Category Archives: prabhakaran

January 21, 2025 · 12:00 am

Kittu as LTTE Commander: A Violent, Tempestuous History

DBS Jeyaraj in The Daily Mirror,  20 January 2025, where the title reads “How Tiger ‘Col’ Kittu lost a leg when a bomb was thrown at him in Jaffna”

Former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Jaffna District Commander Sathasivamillai Krishnakumar alias ‘Col’ Kittu was regarded as the uncrowned king of Jaffna in the mid-eighties of the twentieth century. The greater part of Jaffna peninsula was under LTTE control then. This state of affairs [received] a rude shock when an unknown person lobbed a bomb into the vehicle driven by Kittu. The incident which rocked Jaffna in 1987 resulted in the Tiger commander losing a leg. The third part of this article focuses primarily on matters related to that explosive incident.

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January 12, 2025 · 1:54 pm

The Maaveerar Dead as A Perpetual Inspiration For Eelam

Mario Arulthas, in Al-Jazeera,  9 January 2025 …. with highlightinging emphasia imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The Maaveerar Dead as A Perpetual Inspiration For Eelam

The nationwide electoral success of the anti-establishment NPP does not mean Tamil nationalism is on the decline.

An election official holding a ballot box gets off the bus outside a vote counting centre after the voting ended for the parliamentary election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 14, 2024 [Thilina Kaluthotage/Reuters]

“They’re trampling on our graves with their boots,” said Kavitha, a Tamil woman, as the torrential rain lashing our faces washed away her tears. Standing barefoot and ankle-deep in mud at the site of a former cemetery in Visuvamadu, Sri Lanka, she was lamenting the adjacent military base built on the graves of fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters, including that of her brother.

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December 12, 2024 · 11:49 pm

Seeking Ethnic Reconciliation Through Commemoration of the Dead-in-War

Capt Prasanna Rajaratne, SLN … in DAILY FT, 6 December 2024, ….. where the title reads “National security only through national harmony“
They may still feel trapped in the same plight, and unless that perception is acknowledged, addressed, and their aspirations realised, the resurgence of dissent is not merely possible but inevitable

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December 2, 2024 · 5:36 pm

Politics of Identity in Lanka: Mithran Tiruchelvam’s Introduction in 1997 to his Book

Introduction by Mithran Tiruchelvam …. a son of Neelan Tiruchelvam of the ICES [who was tragically assassinated by the LTTE in front of the ICES offices one year later]

The present collection of essays arose out of a symposium held at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES), Colombo from 13-15 March 1997, where researchers and scholars presented some of their recent research interests. This volume seeks to gather the threads of a hybrid collection of essays and weave them together in their shared historical moment. An anthology of this nature seeks organizational cohesion based on the papers’ common origins at the symposium, thereby sacrificing some degree of thematic or disciplinary unity. It is intended that such a collection make available to the general reader and to the scholar alike, a sense of the variety of social science pursuits being undertaken in Sri Lanka today. As such its purpose is to flavour as much as to nourish the reader’s palate, providing a sampling of the eclectic diversity of topics, methodologies and critical perspectives. engaging the social scientist today.

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November 20, 2024 · 9:35 pm

Gerald Peiris: A Lifetime of Wide-Ranging Research & Service

These are but some of his publications over a career spanning the 1950s to 2020s — with eyesight deterioration blighting his last platform of life. No more table tennis, but much to remember. So, here. let me doff my cap to thee, Gerry Machang, …. Mike

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November 12, 2024 · 12:46 am

Rajiv Gandhi’s Reasoning behind the IPKF Operation

Madhur Sharma, in Outlook.com, 28 November 2022, where the title runs thus “Why Rajiv Gandhi Sent IPKF To Sri Lanka And How LTTE Played Both Sides” .… with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord with Sri Lankan President Junius Richard Jayawardene in 1987. Under the pact, the Indian military was deployed as the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka. Soon after the deployment, the circumstances changed and IPKF was engaged in combat by the Tamil armed group LTTE.

Rajiv Gandhi with Anton Balasingham, Pirapaharan & AN Other in India ….. and Pirapahrana & MGR chat in South India

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November 11, 2024 · 8:19 pm

Brig. Halangode’s Random Thoughts on the Eelam Wars

AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE by Michael Roberts, 11 November 2024

Brig Retd Hiran Halangode sent me the Memorandum presented below as a RESPONSE to one of my reprinted articles on ‘’Religious Strands in the SL Tamil Rebellions of the 1970s to 2009.’’[1] As indicated by him, the memo presents a series of desultory thoughts and do not amount to a thorough-going academic essay. However, they serve as an incentive towards reflection. I have taken the liberty of inserting highlights to spotlight especially significant or controversial thoughts.

SL Army troops in defensive positions in the Vanni circa 2008

 

BRIG. HIRAN HALANGODE (retd) in Response to MR On Fri, Nov 8, 2024 …… presenting …… https://thuppahis.com/2022/10/02/religion-within-tamil-militancy-and-the-ltte/

Hi Michael,

An excellent effort. I have a few points which may be of interest to you. Random thoughts in fact.

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October 31, 2024 · 12:07 pm

Dr Narendran Rajasingham: A Grounded Sri Lankan Tamil Patriot

Michael Roberts

Naren Rajasingham was a trifle junior to me at Peradeniya University when he pursued a Vet/Science Degree before proceeding to postgraduate qualifications in the same field. It was only when I was fully enmeshed in researching the Eelam Wars and visiting Colombo with some frequency that I got to know him. My memory is imprecise in its notation of time; and I cannot fix precise dates to our exchanges.

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October 16, 2024 · 12:40 am

Tekwani’s Review of the Sri Lankan Political Situation in Mid-2020

Shyam Tekwani, an Item presented as a “Sri Lanka Brief” in June 2020, AT https://eastasiaforum.org/2020/06/19/sri-lankas-return-to-ethnic-majoritarianism/ entitled “Sri Lanka’s return to ethnic majoritarianism” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The voyage from Serendib to Sri Lanka through Ceylon continues to be an uninterrupted tale of opportunities lost, scorned and spurned. The brutal end to the quarter-century war with the Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009 brought an unprecedented opportunity for the government to heal the Sinhala–Tamil ethnic divide. But now a new front is opening, one against Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority. Events since the Easter attacks of 2019 are reinforcing the belief that tolerance and inclusive governance are a chimeric dream.

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October 13, 2024 · 5:07 pm

Nishan Vellupillai Slams A Goal for the Socceroos

NISHAN VELUPILLAI  …. of Sri Lankan TAMIL migrant stock is now a member of the Socceroos and scored one  of the goals against China at the Adelaide Oval

ALAS I was not present because slow on the ticket uptake [it was a sell-out]

https://news.sbisiali.com/en/news/article/australia-sweeps-china-to-continue-journey-to-2026-world-cup

 

https://www.socceroos.com.au/news/tony-popovic-socceroos-squad-theyre-quality-players

ALSO see = https://www.elanka.com.au/23-yo-sri-lankan-tamil-origin-nishan-velupillay-scores-for-australia-in-the-asian-world-cup-q

 ​PS …. he is not related to VELUPILLAI PIRAPAHARAN aka PRABHAKARAN …. though both are good shooters 

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