COLOMBO: In the last phase of Eelam War IV, many of the top leaders of the LTTE foresook Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, and preferred to surrender to the Sri Lankan forces rather than attain martyrdom by fighting to the finish or consuming cyanide, the latest report of the University Teachers for Human Rights-Jaffna (UTHR-J) reveals.
“Dissent was strong even amongst the leadership. Sea Tiger Leader Soosai had walked out of the last leaders’ meeting disagreeing with Prabhakaran. Pottu Amman too felt that military resistance was doomed and wanted another way out, but did not confront Prabhakaran openly as Soosai had done,” the report says.
NO ROOM FOR PRABHAKARAN IN HISTORY
Among the first to lose faith in Prabhakaran was V.Balakumar, the former EROS leader who went on to earn a name for himself as an ace motivator of LTTE cadre, including its suicide wing. He eventually became a rallying point for dissidents.
“He was so disillusioned that he saw the continuance of the LTTE leadership as a grave liability for the Tamils. Many persons with dissident views found in Balakumar a source of moral support,” the report says.
“Because of his personal rapport with Prabhakaran, he wrote to him regularly. Some who saw these letters told Balakumar that the issues were so serious but he was writing in the polite and restrained manner of a social exchange. Balakumar explained that if anyone told (adviced) Prabhakaran anything he would reject it out of hand. One needed to work on him gently so that he would feel the change as coming from him. However, in one of his final letters, Balakumar had told Prabhakaran that history would have no room for him,” the report reveals.
SENT FAMILIES AWAY
On April 19, while at Puthumattalan on the eastern coast, Balakumar’s family got into a boat with 20 people sailed in a southerly direction. But the LTTE shot at the boat forcing it to return.
The war forced the family to move further to Mullivaikkal. While Balakumar’s wife Indrani left for Pulmoddai on Apri 23 by the first Red Cross ship to call at Mullivaykkal, he and his son teenaged Sooriyatheepan had to wait until May 16, when the LTTE allowed the civilians to surrender to the army.
Balakumar and son went to the 53 army Division near Irattaivaykkal, along the Nanthikadal lagoon. When he identified himself, the army treated the duo kindly, put them in a tractor, because Balakumar was a heart patient and wounded too, and drove them away.
Though a dissident, Sea Tiger leader Soosai was killed in battle, but he tried to send away his family by boat to India with his family jewellery. This effort failed as the Sri Lankan navy caught up with them not far from the eastern coast.
KEY LEADERS SURRENDERED
Like Balakumar, many top LTTE leaders reportedly surrendered in the last three days of the war, between May 16 and 19.
The UTHR-J report mentions the following top leaders as having surrendered: Karikalan (former eastern province political wing leader and subsequently in charge of the economic disivion), Yogaratnam Yogi (former spokesman of the LTTE), Lawrence Tilagar (a former spokesman of the LTTE, a one time head of LTTE office in Paris and later in charge of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation), Thangan (former Deputy political section leader), Ilamparithi (former head of the political section for Jaffna district), Elilan (former Trincomalee political wing leader), Papa (former head of the LTTE sports division), Puvannan (former head of the administrative division of the LTTE), Gnanam (deputy international head) and Tamilini head of the Women’s political wing.
The LTTE detainees, who now number about 11,000, are kept in special camps, and their families are allowed to meet them. But according to the UTHR-J, in 25 percent of the cases, such a meeting has not been possible because the whereabouts of the detainees have not been revealed.
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