By: T.S. Sreenivasa RaghavanTamil Nadu's Dravidian leaders seem to have left an indelible mark on LTTE chief V Prabhakaran. So it comes as no surprise that dynastic politics is catching up within the LTTE too, with Prabhakaran eager to hand over the reins of the terror outfit to his son Charles Anthony Seelan, an aeronautical engineer.
But there's growing discontent among top LTTE functionaries over Prabhakaran's plan to anoint his 22-year-old son as his successor.
Charles Anthony, Prabhakaran's son, who returned from Ireland in 2006 after getting a degree in aeronautical engineering, heads the air wing and computer unit of LTTE. He is believed to have played a key role in building the air wing, which surprised the Sri Lankan military with a night raid on Colombo three months ago.
Prabhakaran has two other children: 21-year-old daughter, Dhuwraha, and 11-year-old son, Balanchandran, whose whereabouts aren't known.
Sources say LTTE is witnessing an ugly power struggle that is beginning to undermine Prabhakaran's leadership which was undisputed so far. In fact, the Singapore-based counter-terrorism think-tank, International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, in its recent country report, says a major rift within LTTE is a distinct possibility.
"This is especially evident now that Prabhakaran has begun grooming the next generation of Tigers, a move which might cause some resentment among the current commanders,'' the report says. LTTE has until now been the only Tamil terrorist group to have survived major internal rift. But Prabhakaran's charisma within LTTE seems to be on the wane now.
The Sri Lankan defence ministry wrote on its website last month that eight LTTE tax collectors were executed by its leadership at Vattakachchi in Killinochchi. Pottu Amman, the LTTE intelligence chief and the second-most powerful man after Prabhakaran, had charged the officials with misappropriation of money.
The ministry, quoting civilian sources, however, claimed that they were executed after they disagreed with LTTE leaders, who, they felt, were using the organisation's funds towards personal ends. Also revealed by the ministry was the power struggle between Pottu Amman and S P Thamilselvan, and the "removal'' of LTTE naval chief Col Soosai "from the scene''.
According to the Singapore thinktank, the discontent within LTTE could be a result of the fact that some of its commanders are unhappy that Prabhakaran has installed his son as the head of its air wing. The 52-year-old Prabhakaran, a source says, is also eager to promote his son because he's no longer in the best of health, afflicted as he is by hypertension and diabetes.
Thanks Times of India
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