Tiger tales

Fourteen years after the Sri Lankan government declared LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran dead, veteran former politician in Tamil Nadu Pazha Nedumaran claimed that he is alive and healthy, and that he will soon make a public appearance.Prabhakaran, who founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and led an extensive guerrilla campaign for a separate homeland for Lankan Tamils in the island nation, was declared dead on May 18, 2009 following an operation by Sri Lankan army at Mullivaikal. The Lankan government was then led by Mahinda Rajapaksa as President.Prabhakaran was a prime accused in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in a suicide bombing at Sriperumbudur in 1991 after which he was declared a proclaimed offender. What began as a liberation movement with few other groups opposing decades of discrimination against Tamils in Sri Lanka, LTTE Chief Prabhakaran had later switched to armed struggle, known for its guerrilla warfare and suicide attacks. The LTTE became the first terror group to have an air force.The Sri Lankan forces, on the other hand, were accused of human rights violations on a large scale. More than a lakh Lankan Tamil civilians were allegedly killed in bombings in the final phase of war against the LTTE. A UN appointed lessons learnt and reconciliation commission too had investigated this.