The death of the Tiger

AFTER DECADES of battling, the Sri Lankan army finally managed to destroy the LTTE with the confirmation of the death of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Prabhakaran, who formed the entity with just the revolver on his person, expanded the terrorist outfit so effec-tively that the outfit managed to exert control over large parts of Sri Lanka, including the Jaffna peninsula. Although the Lankan army managed to recapture the territory, confining the tigers to a mere jungle airstrip, the LTTE never failed to make its presence felt - through its several assassinations - including those of the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 (following which India banned the outfit) and the Sri Lankan President, Ranasinghe Prema-dasa, in 1993. They accomplished the assassinations with their suicide-bombers. The Tigers pioneered such bombings. The suicide bombers were ordered to bomb Sri Lanka’s holiest Budhist shrine, the Temple of Tooth. They were also ordered to bomb the Lankan army camps - in the north-eastern town of Mullaittivu in 1996 and Kilinochchi. Eventually, such actions led the United Nations to label LTTE a terrorist organization in 1997.

While the war continued for a long time, on February 23, 2002 the Sri Lankan government and the Tigers signed a ceasefire pact and later in December, the same year, both the parties agreed to share power, with the Tigers being given autonomy in the Tamil speaking areas. But peace could not be restored, with the Tamil Tiger commander V. Muralitharan’s (aka Karuna) exit from the organization leading to more violence in the region. Finally, in January 2008, the Sri Lankan government withdrew from the ceasefire agreement, in order to force the issue.

A year later in 2009, the Sri Lankan army managed to capture Kilinochchi and later Mul-laitivu, where the tigers were hiding. After capturing the last jungle strip occupied by the Ti-gers, the Lankan army reached the last leg of the operation. It was now all blood and bullets and many civilians were caught in the crossfire. It aroused global concern and most impor-tantly for India, the lives of Tamilians were at stake. All this happened at a time when the Lok Sabha campaign was in progress in India. The DMK Chief Karunanidhi took advantage of the ongoing struggle and went on a 6-hour hunger strike.

Meanwhile, the United Nations, labelling it a bloodbath, instructed both the warring factions to spare civilians who were caught in the crossfire. The country had to inevitably create a ceasefire zone to protect the civilians. Karunanidhi resorted to a cheap gimmick to cash in on the situation – he opined that his hunger strike had led to the ceasefire. He added that when his arch rival Jayalalitha went on a similar strike, nothing had happened.

Finally on May 16, 2009, the Sri Lankan army defeated the rebels, ending their decades-long rule of the Tamil speaking areas of the island nation. The Tigers waved the white flag offi-cially on May 17, inviting their end. The following day, the LTTE chief Prabhakaran was shot dead while he tried to flee in an ambulance. His son, Charles Anthony, was also shot dead. It brought a bitter end to their rule and liberated the country from LTTE which once thought of liberating the Tamilians through their terror outfit – another attempt of terrorism failing mis-erably.

There are speculations on the death of Prabhakaran though - whether he was really shot dead by the Sri Lankan army or whether he committed suicide. Also the fact that the body was re-covered a day after the Lankan army announced his death raised some doubts about the au-thenticity of the announcement. The ‘body double’ debate also heated up - if he was really fleeing, why did he not disguise himself? Also, the Lankan army proudly showcased the documents found on his person which proved his identity. Would a man, who so brilliantly led a terrorist organization for decades, be so dull-headed as not to use a disguise and also carry documents on his person which would highlight his capture? Well, such things may be speculation to some, conspiracy to others and just plain media hype to yet some. The truth of the matter is it is all over now.



While people like Karunanidhi tried to gain advantage when the battle was on, post war, it was the media channels. The moment Prabhakaran’s death was announced, there was a mad rush to release the exclusive pictures to the viewers! It was still seen as a race for TRP (Tele-vision Rating Points) rather than a celebration of the liberation of civilians who were the ac-tual scapegoats and not the politicians. Viewers were flooded with visuals of a dead Prab-hakaran, with his eyes popping out and a bullet mark on his head that couldn’t have looked ghastlier! Not a single channel had the decency to blur out the bullet mark until a few hours after the first telecast. Worse, a leading Hindi news channel crossed all limits of decency and zoomed in on the bullet. All for what? Creating hype or sensationalizing news or gaining more TRPs.

I can still visualise his face, tilted up and down for the sake of media persons, his eyes pop-ping out and the camera zooming in on the frame. The treatment of the story was so bad that instead of being happy about the end of at least one terror outfit, I could do nothing but feel sorry about the way our media approached it.