End of ltte

THE LIBERATION Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) seem to have succumbed to the final assault by the Sri Lankan Army. According to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan Army dealt the final blow on LTTE when it wrested control of the last remaining coastline under their captivity and in the process trapped LTTE cadres to an area of one square kilometre.

As of now, it seems that the war is over and this is even admitted by LTTE sources. In a statement on the pro-rebel website TamilNet, the Tigers’ chief of international relations said that the battle had reached its bitter end and the LTTE has decided to silence their guns to remove the last excuse the Sri Lankan army had to attack Tamils. But the question arises - is it the possible end to a 25-year civil war? Has LTTE been demolished to its core? What has been the fate of its chief Velupillai Prabhakaran? Is he dead or in a hideout plotting his new series of actions?

Amidst a lot of speculation and apprehension, the Sri Lankan government and Army proudly claim that they have uprooted LTTE which people believed was invincible. The LTTE had for almost three decades fought the Sri Lankan military and defended its right to carry arms as a means of protecting the Tamil people living on the island. But going by the reports and claims, the army seems to have established control on the island.

The result of the war was well visualized a few days earlier when the army had been able to overrun and conquer the entire coastal area held by the Tigers. The rebels were slowly giving up their fight against the advancing government troops and a large number of civilians had managed to flee the war zone.

The Tigers had received a huge jolt when the army was able to capture family members of LTTE's naval wing chief Soosai, a close confidant of Prabhakaran, when they were trying to flee the island in a boat with huge sums of money with them. Ultimately, as expected, the Sri Lankan Army had the last hoorah.

Despite all the claims of defeating LTTE, the army has not been able to capture the ever elusive Prabhakaran. There isn’t any concrete evidence of his whereabouts. There have been contradictory reports that the bunker in which the Tiger’s high command was located has been destroyed in a big explosion, and that a body believed to be his had been taken away for identification. It is also speculated that Prabhakaran and the other fighters may resort to mass suicide with cyanide pills or other means.

However, at the moment peace seems to have been established on the island which was witnessing a civil war for almost 30 years. After unilaterally walking away from the peace process that began in 2002 with Norwegian facilitation, the Sri Lankan government had opted for a military solution to end the crisis. The mission seems to have headed in the right direction for them, but a lot needs to be done on the part of rehabilitation and maintenance of peace and camaraderie in the region.