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Prabakaran must give up: Fonseka

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Army chief, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, has asked LTTE cadre and its leaders, barring Velupillai Prabakaran and Pottu Amman, to surrender and hinted at the possibility of the LTTE chief fleeing the country.

In an interview to the state-run weekly, Sunday Observer, Lt. Gen. Fonseka said soldiers are 2 km away from Kilinochchi, the LTTE’s administrative headquarters. LLTE leaders — Soosai, Theepan, Banu, Lakshman, Vidusha, Swarnam and Nadeshan — can surrender with their cadre to the Army, he added.

“Instead of Velupillai Prabakaran and Pottu Amman we can give protection to all cadres who are willing to surrender. Prabakaran has been given a 200-year imprisonment term and he is wanted by the Indian government,” he said. Pottu Amman is also a wanted man under the law, he said, adding that that they would have to die on the battlefield.

“If Prabakaran has a wee bit of brains left in him he should give up the battle now. He will soon realise that fighting with us is useless. Otherwise he has to remain in fighting, sacrificing over 20 to 30 cadre daily while constructing more graves to honour the dead cadres. On the other hand, he cannot enter the democratic political mainstream like Karuna Amman or Pilliyan because he is a murderer. Therefore, he should release his cadres and also the civilians that he is keeping forcibly now,” said Lt. Gen. Fonseka.

The LTTE is left with only 4,000 cadre, he said, adding he was not sure how long they can maintain its fighting capabilities.

“They lose their fighting capabilities, mainly the manpower, daily. Sri Lanka Army will be further strengthened with manpower and fire power in future. This is a decisive period of the LTTE and Prabakaran needs to decide not only his fate, but also the fate of his cadre soon,” said Lt. Gen. Fonseka.

To a question regarding Prabakaran, Lt. Gen. Fonseka said: “Prabakaran could escape but wondered if he can just escape leaving his cadre and people at this stage.

“But as a person who loves his life more than anything he is not going to sit and die. He will [use a] disguise and flee. The LTTE might have various connections with all terrorist groups in the world and some would lend a helping hand for him.”

He said if the security forces capture Kilinochchi, Prabakaran has to live like another refugee.

Answering questions on his earlier statement to a foreign newspaper on Sri Lanka being a “Sinhala nation,” Lt. Gen. Fonseka defended his comments.

“The truth is that this country is ruled by Sinhalese for centuries and centuries. China is ruled by Chinese, England by the Englishmen and Germany by Germans. This is because these countries are ruled by the majorities,” he said.

Lt. Gen. Fonseka said the advancing troops could now see the LTTE’s buildings and the city is within the artillery and mortar range.

Separately, in a report pro-LTTE TamilNet said: “Facing imminent danger from Sri Lanka Army’s artillery attack, and aerial bombardment, more than 10 homes sheltering orphaned children and elderly persons, located within a few miles radius from Kilinochchi, have been relocated to interior villages of Wanni.”

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