LTTE Leader Prabhakaran Killed!

LTTE chief Prabhakaran shot dead by Lankan forces!


LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, who led a ruthless movement for a Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka that decimated a score of Sinhalese and Tamil leaders and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was killed on Monday by the army bringing curtains on the 30-year-old war that has claimed over 70,000 lives.

Prabhakaran was shot dead by Sri Lankan special forces as he tried to stage a dramatic breakout from the army encirclement, a military spokesman said.

The news of Prabhakaran's death also came along with reports of bodies of his son Charles Anthony and three other top leaders - Pottu Amman, Soosai and Nadesan being found.

Prabhakaran and his top aides were driving in an armour-plated van accompanied by a clutch of rebels in a bus and approaching the Special Forces. A two-hour exchange of fire followed and the forces fired a rocket at the van brining an end to the battle, army sources said.

Prabhakaran's body was pulled out from the van and identified, they said. Prime Minister Ratnasri Wickramanayake said the army says they have killed him.

"The next step would be the development in the north (Tamil areas)," he said.

Celebrations broke out in the capital here as news spread of the death of Prabhakaran, who led the longest armed struggle in South Asia for nothing less than a separate homeland for Tamils.

Prabhakaran, who had seen many a battle, could not survive the sustained assault from the Sri Lankan forces that began in November last year leading to displacement of the Tigers from their long-held de-facto capital of Kilinochchi and then from Mullaitivu.

So ends a chapter in militancy in Lanka. Unless the Lankan Govt, does sincere work to bring the Tamilians in mainstream and give them equal rights as citizens, just a matter of tiem before a new Tamil movement starts to replace LTTE.....

Hope things are set ight now.

Time for justice to the Tamils in Lanka though. Interesting to see how Rajapakse goes about it.

I hope peace now will return to the emerald island..........and Tamil Nadu. However, I do think SL have a lot of re-thinking to do, if they don't want a recurrence of the problem.

The problem is, if you win such a war by any means, you can find you will earn the hatred of "your" people for years, even centuries.

hopefully this is the end of one of the most violent 'movements' in history and will signal a more peaceful dialogue for political space. prabhakaran wrecked many a process for his own selfish means and limited view including assassinations of many moderate tamils who were fighting for power through the ballot

time for the victors to be humble and welcome the 'defeated' to a broader peace process. restraint will be needed, as the militant ideology of the ltte may not be totally dead even though its founder may be. this is where india and western nations sheltering these extremists need to play a constructive role

The Peace process mediated by the Norwegians was travelling well towards a more autonomous federal arrangement for the Tamils in the North and East. As with just about all the terrorist organisations of the World LTTE also became a power play for a few individuals and the original cause was lost.

Good riddance in general. But as pointed out above a lot of work needs to be done to win the hearts and minds of the Tamils who have genuine grievances.

If MM (Tamil ?) stopped turning up how will SL win anything ??

What, no post from Farky??????

He's tending the farm today.

skully wrote:What, no post from Farky??????

FFS skulls, don't rattle the pig bucket!

Hehe. Rattle, rattle, rattle.

Hunting more red ink?

Poor old Tamils. I feel sorry for them.

if you really felt for them you should be happy now. prabhakaran and the ltte were their biggest obstacles to peace

peace, but at whose peace? and under what conditions? peace is not inherently better than armed struggle . . .

there is a mood of reconciliation in lanka now. this is not the lanka of 1956 or the 80s. rajapakse just made a national speech and spoke in tamil for half of the time. the end of a war always presents an opportunity as long as the victors are humble and gracious. one hopes the present lankan government can play that role

and also more importantly the death of prabhakaran will emolden the moderate tamil leaders to rise again, no longer afraid of being blown apart by the extremists. confusing the ltte with the tamil cause is dangerous, they have done more harm than good to it

Prabhakaran still alive?

A pro-LTTE website, tamilnet.com, today claimed that the Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is still "alive and safe", a day after Sri Lankan army announced that it has killed the top rebel leader.

"I wish to inform the global Tamil community distressed witnessing the final events of the war that our beloved leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is alive and safe," LTTE's international relations head S Pathmanathan was quoted as saying by the website, which usually puts out the rebels' version on the battle with the Sri Lankan armed forces.

"He (Prabhakaran) will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people," he said.

The One wrote:there is a mood of reconciliation in lanka now. this is not the lanka of 1956 or the 80s. rajapakse just made a national speech and spoke in tamil for half of the time. the end of a war always presents an opportunity as long as the victors are humble and gracious. one hopes the present lankan government can play that role

I hope so there have been some violent clashes between the Sinhalese and Tamils in far away places such as Sydney.

the expats are usually the more extremist/violent kind anyways, due to their detachment from the ground realities. the ltte was primarily sustained due to the tamils abroad, much like the kashmiri terrorists or the sikh ones

The One wrote:and also more importantly the death of prabhakaran will emolden the moderate tamil leaders to rise again, no longer afraid of being blown apart by the extremists. confusing the ltte with the tamil cause is dangerous, they have done more harm than good to it

The Sinhalese AND the buddhists weren't without fault either. In fact, had it not been for the suppression of the Lankan Tamils, Prabhakaran wouldn't have materialised in the first place. Having said that, it is a proven fact that power corrupts and Prabhakaran was no exception. He turned folks-foe the moment he used his power to stimulate the Tamil populace outside the boundaries of Sri Lanka, culminating in the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. He had a big price to pay for this error in judgement. Even though the Indian Tamils show some reserved solidarity with the Lankan Tamils today, most of them have not forgotten or forgiven Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

Unfortunately India didn't play the role it was cut out for. Most people seem to have forgotten the boot the Indian army got after its first and only military sortie in Sri Lanka at the behest of the then SL government. The Lankan government has often reflected its opportunist attitude towards India even as recently as the Rajapakse regime, creating a naval headache for India. China and Pakistan have played their role in encouraging the use of brutal force against the Tamils, where India chose to go for rapprochement.

Prabhakaran was a militant serving his own cause and probably deserves his fate, but one must not forget the poor Tamil civilians, who may now have to live a cowering life, if international pressure is eased on Rajapakse. India will need to be watchful and guard its own interests. Détente has to be its first priority. But with so many hawks around it, it's a tall order.

india has already been invited by rajapakse to formulate a post-war scenario within lanka. hopefully india will look to play an impartial role without any indian tamil belligerence and seek to create conditions for long-lasting peace. india doesnt need to tread on egg-shells but also shouldnt be seen as wielding a stick. a smart foreign minister is needed, especially considering the poor diplomatic record of congress governments

Great news.

Lets hope the Lankan government and the Tamils can now come to some sort of power sharing agreement in the northern areas.

I think its interesting to note the role China played in this - in 2008 the Chinese gave SL over $1billion in military and economic aid, not to mention the diplomatic help over the past few years.

What did they get in return? Well their very own naval base in Hambantota - an important foothold for them in the Indian Ocean.

The One wrote:if you really felt for them you should be happy now. prabhakaran and the ltte were their biggest obstacles to peace

Well, they had their own homeland once, until the British Empire showed up.

Bradman wrote:He's tending the farm today.

The funny farm? That would explain a lot of things.....