who is now a minister in the Rajapakse govt), weakened the tigers.
· The number of people who supported the Tigers came down drastically as they started to realize the tigers hadn’t so far improved their conditions of living.
· The fund inflow from tamils across the world dwindled, as the LTTE was declared a terrorist organization and banned by most of the major nations.
· The Sri Lankan Army used guerilla warfare techniques, which the tigers did not anticipate.

The tigers got narrowed to a small strip in the north eastern side of the
Island nation. In January 2009, the army captured Killinoochi, sealing their victory over the Tigers. Now, all the top leaders including Velupillai Prabhakaran having been killed, Mahinda Rajapakse has created history by ending the Tiger Era. Though celebrations are on in Colombo marking the end of a 3- decade old war, the present government faces a lot of challenges. The Tamil issue doesn’t end unless and until they are given equal rights and opportunities and uplifted to the mainstream of the society. Lets hope the Sri Lankan Govt. takes the right steps in this direction as soon as possible to secure a peaceful and dignified life for each Tamil in the country.