Sri Lanka : crushes Tamil tigers [model against extremists]?

[General Duke]

Sri Lanka Says Leader of Rebels Has Died

 

 

Published: May 18, 2009

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Sri Lankan authorities declared a final victory in their 26-year war with the Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday. In a state television broadcast, the government said the leader of the insurgents was among 250 fighters killed in a final bloody battle for the last sliver of rebel-held territory.

 

 

The government information service sent a text message to cellphones across the country on Monday saying that Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the elusive rebel chief who had come to define the Tamil Tigers, was dead, and state television broke into regular programming to announce the news.

 

The news provoked celebrations among the Sinhalese majority across the land, with people taking to the streets of the capital here, singing, dancing and setting off firecrackers. People in cars and clusters of people on the streets waving the national flag could be seen here early Tuesday morning, though the heavy presence of soldiers at major checkpoints into the city center appeared to have dampened the celebrations.

 

Hours later, though, a rebel spokesman overseas denied Mr. Prabhakaran’s death, according to news services. On the pro-rebel Web site TamilNet, the spokesman, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, wrote: “Our beloved leader is alive and safe. He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people,” Agence France-Presse reported. The Web posting provided no support for the statement.

 

The government’s account appeared to signal the end of Asia’s longest civil war, and of one of the world’s most enduring insurgencies. The rebels once controlled a quarter of Sri Lanka’s territory as they pressed their campaign for an independent homeland for the country’s Tamil minority.

 

Mr. Prabhakaran’s death could mean the end of the rebel movement. A secretive figure whose whereabouts were rarely known, he built himself into the leader of a powerful guerrilla force that was known for its strong internal discipline and brutal tactics, including suicide bombing.

 

His personality held the Tamil Tigers together over the years, but his critics likened him to a cult figure grasping for power, and he is not known to have groomed a successor.

 

Acknowledging their impending defeat, and encircled by government forces, the rebels said Sunday that their struggle had “reached its bitter end.” On Monday, the Sri Lankan military said it had crushed the rebels as its troops advanced into an ever-narrowing strip of land measuring no more than half a square mile in the northeast of the country.

 

“We have successfully ended the war,” the defense secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, told the president on Monday in a nationally televised ceremony.

 

Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka’s army commander, said on state television that the military was still trying to identify Mr. Prabhakaran’s body among the corpses on the battlefield. “Prabhakaran’s body is among the 300 terrorist bodies that we captured,” General Fonseka said.

 

Outsiders continued to register concerns about the way the battle had been fought. Foreign ministers of the European Union, meeting in Brussels, said they were appalled by reports of high civilian casualties. They urged an independent inquiry into allegations of violations of international human rights law by both sides.

 

The Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, said he would address Parliament on Tuesday in what was expected to be a formal declaration of victory.

 

In a day of fast-moving developments, the Sri Lankan military reported Monday that it had killed seven senior leaders of the guerrilla group, known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, including the leader of the movement’s political wing, Balasingham Nadesan. It said soldiers also found a body they believed to be that of Charles Anthony, the older of Mr. Prabhakaran’s two sons.

 

It was not possible to verify whether the men had been killed in last-ditch fighting or had taken their own lives using the cyanide capsules that some rebels have worn in vials around their necks.

 

Sri Lankan state television also broadcast images of a corpse said to be Charles Anthony’s. A military spokesman, speaking in return for customary anonymity, said “the entire area” once under rebel control had “now been liberated.”

 

In the final battle, Mr. Prabhakaran was surrounded early Monday with the last of his fighters, The Associated Press said, citing military officials. In a two-hour firefight, he and his senior lieutenants drove in an armor-plated van accompanied by a bus filled with armed rebels toward approaching Sri Lankan forces.

 

The battle ended when troops fired a rocket at the van, the officials said. Contrary to General Fonseka’s account, the officials, who were not identified, said troops had pulled Mr. Prabhakaran’s body from the van and identified it.

 

Confirmation of government claims has been impossible because the military has barred independent journalists, most aid agencies and human rights monitors from the battle zone and refugee-settlement areas.

 

Daily dispatches from rebel sources inside the war zone and posted on TamilNet dwindled Monday. A report in the early hours said that “initial reports indicate a determined massacre by the Sri Lanka Army.”

 

International concern has grown over tens of thousands of civilians who were trapped along with rebel fighters in the ever-shrinking war zone. Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency in Geneva, said Monday that an estimated 65,000 civilians fled the conflict zone in recent days, bringing the total displaced by the fighting in the past several months to 265,000.

 

The displaced are being housed in 42 government-run camps, which “are already buckling under the pressure,” Mr. Redmond said.

 

The Sri Lankan authorities released a list of senior rebels they said had been killed, including those in charge of intelligence and the police, along with military and political officials. Their titles reflected earlier days when the rebels ran a de facto government in the region they controlled.

 

Mark McDonald contributed reporting from Hong Kong, and Alan Cowell from Paris.

[nuune]

How is this a best MODEL, Sri Lankan government spent more than 20 years fighting, and hundredhs of thousands killed and displaced,

 

are you saying after 20 years everythin will be ok in Somalia and extremists will be crushed, like Sri Lanka!!

[Liqaye]

Duke is trying to think for himself, but to a brained accustomed to going down the well worn paths of supporting the tribal line in every thought, amateurish attempts can be the only result.

 

There is no connection.

Go bark up some other tree.

[General Duke]

^^^Nuune adeer while the civil war of Siri Lanka has been 30 years old. The Tamils had control of much of the North and East of the country up until 2008. They had a navy, and even a number of aircrafts that bombed as far as Colombo and were the worlds greatest suicide bombers they committed more suicide bombs than anyone else in history.

The Tamils have a huge and well connected Diaspora not to mention their sympathizers and ethnic kinsmen in Tamil Nado in India.

 

So in a year they were wiped out.

 

This is the model, you must be determined, single minded and focused and destroy these groups, their support base and financial institutions.

Liqiye: Adeer at least I can think, what’s your contribution aside from your anguish at your former idol Sharif's total failure?

?

[Liqaye]

No you cannot, you cant even recognize the fact that there are no similarities between the article you copy pasted [which is the extent of your contribution] and the situation in Somalia.

[nuune]

Duke, true, but the divisions within the TTL is what caused the Sri Lankan government to take action quickly and then to announce victory so early.

 

The Tamil Tigers leadership was in bits & pieces prior this war,

 

 

So, yes, if the same is true for Alshabaab/xisbul Islaam to break into more different groups, then Sharif's government can declare victory even as early as possible.

 

 

I don't see any comparison of Sri Lanka to what's goin on in Somalia, totally two different, not even closely related!

[General Duke]

Nune: The division within the Tamil Tigers played a small role in their downfall but it was the determination of the government not to halt the operations against the wishes of the international community which was calling for cease fire and a halt to the operations for “humanitarian sake “ . The government was united and skillfully carried out its mission.

 

Also how much division is within this alliance of AL Shabaab & Hizbul Islam?

 

The Somali situation is eerily similar to Sri Lanka's, this was a civil war between communities just like in Somalia; one group is a national government and the other an extremist group. Somalia’s has always had extremists groups either in clan forms as in the case of Liqiye’s USC, or now those turned to religious fanaticism. It’s the extremist’s sentiment that is opposed to, national governance and justice.

 

The extermists groups in Somalia have always prided themselves on their military strength and the use of brute force, their babarisam from clan cleanisng of the USC/Aydeed by force to the Al Shabaab militias who parade children with guns and who's supporters dance on corpses. This was also the case of the Tamil Tigers, they prided themselves on their military prowess and sheer terror, the greatest suicide bombers ever known to man.

 

The other stark similarity is that Somalia needs what Siri Lanka has today a government with teeth that can defend its national interest and bite back against armed groups. Not all this fake talk of peace with deranged demagogues who do not have any interest in peace and governance.

 

Liqiye: start with copying and pasting adeer, then we will talk.

[General Duke]

Tamil Tiger leader's failure to compromise led to his demiseIn 2002 Velupillai Prabhakaran said his Tigers might abandon their armed

struggle, but the brief peace was not to last

Luke Harding

 

guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 May 2009 15.53 BST

Article history

 

The green fatigues had vanished, the trademark cyanide capsule had been discreetly tucked away and after 20 years of ruthlessly eliminating his enemies Velupillai Prabhakaran was giving a rare press conference – his last as it turned out.

 

It was 10 April 2002. The vicious seesaw war that had convulsed Sri Lanka since 1983 was enjoying a brief lull. I had driven into the Tamil Tigers' normally forbidden northern stronghold, along a rough dirt track and past lagoons filled with pink lilies and teak trees.

 

I, and about 200 other journalists, had been summoned to witness what was apparently a major historical event – the end of the Tamil Tigers' violent struggle against the Sri Lankan government, and one of the world's most intractable conflicts.

 

We waited for 10 hours. Tamil Tiger guards carried out the most severe security checks I have ever encountered, confiscating satellite phones and searching my ears. Finally Prabhakaran emerged from the jungle, where he had spent the last 12 years in hiding, dodging assassination.

 

In the flesh the legendary guerrilla leader looked surprisingly well-fed, tubby even. Instead of a military uniform he was wearing a clean civilian shirt – a hint that his days of revolutionary mayhem were perhaps over.

 

Prabhakaran's message was conciliatory: he said his Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were considering abandoning their armed struggle. They were prepared to compromise with Sri Lanka's ethnic Sinhalese leadership – a historic step.

 

"We are not a terrorist organisation, but a liberation movement. We are fighting for the liberation of our people. You have to distinguish between what constitutes terrorism and a liberation struggle," he explained.

 

The press conference wasn't much of a success, though. Prabhakaran had little to say when asked why he had sent a woman suicide bomber to blow up Rajiv Gandhi, the Indian prime minister, in 1991. There was no sorry.

 

And Prabhakaran, always scrupulous about his own personal security, had surrounded himself with three bodyguards wearing comic Hollywood dark glasses. Their appearance prompted one journalist to ask: "If you believe in peace why do you need these goons."

 

I left with the uncomfortable sense that the Tigers were as much a murderous cult as a political movement; that night I slept in a shed, surrounded by tropical birds and croaking frogs. The next day I drove back across the Wanni, home to 300,000 Tamils, past neat thatched huts and small gardens of bananas and palms.

 

There were few other cars on the road – most Tamils living under separatist rule could only afford a bicycle. Indeed it appeared the only growth area in the shrinking territory controlled by the Tamil Tigers had been death. By 2002 17,000 LTTE volunteers had achieved martyrdom since the start of Prabhakaran's offensive.

 

Soon afterwards, peace talks between both sides in Sri Lanka collapsed; war resumed with a dreary and depressing ineluctability. The killings on both sides resumed; Tamil-controlled northern Sri Lanka was once again inaccessible.

 

Prabakaharan's death this morning – apparently while trying to flee in an ambulance – marks the ignominious end to a man who was never quite matched up to his own myth.

 

His refusal to compromise, and his murderous treatment of all those who disagreed with him, including many moderate Tamils, ended in disaster. It was a strategy that resulted in conclusive and crushing defeat.

[Liqaye]

Duke who wants to talk certainly not me, really are you using all the brain power that God gives a normal functioning human being to twist and turn every thing into your clan vs clan ethos?

 

Duke you are not capable of discussing issues or ideas in a manner that has no direct link with the trauma that might have happened to you as a child, while history must not be forgotten, it must be such a burden to re-fight so many battles in cyberspace whose outcomes are well documented in reality

 

[which is all that space that exists outside of your mind Duke].

 

What happened Duke did you for a moment think you could deduce your own opinions from a set of evidence.

Why did you think people would care enough to debate your copy paste?

Why are attempting to make a cogent argument when we all know where it will lead.

 

Now just admit that in this particular foray into self expression and lateral thinking you failed, and next time you try, you will make a connection that will not be laughed at by a 12 year old.

[me]

General Duke,

 

You mean a model against seperatists/secessio nists.

[Liqaye]

^^^^ Within 2 minutes somebody makes a viable and debate able connection.

[General Duke]

Liqiye; you are not even amusing; adeer you must have issues with the Duke all those assumptions. Let me make it clear, I don’t think much of you in a positive or negative sense, I don’t know you and have no time to try to psychoanalyze you, its like me analyzing the habits of Mohamed Qaynyare Afrax now what would be the point?

 

As for the attacks its personal unwarranted and like they say in London I aint bothered mate.

 

I know you are out of your depth most of the time and it takes you a few days to pen a thread so I will give you the chance and the time.

 

The topic is a clear one, what lessons can be learned from the Sri Lankan’s successful, conclusive defeat of the once powerful and feared Tamil Tigers?

[General Duke]

ME: The recent campaigns in SWAT & the success of the Sri Lanka have shown that goevrnments can take action against marauding militias.

[General Duke]

Body of Tamil Tigers leader discovered

 

Matthew Weaver and agencies

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 May 2009 08.55 BST

Article history

 

Sri Lankan TV images of a corpse said to be that of Velupillai Prabhakaran.

WARNING: This video contains graphic images Link to this video Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, declared victory today in his country's bloody civil war, as state television broadcasted images of a body said to be that of the Tamil Tigers leader killed in the final battle with government troops yesterday.

 

Today the army said it had recovered Velupillai Prabhakaran's body, after a spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) claimed he was still alive.

 

In a statement on the ministry of defence website, the commander of the army, General Sarath Fonseka, said "The body of V Prabhakaran, psychopathic leader of world's most barbaric terrorist outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been found short while ago."

 

[Warning: graphic video images] Today state television broadcasted images of what it said was his corpse.

 

Earlier a spokesman for the LTTE, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, claimed Prabhakaran was alive. He admitted that some leaders had been killed, but he told the TamilNet website: "Our leader [Velupillai Prabhakaran] is alive and safe. He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people."

 

He offered no further details or evidence to support the claim.

 

Briefly addressing parliament Rajapaksa declared Sri Lanka "liberated" from terrorism in a conflict that has claimed more than 70,000 lives, but he did not mention the rebel leader.

 

In the Tamil language, he said the war was not waged against the Tamil people.

 

Rajapaksa said: "Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip of the LTTE. We all must now live as equals in this free country."

 

Speaking in Sinhalese, he added: "We have liberated the whole country from LTTE terrorism."

 

Rajapaksa announced a national holiday for tomorrow to celebrate the armed forces.

 

Five pro-Tamil demonstrators in London were arrested today in clashes outside the Houses of Parliament that left at least five police officers and 11 protesters injured.

 

The angry scenes took place at just after midnight as police moved demonstrators off a busy road opposite parliament where they had been staging a sit-down protest since yesterday afternoon.

 

The ambulance service said eight people were taken to hospital – three officers and five protesters, while at the scene paramedics treated a further eight – two officers and six demonstrators – for minor injuries.

 

A Scotland Yard spokesman said five people were arrested for a variety of unspecified offences. Several protesters complained of rough treatment at the hands of police, claiming they were "pushed" back into a grassy area in Parliament Square.

[Resistance]

One cannot compare the Tamils to Shabaas etc, if anything the Tamils are more comparable to Somaliland and to lesser extend Puntland ( as ME has pointed out).

 

And for your info this Sri Lankan government victory has cost thousands of lives and the distruction is unmeasurable which will only lead to more hatred from the Tamils and their struggle will no doupt continue.