SRI LANKA’s president yesterday proclaimed victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels and an end to 26 years of civil war that claimed over 70,000 lives, as national television broadcast images of what the military claimed to be the bullet-ridden body of dreaded guerilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The video showed the upper section of a corpse, resembling the stocky, moustachioed rebel leader dressed in camouflage fatigues. The back of the head appeared to be missing but the face was intact, with the eyes wide open.
Also portrayed alongside was a dog tag with the marking “0:01” and an identity card of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which Prabhakaran founded in 1972 to fight for the rights of the depressed minority Tamils discriminated against by the island’s Sinhalese majority.
“Today, we have been able to liberate the whole country from LTTE terrorism,” a triumphant president Mahinda Rajapakse told the Sri Lankan parliament. “We are a government that defeated terrorism at a time when others told us that it was not possible.”
The writ of the state, he claimed, now extends across every inch of Sri Lankan territory, large tracts of which in the north and east of the island were, for over a decade controlled by the LTTE, complete with a civil administration including police and revenue.
“We have been able to defeat one of the most heinous terrorist groups in the world,” he declared and pledged to “protect” all people, including the country’s minority Tamil population.
Mr Rajapakse said he did not believe war was the final solution to the country’s ethnic conflict with the Tamils and declared his task would now be to offer a political settlement that would be acceptable to all communities.
The images of the notorious Prabhakaran, who was believed to invariably prefer violence over negotiation, meticulously planning his assassinations and guerilla attacks, were exhibited after the Tigers claimed on their website their leader was still alive.
But the Sri Lankan army chief, Gen Sarath Fonseka categorically declared Prabhakaran’s body had been identified through DNA testing. The army also eliminated 250 guerillas, including almost the entire LTTE leadership.
Fine Gael’s spokesman on foreign affairs, Billy Timmins TD, called for an inquiry yesterday into allegations of war crimes on both sides of the conflict. Welcoming the end of the conflict, he said there must be every effort to ensure that peace also brought justice and reconciliation. “The most difficult period of conflict situations often comes just after the conflict has ended,” he said.