Category Archives: prabhakaran

August 9, 2018 · 10:28 pm

Young Pirapāharan’s Inspirations and Ideology: Ragavan’s Incisive Memorial in May 2009

Ragavan, being a reprint from The Sunday Leader, 24 May 2009, where the title runs “Memories of a much-mythologised rebel leader by a former LTTE fighter ” …. with the highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

The body identified as that of the Tamil rebels’
leader, Velupilai Pirapaharan, was carried Tuesday
through Sri Lankan troops — Courtesy Reuters

“Those who bear arms acquire and wield an extreme measure of power. We believe that if this power is abused, it will inevitably lead to dictatorship.” – Pirapaharan, from an interview with N. Ram, 1986

The LTTE’s supreme leader and commander, Velupillai Pirapaharan, along with his wife, children and the entire leadership of the LTTE, have been completely wiped out by the Sri Lankan military. The LTTE began as a guerrilla unit during the 1970’s, at its peak, it controlled vast territory and built up a conventional force consisting of an army, navy and air force. The group won many battles against the Sri Lankan Army, crushed all Tamil opposition groups functioning in Sri Lanka, and was seen as a deadly, brutal and disciplined organisation.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under accountability, conspiracies, Eelam, governance, historical interpretation, Hitler, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, refugees, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tamil refugees, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes

July 13, 2018 · 11:20 pm

Prabhakaran oversees digging at Mass Grave in Mannar Town

Daily News Item, 13 July 2018, where the title is“ Mass grave discovered in Mannar”

A mass grave with 38 skeletons has been discovered in Sri Lanka’s former war zone where the government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels were engaged in pitched battles in 2009, officials said today. Skeletal remains of around 38 people have been found during the ground digging to build a new construction at the old cooperative store site in the northeastern town of Mannar.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under atrocities, military strategy, politIcal discourse, prabhakaran, sri lankan society, taking the piss, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes

June 19, 2018 · 12:25 pm

Infantry Warfare and the Final Phase of Eelam War IV: Where Laymen Blunder into Infantile Assessments

Michael Roberts

In his typically feisty style Mark Salter has taken issue with the characterization of a statement in his To End a Civil War as “infantile” (within an article based on the Lt Col Gash files[1]). [This protest is now reproduced at the end of this essay as well]. Salter’s assertion is from an UTHR report which in turn is based on appraisals provided by Tamil civilians who survived the last stages of the war. Here I address both Salter and Rajan Hoole, a friend of mine and the central figure behind the exhaustive 2009 UTHR reports.

Sri Lankan Tamil civilians arrive to a government-controlled area after fleeing territory controlled by the LTTE separatist rebels in Puthukkudiyirippu…Sri Lankan Tamil civilians arrive to a government-controlled area after fleeing territory controlled by the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) separatist rebels in Puthukkudiyirippu, northeast Sri Lanka, March 26, 2009. Pictures taken March 26, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer (SRI LANKA POLITICS CONFLICT IMAGE OF THE DAY TOP PICTURE)

Continue reading →

Woollacott’s Insight in 1976: Tamils set for Guerilla War and Secession

In sorting through my papers I came across a news cutting that is historically significant. Here was one occasion where a visiting journalist deciphered a developing scenario correctly. That I retained the clipping in papers relating to an article I drafted in 1976 is also significant. These circumstances are clarified briefly at the end of Woollacott’s piece. It is fitting that he should hold centre stage ((though, alas, Alamy have put a price on the only photograph I can find of Woollacott)…. Michael Roberts

Tamil satyagrahis being foricbly removed from Galle Face Green by Sinhala enthusiasts in 1956 during the former’s protest vs the Sinhala Only Bill … 1956 or thereabouts (see Victor Ivan: Paradise in Tears … http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2009/12/20/paradise-in-tears-%E2%80%93-new-edition-by-victor-ivan/)

Ponnadurai Sivakumaran of Urumpirai was a budding resistance fighter who committed suicide by cyanide in 1974 when trapped by police. He is embodied here in high profile with SJV Chelvanayagam of the Federal Party as the embodiment of resistance to oppression. As such, he reflects the strands of Tamil thinking that Martin Woollacott discerned in 1976. Note that the Tamil New Tigers or TNT had been formed in 1972 and metamorphosed into the LTTE in 1976. In the meanwhile the Tamil United Liberation Front under SJV Chelvanyakam adopted the Vaddukoddai Resolution on 14 May 1976 calling for a separate state of Thamililam.

Continue reading →

3 Comments

June 16, 2018 · 4:29 am

June 13, 2018 · 4:25 pm

The Personal Touch in Diplomacy seen within the Troika 2008/09 … But Then …!!!

Rajiva Wijesinha, in Island, 13 June 2017, where the title is “The Troika and the importance of individuals” with the highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

I have read with interest the accounts by Lalith Weeratunge and Dayan Jayatilleke of the way in which a Troika managed relations between India and Sri Lanka during the war period. Lalith’s account is most illuminating, in explaining how our three representatives, Lalith himself and Gotabhaya and Basil Rajapaksa, ensured the confidence of the Indians, even though the latter were nervous about possible reactions in Tamil Nadu.

ALOK PRASAD

But I believe Dayan is correct in drawing attention to the policy commitments underlying the very positive relationship they nurtured in those crucial years. And I think Dayan is also correct in noting that we need to look also at what happened afterwards, and how the benefits of what the Troika achieved were squandered. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power sharing, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes

May 25, 2018 · 2:21 pm

Competing Commemorations and A Hotbed of Political Manoeuvres — says Ferdinando

The Global Sri Lanka Forum (GSLF) celebrated Sri Lanka’s triumph over terrorism in May, 2009 with a public gathering in Dubai. Former Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohina addressed the gathering. On the invitation of the GSLF, Mrs S.G Juliet, mother of Corporal Gamini Kularatne of the Sixth Battalion of the Sinha Regiment garlanded a statue of her son. Gunaratne carried out suicide attack on an LTTE bulldozer on July 14, 1991 during the battle for the strategic Elephant Pass base, the gateway to the Jaffna peninsula. The event took place in the wake of the recent split in the GSLF, leading to the formation of another organization, World Patriotic Lankan Forum (WPLF), headed by Wasantha Keerthiratne.

Continue reading →

The Bogollagama Gem: Thoughts on the Threatening US Spectre in March-May 2009

Michael Roberts

A = The ethnographic gem on events in 2009 provided by former minister Rohitha Bogollagama in 2013 that is now clarified by Chandre Dharmawardana is startling news even for those aware of the exchanges taking place in the (i) ambassadorial despatches now accessible via Wikileaks and (ii) the bare details of the secret meeting held in Kuala Lumpur at KP’s ‘office’ in February 2009 between Norwegian diplomats and LTTE operatives (with US cognisance).[1]

two symbolic snaps

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, conspiracies, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, UN reports, unusual people, war reportage, wikileaks, world events & processes

May 6, 2018 · 6:06 am

KM de Silva’s Short History of Lanka reviewed critically by Charles Sarvan

Charles Sarvan aka Ponnadurai, in Colombo Telegraph, reviewing K. M de Silva’s The Island Story: A Short History of Sri Lanka, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 2017

EPIGRAPH: “Sri Lanka in the first few centuries after the early settlement was a multi-racial, multi-ethnic society: a conception which emphasises harmony and a spirit of live and let live” (K. M. de Silva, op. cit., page 13)

It’s said that fools rush in where the wise fear even to walk. I tiptoe hesitantly, conscious that I am no historian (my discipline was Literature) while the author is perhaps the most eminent of Sri Lankan historians writing in English. The hope is that what I write will be taken as a layman’s perspective and contribution to discussion. Continue reading →

Maj-Genl Holmes deciphers the Eelam Wars

Major General John Holmes: EXPERT MILITARY REPORT, 28 March 2015

His page numbers are in RED on the left bottom of each page … followed by a line to indicate the end of that page
His FOOTNOTE REFERENCES at the bottom of some pages are presented in purple italics

Continue reading →

9 Comments

Filed under gordon weiss, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, news fabrication, Paranagama Report, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, security, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes

April 27, 2018 · 2:40 am

A Slashing Critique of Hillary Clinton and the HR Lobby in April-May 2009: Realities of War

Michael Roberts: reproducing an article drafted in late April 2009 and appearing in FRONTLINE Volume 26 – Issue 10 :: May. 09-22, 2009 **

Volume 26 – Issue 10 :: May. 09-22, 2009
INDIA’S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU

• Contents

COVER STORY

Realities of war

MICHAEL ROBERTS

A response challenging the calls for ceasefire as a solution to the hard realities around the LTTE’s endgame.

SRI LANKA NAVY HANDOUT/REUTERS

IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH released by the Sri Lanka Navy on April 21, people flee a beach controlled by the LTTE in the north-east of the island nation.

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IDP camps, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, refugees, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry

Category Archives: prabhakaran

Young Pirapāharan’s Inspirations and Ideology: Ragavan’s Incisive Memorial in May 2009

Like this:

Prabhakaran oversees digging at Mass Grave in Mannar Town

Like this:

Infantry Warfare and the Final Phase of Eelam War IV: Where Laymen Blunder into Infantile Assessments

Like this:

Woollacott’s Insight in 1976: Tamils set for Guerilla War and Secession

Like this:

Competing Commemorations and A Hotbed of Political Manoeuvres — says Ferdinando

Like this:

The Bogollagama Gem: Thoughts on the Threatening US Spectre in March-May 2009

Like this:

KM de Silva’s Short History of Lanka reviewed critically by Charles Sarvan

Like this:

Maj-Genl Holmes deciphers the Eelam Wars

Like this:

A Slashing Critique of Hillary Clinton and the HR Lobby in April-May 2009: Realities of War

Like this:

Search

thuppahi

Categories

Blogroll

Our Readers

Admin

Category Archives: prabhakaran

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Search

Categories

Blogroll

Our Readers

Tags

Admin