“Better to die standing, than to live on your knees.”
- Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (1928 –1967)
(May 26, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The major game between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government is over, but the people who are suffering in this conflict are in a dilemma while some of the others, die-hard Sinhalese nationalists who are awaiting the dead body of the Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, V. Prabhakaran, are jubilant and celebrating their huge victory. There are no doubts that it was a defining victory in the history of the nation and, furthermore, that Mr. Prabhakaran betrayed all things that his liberation struggle stood for. In fact, in his final days he himself seems to have been betrayed. During this final struggle, we all realized that the Prabhakaran of the imagination of his ardent followers was very different from the real Prabhakaran. Yet, people who had trust and pride in him continue to adore him as their leader because he was with the struggle until the end, when he surrendered and was executed – or was killed in battle – or committed suicide – in his last hours.
Betrayal of the Struggle
Despite Prabhakaran’s numerous failures in the history of the LTTE, people who are supporting the Tamil struggle must be proud of “Captain Miller” and other Black Tigers who sacrificed their lives for a separate Eelam (and spent their life for this dream) rather than V. Prabhakaran himself. Consider what Prabhakaran says in his last so-called Heroes Day speech in 2008,
“Our heroes loved this land deeply. From the moment they fixed their eyes on the redemption of our motherland to the moment they closed their eyes permanently, the sacrifices they made have no parallel in the history of the world. No country but ours had at any time encountered such wonderful dedication as expressed in the actions of our valiant heroes.” (Quoted from: LTTE Peace Secretariat website, November 27, 2008).
But is there anybody who can talk about the death of Prabhakaran like he and pro-LTTE people talked about the Tiger cadres who sacrificed their lives for an Independent Tamil State?
There are rumours that Mr. Prabhakaran surrendered to the military as a result of an agreement between him and the GoSL as mediated by the UN. Keep in mind the current understanding that Prabhakaran was trapped by the stratagems of Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse when he enforced a Tamil boycott of the last presidential elections to help him secure a victory. How can we then believe that this shrewd man would have trusted the Rajapakse’s promises again, especially when the survival of his family and senior colleagues was at stake? If rumours are true, there is no doubt that the terms of his surrender would have been the greatest betrayal of the Tamil struggle. This is why I say that Mr. V. Prabhakaran betrayed all the sacrifices of his 30 year old struggle in his final hours, looking for a safe way out of a deadly military trap when he had asked so many of his cadres in similar positions to bite the cyanide capsule that he had given them.
Is it the Sinhalese who defeated the Tamils?
The end of the Tigers is not the end of the dilemma over the crisis among the communities in the country. I was rather shocked when I saw a public advertisement that was published in the website which is run by a top level minister who came to Parliament through the National List upon being appointed by the President. It says that the party was proud and glad that it was 99.99% Sinhala soldiers who fought against the Tamil Tigers and won their victory. But the real situation is very different, with both Tamils and Muslims joining the armed forces to wipe out the Tamil Tigers from the ground. After all their sacrifices, however, the Sinhala chauvinists are trying to hide the truth and break the confidence within the Nation’s brotherhood of communities for personal political gain. People know how the Sinhalese celebrated the victory focusing on some Tamil dominated areas in the South. National flags have been distributed for Tamils to fly without the yellow stripe that represents the Tamil community. The challenge before us is how the Sri Lankan people can convert a military triumph into total peace after three decades of bloody civil war, while ensuring that this victory is not co-opted by Sinhalese chauvinism as its private tool to further its own narrow and sectarian ends.
Photo: Internally displaced Sri Lankan people wait behind barbed wire during a visit by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at Menik Farm refugee camp in Cheddikulam on May 23, 2009.The victory must be seen as a victory for all Sri Lankan communities who love this land and advance the cause of peace. This happiness is possible only if we try to create the right conditions for happiness for the hundreds of thousands who have suffered in this War. An important aspect is that we must help those who escaped from the terror clutches of the LTTE during the final phase of the War to also celebrate this great victory with the rest of us. Any celebration while those who must celebrate this victory the most are locked up behind barbed wire would make this a truly pyrrhic victory. Do not forget the very people who suffered in the war are trying today to believe in their new God after losing their old evil. Can we help that process or will we make it an impossible one by replicating our past mistaken strategy of tit for tat?
 (May 26, Colombo,...){kind=link}
when this terror leader become "Mr Prabakaran"?? any of you call "Mr Bin Laden" to muslim terror leader??
Does the writer know why we we use Mr..and meanning of the "Mr"
I rest my case
This is a lopsided article. The writer is free to twist the storey on behalf of Mr. Prbhakaran as he put it. But the fact remains Prbhakaran or who ever went on this destructive path have to stopped. Only analysis is whether Tamils were better off with such kind of LTTE administration, or with the regular government rule. If LTTE put effort to uplift the Tamil masses from poverty, provided their children with better education, provided better health care and governed by a good social system we could have agreed with LTTE. The power LTTE had to kill anyone at will, and silence opposing voices for good have to revisit. If the present government also used similar tactics, none of these UNP and TNA troublemakers would have been existing by now. But democratic governments have to face opposing views, they have to nurture them.
All these foreign voices talking about Tamil suffering is bogus. If they are so sincere they still can help the IDPs in the camps. We need lots of assistance to put this through and resettle these people in their homes. Then also to provide adequate security and establish a mechanism that all these gains do not evaporate is a must. The Tamils who breathe the air of freedom should be protected from evil minded LTTE sympathizers. The Tamil Diaspora is a shame, that they have not funded any humanization project in Tamil areas except helping LTTE to collect weapons against the government of Sri Lanka.
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