End of Era

SHRI VELUPILLAI PRABHAKARAN, the name that frightened the Sri Lankan administration for over three decades, is no more. The Sri Lankan army claimed that they had gunned down Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) supremo on May 18.

Shri Prabhakaran, who has born in a Hindu middle class family in Jaffna province of Sri Lanka on November 26, 1954, Shri Prabhakaran was youngest of two sons and two daughters founded the first Tamil protest movement in 1973. The grievances of this Hindu minority went back to 1956 when a new law imposed Sinhala as the country’s official language.

When Shri Prabhakaran opened his guerrilla campaign by killing 13 soldiers in 1983, the government’s response served only to bolster his cause. In a series of Killing pogroms in “Black July”, hundreds of innocent Tamils were massacred across Sri Lanka, pushing many to support the Tigers.

Shri Prabhakaran was feted as a "Sun God" by his supporters and branded as a ruthless megalomaniac by his opponents.

1956 - 'Sinhala Only' Act Was Introduced.

English was removed from its status as the official language and Sinhala was made the official language of Sri Lanka. All government employees were required to be fluent in Sinhala. Most Tamils who worked for the government lost their jobs. Government administration was offered only in Sinhala, even in areas where 99% of the population was literate in Tamil. The Tamil Federal Party led a group Tamil volunteers and staged a sit down Satyagraha, (peaceful protest) of the kind popularized by Mahatma Gandhi in the days of the Indian freedom struggle, in Colombo. This protest was broken up by armed Sinhalese gangs, while Sinhalese policemen stood by and watched. Some protestors were through into nearby Beira Lake. Riots then broke out through out Sri Lanka where Tamils were assaulted, homes, shops and property burned. Armed Sinhalese settlers in the Northern and Eastern province attacked neighboring Tamil villages. In 1956, 150 Tamils were murdered. The violence continued for two more years. In 1958 another 150-200 Tamils were murdered, thousands more were assaulted and Tamil property looted. Over 25,000 Tamil refugees were relocated to the North. As peaceful protests against discrimination continued in 1961 the Sri Lankan Army attacked hundreds of men and women in Jaffna.

Now the question is - has the Tamil struggle come to an end with the death of the LTTE founder and supremo? Will the followers as well as supporters of Tamil Eelam continue the struggle for a separate homeland for the Tamils in the island nation? Probably there is no such possibility of an armed struggle for a separate nation for the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka any more.

Lets see how a simple Tamil boy emerges as an international figure. Shri Prabhakaran was born in the northern coastal town of Velvettithurai, situated at the Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka on November 26, 1954 to humble parents - Thiruvenkadam Velupillai and Vallipuram Parvathy. His father, Velupillai was a simple government servant in Sri Lanka. Stubborn in nature, Shri Prabhakaran liked the ideals of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh from his very childhood days. He was ousted from the local school as he was a Tamil. The oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka made Shri Prabhakaran rebellious against the successive ruling governments from his very early age. During his student life, Prabhakarn joined the Tamil student union - TIP to protest against the state sponsored oppression against the Tamils in the island nation.

But he found that the TIP would not be able to bring a radical change in the ongoing social discrimination in Sri Lanka. Therefore, he established a new organisation named Tamil New Tigers (TNT) in 1972 and went underground. He later told that he had decided to take up arms after seeing Sri Lankan security forces harass Tamil civilians in the Jaffna peninsula. The TNT group started protest movements against the post-colonial political direction in the island nation, which caused the social humiliation of the minority Sri Lankan Tamils. In 1975, Prabhakaran came to the forefront of news as he carried out the first assassination of Alfred Duraiappah, the mayor of Jaffna. A group of Tamil rebels, led by Prabhakarn shot Duraiappah from point blank range during the later’s visit to a Hindu temple at Ponnaalai. Duraiappah became the target of the rebels as he betrayed the Tamils by giving support to the then ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1974 and formed an alliance with the Sinhalese majority.

In a bid to specify the struggle for a separate homeland for the Tamils and to get the deserving honour for all Tamils in Sri Lanka, the TNT was renamed as LTTE on May 5, 1976. The followers and activists of the LTTE are commonly known as Tamil Tigers. The LTTE group, mainly anti-Buddhist in nature, does not follow any material form, any religion or religious texts in any of its ideological documents and propaganda. The prime objective of this group is to respect and continue the rich tradition of Tamil nationalism and the formation of a separate and independent Tamil Eelam in the island nation. The very mantra of LTTE is if any activist is found to compromise with the goal of LTTE, then he / she would be killed. Even the LTTE supremo would also not be spared if found disloyal to the goal. All Tiger cadres carried a cyanide capsule so they could commit suicide rather than be captured alive. Prabhakaran enforced a strict code of disciplinewith his fighters, and banned smoking and drinking. His fighters were conferred with military ranks only after their deaths and he built a cult of venerating the fallen.

Influenced by the ‘Revolutionary socialism and the creation of an egalitarian society’, Prabhakarn quickly established himself as a strong willed leader. His annual Tamil Eelam Heroes Day speeches inspired many Tamil youths to join the movement. Shri Prabhakaran’s dream of a separate Tamil Eelam speaks of such a nation where the UN Charter guarantees the right of a people to political independence.

Shri Prabhakaran believed that only armed military struggle against the successive Sinhalese-led majority government in Sri Lanka could establish a separate and independent Tamil Eelam. According to the LTTE chief, the non–violent freedom movement is always ineffectual and obsolete. His ideas became strengthened after the Thileepan incident. Thileepan was a colonel, who adopted the Gandhian philosophy to protest against the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) killings by staging a fast unto death from September 15, 1987. He did not take food or water till 26 September and breathed his last in front of thousands of Tamils.

Prabhakaran was equally adept at political assassinations: his followers changed the course of Indian history by murdering Rajiv Gandhi, the country’s prime minister, in 1991. Two years later, a suicide bomber killed President Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka. in 1993, foreign minister a fellow Tamil Lakshman Kadirgamar in 2005 and countless Sinhala communal politicians,mayors, police officials and army officers. Long before Hamas emulated their example, Prabhakaran’s fighters were ruthless practitioners of suicide attacks. In 1996, they drove a lorry packed with explosives into Sri Lanka’s central bank, killing at least 90 people. The millitary might of LTTE is even considered more than Al-Qaida as it is the only militant organisation, who killed two country heads.

Most rebel armies rely on a state sponsor. Prabhakaran, however, had no such ally. Instead, his guerrillas obtained money and guns from a global support network run by the Tamil diaspora.

Turning point From Freedom fighter to Terrorist

On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India was assassinated when one LTTE suicide bomber named Thenmuli Rajaratnam alias Dhanu blew herself up, while garlanding the Indian leader in Tamil Nadu. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE because he sent the IPKF to Sri Lanka and supported the Lankan government. Ranasinghe Premadasa, the third president of Sri Lanka was assassinated on May 1, 1993 by an LTTE suicide bomber.

Shri Prabhakaran's killing apparatus also claimed the lives Interpol described him as a wanted terrorist with a "stout build" who was "very alert, known to use disguise and capable of handling sophisticated weaponry and explosives."


The Madras High Court in India issued a death warrant against the LTTE supremo for plotting the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Judge Sarath Ambepitiya issued an open warrant to arrest him in connection with the 1996 Central Bank Bombing in 2002. The judge accused him guilty on 51 crimes and sentenced him to 200 years in prison. But Shri Prabhakaran remained untouched.

Analysts believe that assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was biggest mistake by Shri Prabhakaran. LTTE's hand in Rajiv Gandhi's assassination black listed the organisation globally and it lost India's support as well.

Shri Prabhakaran's fight for Tamil separatism faced severe jolt and lost its direction with the Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

Peace Negotiations

The first and only one major press conference of LTTE was held in Killinochchi on April 10, 2002. Over 200 journalists from various local and foreign media attended this event. All the reporters and journalists underwent a 10-hour-long security screening before the event. In that major press meet, Anton Balasingham, a political activist introduced Shri Prabhakaran as the president and prime minister of Tamil Eelam. Both LTTE chief and Balasingham jointly answered all the questions.

While speaking at the press meet, Prabhakarn said,

“There are three fundamentals. That is Tamil homeland, Tamil nationality and Tamil right to self-determination. These are the fundamental demands of the Tamil people.Once these demands are accepted or a political solution is put forward by recognising these three fundamentals and our people are satisfied with the solutions we will consider giving up the demand for Eelam.”

Shri Prabhakaran also stated that the Tamil Eelam was not only the goal of the LTTE, but also the demand of the Tamil people around the world.

Regarding the peace process, the veteran leader further added,

“We are sincerely committed to the peace process. It is because we are sincerely committed to peace that we continued a four month cessation of hostilities and was also firm in de-proscription of the LTTE by Sri Lanka and India. We want the government of India to lift the ban on the LTTE. We will raise the issue in right time.”

In 2003, Shri Prabhakaran proposed to establish an interim self governing authority during the peace negotiations with the Lankan government.

His personal life

Shri Prabhakaran was married to Madivadani Erambu in a village at Tirupporur in Tamil Nadu on October 1, 1984.

His Leadership

Few dispute he was one of the most effective guerilla leaders in modern warfare - displaying the tactical prowess of Afghanistan's Ahmad Shah Massoud, the ruthlessness of Osama bin Laden and the conviction of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara.

Shri Prabhakaran transformed a small band of poorly armed rebels into one of the world's most sophisticated and ruthless insurgencies and then made a string of miscalculations that led his Tigers to total defeat.

In three decades of ethnic conflict aimed at carving out a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east, Shri Prabhakaran managed to consolidate a de facto state.

He showed his might to Srilanka and even neighbouring India, perfecting the recruitment and use of suicide bombers before Al-Qaeda existed. His fighters usually took no prisoners, and were notorious for assaults that left every single enemy soldier dead.

He made few public appearances, but delivered a "Heroes' Week" speech each November commemorating dead Tamil fighters.He vowed in his final address last year

"We will continue with our struggle until the alien Sinhala occupation of our land is evicted,"

LTTE had their own army, navy and air force, built up by an international fundraising network and the use of sanctions-busting smugglers on ships and speedboats.

The “Vibhishna”

Though he was great leader but it is not that he doesn’t suffered with desertion in his rank and file, latest being Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, whose 2004 revolt played a vital role in the weakening of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also said the Tigers would never rise again.

Among the handful of people who identified the body of Prabhakaran was Karuna, a long-time confidant of the LTTE chief who sensationally revolted with thousands in March 2004 seriously weakening the group.Currently, according to Karuna, now the minister for national integration and reconciliation in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet. Karuna, a native of Batticaloa, joined the LTTE in 1983 and went on to become the commander of the entire eastern province. For years he was seen as a Prabhakaran loyalist. He was a member of the LTTE delegation that held talks with the Sri Lankan government between 2002-03 and was on the side of Prabhakaran when he addressed the media in April 2002.

"His dedication to the cause of the Eelam (state) was unquestionable,"

recalled former Tamil guerilla Dharmalingam Sithadthan, now a politician, futher added Shri Prabhakaran, 54, was neither mellowed by age nor by his family of three children.

Shri Prabhakaran was a guerilla fighter for most of his life and presided over a war that has left more than 70,000 dead.Shri Prabhakaran was known for his impressive leadership and charming personality. He was also known for providing suicide bombing formula to world.


His former aides and friends acknowledge him as a great leader. They said the Tamil Tigers chief had a great leadership quality which helped him to form separate air force, navy and army to begin war against Sri Lanka army for Tamil Elam cause.

His valourous end to life

In the end, the Tamil Tigers proved unable to withstand the full might of Sri Lanka’s army, freshly equipped with Chinese weaponry. Prabhakaran, a master fighter who had hoped to found a new country, died in control of nothing but a few yards of beach. Shri Prabhakaran killed while fighting in war zone in Mullaitivu district. Heir apparent elder son Charles Antony named after his beloved commnder and all key aides including LTTE intelligence chief Shri Pottu Amman and Sea Tigers chief Shri Soosoi Pottu Amman, political head ShriBalasingham Nadesan and peace secretariat chief Shri S Pulidevan Nadeshan also killed. Though his son Shri Charles Antony’s dead body was found, his daughter Sushri Dwarka and wife Shrimati Madivadani are still untraced.

The army said its special forces had encircled Prabhakaran, Pottu Aman and Soosoi, who were boxed into a 100 metres x 100 metres area. The fighting with Prabhakaran and his men erupted at 4 a.m. Monday and was over within 90 minutes, leaving the man who struggled for Tamil Elam for quarter century dead near a lagoon in Mullaitivu district. Prabhakaran's death came as officials confirmed that more than 220 rebels, including the LTTE leader's.Other slain top LTTE leaders include Black Tigers chief Ramesh, police wing chief Ilango and senior leaders Sundaram and Kapil Amman. The body of 24-year-old Charles Anthony, chief of LTTE's air wing, was found during mopping up operations in the last rebel-held territory in the no-fire zone on Monday morning, the defence ministry said.According to defence sources, Anthony's body was found after an unsuccessful attempt by the Tigers to evacuate their leader's son early on Monday morning.


'This battle has reached its bitter end,' LTTE spokesman Pathmanathan said.Karuna said the soldiers who killed Prabhakaran were surprised after sighting him because some of them had thought the man had killed himself earlier. “They did not expect to see him at all.”

Karuna blamed Prabhakaran for his death, saying if he had been a better strategist he should have dispersed his forces and senior leaders once the Sri Lankan military went on the offensive from late last year.

“But he did not do that. It shows he was foolish. He must have perhaps thought that somehow the international community would be able to enforce a ceasefire due to the plight of civilians and he would survive…

“Indeed, if he had been a good leader, he would not have insisted on an independent state for so long. He should have known it would never happen. If only he had transformed his military victories into political victories, the Tamils would be holding their heads high today. That did not happen.”

Karuna said he had advised both Prabhakaran and the then LTTE political wing leader S.P. Thamilchelvam, who was killed in 2007, to understand the global changes and reform the LTTE. But they did not pay heed.

“The problem is some of those close to Prabhakaran had boosted his ego. They made him think he was infallible, that he could never be defeated. He was misled,” Karuna said, recalling the times when he was in the LTTE.

"A Prabhakaran who fights and goes down will become a legend, at least to his people,"MR Narayan Swamy, one of Prabhakaran's biographers, had said.

Resurgence of LTTE again.

When Shri Prabhakaran along with his sons and top cadets were killed, the million dollar question is still alive whether it is end of LTTE or it will reunite again.

Shri Prabhakaran has established strong based in Sri Lanka and abroad as well. There are several supporters in the different countries who provide LTTE financial support to continue conflict.

Karuna dismissed speculation that sections of the surrendered LTTE cadres or its supporters abroad would be able to revive another group a la the Tigers.

“It is not possible,” Karuna said with an air of authority. “There are no circumstances, no conditions for such a thing to happen. People are fed up with all this violence. There are absolutely no chances of another LTTE coming up.”

Tamil hindus after Prabhakaran in staunch Buddhist Sinhala Society

The Sri Lankan government's historic victory over the Tamil Tigers was capped by Velupillai Shri Prabhakaran, had been killed in a fire fight. This means the Tigers have been truly smashed, and have very little chance of rebuilding themselves. The Sri Lankan government is busy in celebration the end of a 30-year struggle, and to take pride in the success of the last few years' offensive.It is also time to look ahead and make political plans for how the Northern Province can be brought back under normal administration. The foreign minister has said that the government will follow the tactics it employed when it recaptured the Eastern Province in 2007. A year later in 2008 it held successful elections, and today a former Tamil child soldier is running the new provincial government.

It is important that while those who led the violence should be tried for their crimes, a widespread effort should be made to rebuild the peaceful political life of the Tamils, which may have to involve allowing some who took up arms against the state to take part in the new political life. The aim should be to bring together the Tamil and Sinhalese populations of Sri Lanka, working together in one state.

An immediate starting point for the Sri Lankan government would be to seek international help to deal with the huge humanitarian task of feeding and eventually rehousing the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the fighting, including the tens of thousands who were taken by the Tigers as human shields.

These people need to get back to their homes and pick up their lives again, as the start of rebuilding a united Sri Lanka. The way forward for the Tamils, Karuna said, was democracy.

“That's the only way. Imagine if we had a good parliamentary bloc, we could have done wonders for the Tamils, even in this dark hour. The TNA is useless,” he said, referring to the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance, the largest Tamil grouping in the 225-seat Sri Lankan parliament.

Karuna said the Tamil community was at a crossroad after the deaths of around 90,000 people since 1983 in the Tamil Eelam struggle. This included some 24,000 LTTE guerrillas.

What did the Tamils gain after all this bloodshed, he was asked. Karuna replied: “Nothing.”

Though it is said by Vibhishana but true…..

Chronology of LTTE chief Shri Velupillai Prabhakaran

From Nov 26, 1954 to May 18, 2009 - the following is a chronological account of the life and times of Velupillai Shri Prabhakaran, the Tamil Tigers chief who was killed Monday in the north of Sri Lanka:

• 1954 (Nov 26): Born in Jaffna in a Hindu middle class family, the youngest of two sons and two daughters.
• 1960-70s: Takes to militancy, indulges in minor acts of violence.
• 1972: Forms Tamil New Tigers (TNT), flees home for good.
• 1975: Assassinates Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duriappah at Hindu temple.
• 1976: TNT becomes Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
• 1978: LTTE issues first press statement.
• 1982: Arrested in Madras (now Chennai) after a shootout with a rival Tamil militant. Jailed, bailed, escapes to Sri Lanka.
• 1983: Ambushes army patrol in Jaffna, killing 13 soldiers. Anti-Tamil riots sweep Colombo, leaving hundreds dead and igniting Tamil insurgency.
• 1983 (September): Moves to Tamil Nadu, sets up home in Chennai. LTTE training camps come up in Tamil Nadu.
• 1984: Meets Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran and seeks support. Marries Jaffna university student, fathers two sons and daughter.
• 1985 (May): Orders massacre of Buddhists in the holy town of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
• 1986 (April-May): Orders slaughter of Tamil militants from rival group TELO.
• 1987 (January): Quits India for good, saying there is an attempt to kill him.
• 1987 (July): Meets Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi and says he accepts India-Sri Lanka accord meant to end Tamil separatism.
• 1987 (August): Gives speech in Jaffna, saying "We love India", but tells aides he will teach India a lesson for betraying Tamil Eelam cause.
• 1987 (October): Launches war against Indian troops deployed in Sri Lanka's northeast.
• 1989 (April-June): Goes into peace talks with Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who asks Indian troops to go home.
• 1989 (July): LTTE kills well known Tamil politicians A. Amirthalingam and V. Yogeswaran in Colombo.
• 1990 (April): Takes control of Jaffna, addresses the media.
• 1990 (June): Resumes war against Sri Lanka for Tamil Eelam, orders 100,000 Muslims living in Jaffna to quit. Rival militant K. Pathmanabha and aides killed in Chennai, India.
• 1991 (March): Sri Lankan Defence Minister Ranjan Wijeratne killed by car bomb.
• 1991 (May): LTTE woman suicide bomber assassinates former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi at election rally near Chennai.
• 1992 (August): Sri Lanka's northern army command wiped out.
• 1992 (November): LTTE suicide bomber riding motorcycle kills Sri Lanka Navy chief Clancey Fernando.
• 1993: Sri Lankan President Premadasa killed at May Day rally.
• 1993 (August): Arrests LTTE number two Mahattaya on charges of being Indian spy, executes him in December 1994.
• 1994: Agrees to talk to President Chandria Kumaratunga. Fighting halts.
• 1995: Sri Lankan presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake assassinated. Resumes war against for Tamil Eelam.
• 1995 (December): Loses Jaffna to Sri Lankan troops.
• 1996 (July): LTTE slaughters 1,200 soldiers and policemen in military complex in just 72 hours.
• 1997-99: Takes control of large parts of north and east in Sri Lanka.
• 1999 (December): President Kumaratunga escapes assassination attempt, is blinded in one eye.
• 2000-01: Sri Lanka approaches Norway to facilitate peace talks with LTTE.
• 2001 (July): LTTE suicide cadres overrun Sri Lanka's only international airport, destroys 13 aircraft.
• 2002 (February): Signs Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement with Sri Lanka.
• 2002 (April): Addresses Sri Lankan, international media in Kilinochchi, says he will never give up Tamil Eelam cause.
• 2003 (April): Walks out of Norway-backed peace process.
• 2004 (March): Faces revolt by LTTE eastern regional commander Karuna and hundreds of cadres in eastern province.
• 2005 (August): Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar shot dead by LTTE sniper.
• 2006 (April): Army General Sarath Fonseka badly hurt in attack by woman suicide bomber.
• 2006 (December): Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa, brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, survives assassination attempt
• 2007: Launches air strike near Colombo. LTTE loses eastern province to Sri Lanka. Shri Prabhakaran vows to fight back.
• 2008 (January): Sri Lanka spikes ceasefire agreement. LTTE begins to lose territory in north.
• 2008 (November): Mocks President Rajapaksa, says LTTE territory can never be seized.
• 2009 (January): Loses Kilinochchi, hub of de facto Tamil Eelam state; retreats into Mullaitivu district.
• 2009 (May 17): Decides to "silence" guns and end armed struggle.
• 2009 (May 18):

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