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LTTE chief declares renewed resolve to continue “struggle”

COLOMBO: Forty-eight hours after the death of the Tamil Tiger’s political wing chief, S.P. Thamilchelvan, the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, vowed to continue the “liberation struggle with renewed determination” even as the Sri Lanka military accused the Tigers of killing five civilians and injuring six others in violence in the east and the north.

In a special statement issued from an undisclosed location in the Wanni jungles, on the death of Thamilchelvan in a military air raid on November 2, Prabhakaran accused the “Sinhala nation” of having taken the life of a political leader deeply loved by the Tamil speaking world and greatly respected by the international community.

“Despite the repeated and continuous calls from the international community to find a peaceful resolution to Tamil national question, we have not seen any goodwill from the Sinhala nation. We do not see the Buddhist universal love. Sinhala nation did not open its heart and send a peace message. On the contrary, it is sending war-vultures that are dropping giant bombs. It has cruelly killed our peace dove”, Prabhakaran complained.

The statement said, “Tamil Eelam nation” is confronting an unparalleled loss after losing Thamilchelvan and five other LTTE members and people are in profound shock and sorrow.

Prabhakaran said Thamilchelvan was close to him ever since he joined the “freedom movement” and he loved him deeply and taught him as his own beloved younger brother. “Buried within his beautiful smile, I recognised, right from the beginning, a thousand profound meanings, his abilities, and his leadership qualities. I raised him as a great commander, an unparalleled political head, a diplomat who communicated with the entire world, and a skilled negotiator”, the statement said.

The LTTE leader said that in a “new form”, Thamilchelvan joins “liberation struggle which is moving on like a lengthy river of blaze” and in this new form, he has set alight in heavy hearts a deep yearning for the goal.

Separately, the military claimed that six civilians were reported injured in an LTTE hand grenade attack at Navaladi in Valachchenai in the east on Sunday afternoon. It said an LTTE operative hurled a hand grenade at a vehicle passing along the A-15 main road, Navaladi.

In another incident, the military said five bullet-riddled bodies of Tamil civilians were found in the Thavasikulama area in Vavuniya in the north on Sunday morning. A report on the Defence Ministry web site, quoting unnamed civilians, said, “They further told that the crime might have committed by the LTTE since there are small groups of LTTE cadres operating in the area.”

It claimed that there were many earlier reports of LTTE militants engaging in house robberies, extortions, abduction of teenage girls and children and assassinations.

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