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On the Death of
Velupillai Prabhakaran
"Prabhakaran is alive and well"
- LTTE's International Relations Head S. Pathmanathan
TamilNet, 19 May 2009
While rejecting Colombo's claim of the killing of LTTE leader V.
Pirapaharan and assuring his safety and well-being, LTTE's
International Relations Head S. Pathmanathan Tuesday accused Colombo
of treachery in the killing of the political wing leaders B. Nadesan
and S. Puleedevan. Mr. Pathmanathan said it is a crime against
humanity that needs to be investigated. Meanwhile, informed sources
told TamilNet that what happened in the early hours of Monday was a
well-planned massacre of several unarmed civil officers of the LTTE
with the aim of annihilating its political structure. At the orders
of a 'top defence figure,' an international arrangement involving
ICRC, European diplomats and a Colombo government diplomat to
arrange safe exit to the civil officers was defied, the sources
said.
Political observers compared Monday's massacre with the prison
massacre of Tamil liberation fighters in 1983 and events leading to
the collective death of 12 senior leaders and cadres of the LTTE in
1987.
Tamil circles also commented that any surrender of the LTTE as
pressed by the International Community would have seen a similar
fate to its cadres, had it been heeded.
The clarifications from Mr. Pathmanathan follow:
Statement 1:
I wish to inform the Global Tamil community distressed witnessing
the final events of the war that our beloved leader Velupillai
Pirapaharan is alive and safe. He will continue to lead the quest
for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people.
The President and the Government of Sri Lanka needing to carry on
and gloat in the planned Victory Celebrations on Tuesday, had their
military establishment deliberately come up with the story detailing
the demise of the leader of the LTTE. We categorically reject this
and wish to inform the Tamil community to be vigilant and to
exercise maximum restraint whilst grieving for the loss of Tamil
civilian lives in the barbaric conduct of the final chapters of this
battle.
The Tamil freedom struggle is a just cause and will not be quashed
by the events of the last 24 hours. Truth and justice will always
prevail.
Statement 2:
We wish to bring to the notice of the International Community the
events of the last 24 hours in the so called safety zone in the war
in Sri Lanka.
Subsequent to our announcement that the LTTE had decided to "silence
the guns" in view of the unbearable civilian carnage at the hands of
the Sri Lankan military and the heavy weaponry donated to it by
third parties, we were informed by some member states of the
International Community that arrangements had been made with the Sri
Lankan military for discussions on an orderly end to the war.
We were instructed to make contact with the 58th Division of the Sri
Lankan forces in the war zone, un-armed and carrying white flags.
Head of our Political Wing, Mr. B. Nadesan and Mr. Puleedevan then
proceeded to do so. They were un-armed and carrying white flags and
were called on by the Officers of the 58th Division to come forward
for discussions. When they complied they were both shot and killed.
We vehemently condemn this action. The International Community needs
to take this into account in its deliberations about charges of
"Crimes against Humanity" against the members of the Sri Lanka
Government and its military establishment. This act is even more
unpalatable when one takes into account that the LTTE released as an
act of goodwill, seven Sri Lankan Prisoners of War the day before
totally unharmed.
We appeal to the International Community to act now to ensure the
safety and basic needs of the displaced people who are suffering in
the prison camps of the Sri Lankan military. The onus is now on the
International Community to see that further war crimes and crimes
against humanity are not committed on Tamils by the Sri Lankan state
and to force the Sri Lankan state to yield in to the political
aspirations of the Tamil people. |
