“The parallelisms between Hitler and Prabhakaran cannot be underestimated. Both were fixated on racial hatred. Both believed in their own power to change the world. Both had grand ambitions of leading their peoples into a political destiny imagined by them. Both have committed abominable crimes against their own people as well the “others”. Both were committed to militarism at any cost. Both were creatures of fascism. Both were possessed with a messianic mission. Both were authoritarian personalities that brooked no opposition. Both ran police states.”
(September 05. Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) The speed of the Sri Lankan forces advancing deep into the heart of Vanni – the last stronghold of the Tamil Tigers – is forcing the Tiger hierarchy to find alternative safe havens for its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Increasing speculation in the Tamil disapora suggests that he will be whisked away to the jungles of Burma or to the rebel-held territories in Philippines as no recognized state is prepared to grant him refuge. He is wanted as a convicted criminal in India for killing Rajiv Gandhi and in Sri Lanka for the deaths of the civilians in bombing of the Central Bank.
After the fall of Mullawi the Security Forces claim that Killinochchi, the capital of the one-man regime, has come within its firing range. The map of the advancing forces clearly indicates that they are closing in from all sides. Tigers now have little room to maneuver. The joint operations of the Security Forces have virtually sealed the Western sea and land routes.
The more the troops close in the greater the loss of resources to the Tigers. Newspapers reported that the Tigers had lost the biggest bakery supplying bread to the Tiger forces. An army marches on its stomach, as they say, and bullets are no substitute for soldiers without bread.
The Sri Lankan Security Forces clearly has the upper hand. The pro-Tiger diaspora linked to the Vanni are maneuvering to keep up the morale of the Tiger cadres on the ground even as they loose territory. Jaffna, the cultural capital of the Tigers, was lost in 1995. All attempts to re-capture Jaffna failed primarily because the Jaffna Tamils were not committed to go along endlessly with the costly military adventures of the Tigers. The Tamils were paying with their lives with no benefits in sight.
Military sources argue that they could not have held Jaffna for one day if the people of Jaffna were against the Security Forces. In fact, the strength of the Security Forces in Jaffna is based primarily on the covert support of the people of Jaffna. They are also a reliable source of intelligence which enables the forces to nip in the bud Tiger subversive activities.
The last ditch attempt of the Tigers is to launch propaganda offensives against the Sri Lankan government to halt the advancing forces. The main pitch of the Tiger propaganda is to focus on humanitarian aspects of the war. Christian priests have been thrown into the forefront of this campaign to convince Christian capitals in the West that the Sri Lankan government is committing crimes against the Tamils trapped in the middle of the escalating war.
Fr. S. J. Emmanuel, for Vicar of Jaffna, who has been an aggressive campaigner for the LTTE, has released his latest barrage accusing the Sri Lankan government. The Tamil diaspora who initiated the internationalization of their racist demands through the Churches are baffled today by the blunt reaction of the international community refusing to save the one-man regime in the Vanni which is brutally persecuting and eliminating their own people.
Their despair is reflected in the latest statement of Fr. Emmanuel, who says: "What observers find repulsively amazing is the silence of the International Community, which as an irony chooses to make a big fuss over Georgia, only to reveal its helplessness. Unfortunately the Tamils tortured and killed by the majority Sinhalese, couldn't still find a Russia to help them.
"The International Community, including the regional power India and every other power in this world, cannot shed their prime responsibility to the plight faced by the Tamils for so many decades and now pushed and isolated to suffer the slow genocide as in the gas-chambers.
"The roles played by the major powers in overlooking the state terrorism and human rights violations of the Sri Lankan state and helping the state only to strengthen its war-machines exhibit the hypocrisy and double standards pervading the international community. This will be indelible in the Tamil memory for ever.”
Fr. Emmanuel is noted for declaring that he is a Tamil first and a Christian second. He even promised to write a Christian theology especially for the Tamils, excluding the Sinhala Christians. He had used his clerical collar to campaign relentlessly on behalf of the Tigers. He even wrote a pamphlet titled “Let my people go” whitewashing the horrors of the Tamil Tigers who forced the Tamils to march out of Jaffna at gun point into Vanni in 1995.
With no international player coming forward to rescue Prabhakaran and with nowhere to go the Tamil disapora is now depending on one last card: the surprise counter-attack of Prabhakaran as a last minute trick to save his back and to save the faces of Tamil expatriates who had donated millions to kill and destroy their own people in the name of an elusive Eelam. They feel despondent that after 25 years of sacrifices their leader Prabhakaran has got nowhere near his promised goal. But they keep hoping against hope that Prabhakaran will come up with a master stroke to save their faces.
However, the options available to Prabhakaran are very limited, if not non-existent. The first option is to throw all the reserve cadres into a full frontal attack. It is a risky gamble because the chances are that it would be like the “Charge of the Light Brigade” running into cannons in front of them and cannons from all sides including air. The main difficulty facing Prabhakaran is to hang on to territory. In the current situation he is forced to choose between one of the following: he has either to throw all his forces into the jaws of Sri Lankan forces or he has to run and live to fight another day? There are, of course, other tactics like chemical warfare, which will be counter-productive because it is war crime. It has been so since World War I and he will incur the wrath of the entire civilized world. His toy planes too are there but they will not pose a serious threat to the military capabilities of the Security Forces. He can only drop gravity bombs and they are easy targets if he decides to use them frequently. His planes are of limited use.
Ultimately all these options are to halt the advance of the Security Forces which have advanced too close for his comfort. If he could not have stopped them earlier there is no way he can stop them now when he is trapped from all sides. If he has a plan to fight at the last minute it is most unlikely to save him unless there is a miraculous intervention. He should know by now that he is throwing his men against all odds to achieve the impossible task of hanging on to territory. His best bet is to abandon his mythical state and run to regroup and fight another day.
But running away also has its serious problems. First, he has to ask: where can I go? The Tamil diaspora is concerned that he should be kept alive to keep the fires of Eelam burning. But there is no safe haven for him in Sri Lanka. Second, he can run but can he hide? And for how long, particularly because he has lost the capacities to swim like the Maoist fish in the seas of his people? The Security Forces have a better chance of living with the Tamil people than Prabhakaran and his Tiger supporters, if the available reports (from the UTHR to military sources) are correct.
All reports indicate that Prabhakaran has expended his vital capital and he is almost politically bankrupt. He is also growing old with chronic diabetes and other ailments. The advance of the Sri Lankan forces is not the best for his mental health either. Besides, the last thing he would want to happen to him is to be a prisoner in the hands of the Security Forces. Finding a secure place for him and his family is becoming a critical issue for Prabhakaran and the political future of Eelam.
The intriguing details emerging in bits and pieces from the Tamils who are familiar with the intricacies and goings-on in Vanni point directly to the identical situation faced by Adolf Hitler in his last days when Germany was facing defeat. The futile machinations of the regime run by Velupillai Prabhakaran and his desperate defensive maneuvers of throwing the old, the sick and the children into the front lines are remarkably identical.
The parallelisms between Hitler and Prabhakaran cannot be underestimated. Both were fixated on racial hatred. Both believed in their own power to change the world. Both had grand ambitions of leading their peoples into a political destiny imagined by them. Both have committed abominable crimes against their own people as well the “others”. Both were committed to militarism at any cost. Both were creatures of fascism. Both were possessed with a messianic mission. Both were authoritarian personalities that brooked no opposition. Both ran police states. Both were bullies exploiting fear as the main means of wielding power and keeping their subjects in check. Both survived on personality cults where oaths of allegiance were sworn to them personally, deifying their power, and not to any constitution or any other democratic norms. Both were aggressive violators of international law aiming to grab territory of others in the name of fictitious historical and geographical claims.
In a brilliant psychological study of Hitler for the Office of Strategic Services, USA, in 1943, Dr. Walter C. Langer, an American psychoanalyst, predicted Hitler’s suicide. This study was published as ''The Mind of Adolf Hitler''. In his secret analysis of Hitler, Dr. Langer concluded that Hitler's behavior was that of a weakling masquerading as a bully. He said Hitler was a failure in the role of Fuhrer. He was ''probably a neurotic psychopath bordering on schizophrenia.'' Dr. Langer wrote that that ''as Germany suffers successive defeats, Hitler will become more and more neurotic'' and in all likelihood would take his own life. Hitler and his wife Eva committed suicide April 30, 1945, as the Russians were almost on his doorstep in Berlin.
If the Tamil diaspora fails to smuggle him out of the country what option has he except to follow Hitler’s example? He has told his guards to kill him if he fails to achieve his Eelam. Well, his failure is obvious. The Security Forces are advancing to his doorstep. He could hear the artillery falling around him. Will he run away abandoning the people whom he pledged to save? Or will he swallow the cyanide pill after a hearty meal of “porrichi koli” – the last supper he gave his suicide bombers?
( H.L.D.Mahindapala: Editor, Sunday and Daily Observer (1990 - 1994). President, Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association (1991 -1993). Secretary-General, South Asia Media Association (1993 -1994). He has been featured as a political commentator in Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Special Broadcasting Services and other mainstream TV and radio stations in Australia.)
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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