வெள்ளி, 22 மே, 2009

Prapakaran - the leader given by histor to Tamils

Malay mail

Prabhakaran’s fall... and his legacy

LTTE leader will live on in the hearts of a new generation of Tigers who may now emerge...
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 09:56:00

COMMENTARY: THE debate over whether Tamil Tigers 001 Velupillai Prabhakaran, one of the most ruthless and audacious guerrilla commanders in modern history, is alive or dead will probably never end. Variously known as the Sun God, and Thambi (little brother), Prabhakaran, 54, will live on in the hearts of a new generation of Tigers who may now emerge.

prabhakaran

PROOF?: A picture released by the Sri Lankan Army yesterday is said to be the body of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in Puthukkudirruppu, Sri Lanka — AFPpic

To them, Prabhakaran was the embodiment of the tactical dexterity of Afghanistan’s Ahmad Shah Masoud, the cruelty of Osama bin Laden and the passion of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara. A lifelong devotee of Hollywood, he once cited Clint Eastwood as his role model. He watched action movies for inspiration, often using them as a training tool in Tiger camps.

His bloodstained efforts embraced every form of warfare, ranging from large scale battles to the ambushes of classic insurgency tactics, to urban terrorism, complete with suicide bombings. He terrorised the island and even neighbouring powerhouse India, perfecting the recruitment and use of suicide bomber units before al-Qaeda existed.

The first LTTE suicide bombing came in 1987. Prabhakaran had formed the “Black Tigers”, a group of male and female suicide bombers whose explosives-laden belts would later be copied by Palestinian, Chechen and Iraqi groups. In 1996, they drove a lorry packed with explosives into Sri Lanka’s central bank, killing at least 90 people.

He was held responsible for ordering the 1991 assassination of former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi, who in 1987 sent Indian troops to disarm the Tamil Tigers but ended up withdrawing his troops after years of jungle combat. Prabhakaran’s killing apparatus also claimed the lives of Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993, foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in 2005 and countless mayors, police officials and army officers.

Prabhakaran’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had their own army, navy and air force, built up by an illicit international fundraising network and the use of sanctions-busting smugglers on ships and speedboats. Clearly, he was the only man in Sri Lanka who could decide if there should be war or peace.

Despite earning international terrorist status in the corridors of Washington and Europe and being wanted in India, he was sought out by diplomats wanting to bring an end to Asia’s longest running civil war. It was war for him all the way and he presided over a war that has left at least 70,000 dead — roughly a third of whom were his own fighters.

In three decades of savage ethnic conflict aimed at carving out a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east Sri Lanka, Prabhakaran managed to consolidate a de facto State and — until now — outsmart successive government offensives. The youngest of four children from a middle-class family from a fishing village, he went underground in 1972 as the head of a rag-tag band of brigands.

Their grouses were centred on a Sinhalese-dominated government that began to pass laws that benefitted the majority Sinhalese population. Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils were favoured under British rule, but after independence the Sinhalese majority tried to limit Tamil access to universities and civil service jobs.

Tamil youths grew disillusioned with the government and turned to militancy. Prabhakaran went on to attract thousands of young men and women to his army. Like the master himself, all LTTE cadres carried a cyanide capsule to commit suicide rather than be captured alive. At the height of his power in the 1990s, Prabhakaran’s guerrillas had seized almost a third of Sri Lanka’s territory.

Most rebel armies rely on a State sponsor. Prabhakaran, however, had no such ally. Many wealthy Tamils fled to the west and their contributions, not always voluntary, played a large part in funding the Tigers’ arsenal. The LTTE maintained a fleet known as “Sea Tigers” and carried out air raids, including the bombing of Colombo, using Czech-built propeller-engined trainers.

In the end, however, the Tamil Tigers proved unable to withstand the full might of Sri Lanka’s army, freshly equipped with Chinese weaponry. Prabhakaran, a master terrorist who had hoped to found a new country, died in control of nothing but a few yards of beach.


Comments

This article by Frankie D'Cruz is well written and highlights the facts about the world's most barbaric terrorist. He is by no means representing a struggle of the innocent Tamils. While Prabhakaran's children slept in-peace thousands of innocent Tamils were forced to rest-in-peace. One less terrorist outfit in this world. Those who take by the sword die by the sword - the truth always hurts

Submitted by Malcolm G on Thursday, May 21st, 2009.
A man who has little knowledge of history, politics, revolutions and human beings wrote this article. For him I wish to inform the following few lines taken from the book “Reflections of the Leader” by Peter Schalk and Alvapillai Velupillai. Pirapakaran ! - The leader given by history to the Tamils. Pirapakaran ! - The leader who gave a new history to the Tamils. On the soil of Tamil Eezham, (he is) a great leader who has sown the seed for a revolutionary armed struggle, who has stood at the centre of the war, who has functioned as its switch, and who has caused it (revolutionary armed struggle) to walk majestically to the peak of victory. Pirapakaran is a great man who was identified as a guerrilla leader of a small armed group not long ago, he is today accepted by the world as a national leader of an ethnic community distinguished for many ancient traditions associated with antiquity and classicism. Pirapakaran is a great leader who took up arms as a revolutionary warrior with love of his ethnic community at a period of time when the Tamil was beaten, when he suffered, when he wandered and ran (away) and when he lay shedding tears – who performed in front of our eyes, a historical miracle, when the Tamil rallied as an indefectible army, whirled around and attacked the enemy as unceasing storm and stand erect like unbending rock. The great hero who having stood alone and tapped and awakened the national soul of the Tamils, made even the Tamils wonder (at his achievement). A commander who accomplished a great achievement, comparable to none in the world – thousands and thousands of youth were shaped – with unbending discipline, with unfailing honesty, with morality not failing Tamil way of life, with untiring fighting ability, with not loosening heroism, (transforming them) with never dissipating patriotism taking up one’s life – which everybody loves in excess – casually and throwing it away, and with unquenchable thirst for independence – as an inexhaustible and courageous strong army of the country. Pirapakaran means ‘soul’ of the Tamils, ‘life’ of the Tamils, ‘fame’ of the Tamils. He is a wonderful human. He is a rare human. He is a miraculous being full of many surprising natures, qualities and characteristic traits. An extra-ordinary leader who magnetizes the entire country through his handsome personality distinguished by overwhelming abilities His name has been inscribed in the list of great men of world history, who brought fame through their names to their countries and ethnic communities. Pirapakaran’s name is great fame to Tamil Ilam and Tamil nation; (a Tamil standing with) erect head which was never there. Having started as a servant of the Tamils, and evolving into a volunteer worker of the Tamils, as a commander of the Tamils, as a leader of the Tamils, as the strength of the Tamils, as a shield of the Tamils, as the gem-studded crown of the Tamils – a lofty pioneer for world nationalities which lie down folded and disabled due to oppression and depression - Pirapakaran has become a name which goose fleshes the backbone of the earth.

Submitted by Ilakkuvanar Thiruvalluvan on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009.


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