Parvathy Ammal, mother of the slain Tamil Tiger chieftain Velupillai Prabhakaran, used to pine for her son while she was in detention at the Sri Lankan army’s camp at Panagoda after the end of Eelam War IV.
“She would shatter the silence of the night by yelling ‘Prabha, Prabha’. An embarrassed Thirvengadam Velupillai, her husband, would try to silence her with a piece of cloth but she would shake him off and fling at him plates, cups or anything that was within reach,” said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism at Singapore, who had interviewed the couple several times.
“She was a tough woman, unlike her husband. Prabhakaran had inherited the traits of his mother and was worlds apart from his father, who was a very law abiding and respectable man,” Gunaratna said.
“Parvathy’s attitude was typical of a mother—the son had to be defended even if he was a criminal.” Velupillai, who was a retired lands department officer in Valvettithurai in Jaffna district, and wife Parvathy were living in Karavamulliwaikkal in Mullaitivu district in the last days of the war. When the LTTE took them to see Prabhakaran at Nanthikadal (which was to be their last meeting), Velupillai asked Prabhakaran what his plan was.
“Prabhakaran, whose mindset was Hitlerian and set on pursuing one path, said that he would continue to fight,” Gunaratna said. Not long afterwards, Velupillai died, and a paralyzed Parvathy was removed to the government hospital in Valvettithurai. There she would keep calling out to relations many of whom were in Valvettithurai. But in vain.