Sri Lanka: Tamil Rebels Routed, Their Leader Killed

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Will the Country Go for Amnesty
and Reconciliation or Racism Again?

Top and bottom photos: Vellupillai Prabhakaran, Tamil rebel chief
and founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
Photos Courtesy: http://hubpages.com/

The government of Sri Lanka in a television broadcast has announced that its armed forces routed the Tamil rebels completely and killed 250 rebels including their leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran, reports The New York Times. With this the 26-year-old civil war, the longest running civil war in the world, came to an end.

At this news, the Sinhalese, the majority community in Sri Lanka who have been fighting the minority Tamils, took to the streets singing and dancing.

Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the spokesman of the Tamil Tigers in London, on Sunday said in the TamilNet website: "This battle has reached its bitter end. We have decided to silence our guns." The Tamils in diaspora, those living abroad, although saddened by the latest event, would not give up their fight for independence.

Foreign Ministers of the European Union in Brussels said that they were highly concerned over the reports of high civilian casualties and urged an independent inquiry into alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by both sides.

Observers believe that this time the government of Sri Lanka should be prudent enough to treat the Tamils in such a way that they do not feel alienated again, that they enjoy equality with the majority Sinhalese community and that they be given autonomy in Tamil-majority regions in the north and east of the country. If magnanimity is not shown on the part of the government this time, Sri Lanka will again fall into chaos and the Tamils are most likely to resort to different kind of insurgency -- like that of Iraq and Afghanistan -- bombings in public places and streets. Mr. Prabhakaran is gone, but his legacy will remain for a long time. The government of Sri Lanka needs to act judiciously from this very moment to make Sri Lanka a united and peaceful country that may be an example in South Asia.

Sri Lankan Tamil Protest in Toronto: Gunam Veerakathipillai Breaks His 12-Day Fast

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Hunger-striker Gunapalasundaram Veerakathipillai
in his temporary "camp" in the Queen's Park in front of the
Ontario Provincial Legislature Building in Toronto

Veerakathipillai breaking his 12-day fast
after accepting a glass of fruit juice from Peter Tabuns (left),
an NDP member of the Provincial Parliament

Some female members of the Tamil community
carrying some posters and placards

More posters depicting the atrocities of the Sri Lankan army

A Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) flag
is being displayed by a Tamil supporter
Photos (Queen's Park, Toronto: May 14, 2009) © Jerome D'Costa

Gunam (Gunapalasundaram) Veerakathipillai, a Sri Lankan Tamil, broke his 12-day fast today late afternoon after New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jack Layton informed him and the Canadian Tamil community that Premier and Provincial Parliament of Ontario and the Foreign Affairs Committee of Canada called for "an immediate ceasefire, increased Canadian aid to civilians and a UN investigation of war crimes." Peter Tabuns, a member of the Ontario provincial parliament and member of the NDP, helped Veerakathipillai break his fast by offering him a glass of fruit juice.

Veerakathipillai was part of the Tamils who have been protesting in front of the provincial parliament and other places in the city, through demonstrations, marches, and human chains bearing placards and banners, for the last several weeks, against the Sri Lankan government attack and "genocide" against the Tamils in the north-east of Sri Lanka.

Before breaking the fast, Veerakathipillai read out a statement to the media representatives paresent there. In the statement he said: "...I am concluding my twelve day long fast with hope and optimism for the people of Tamil Eelam who have been subjected to forced starvation, total lack of medical care, indiscriminate and ceaseless bombardment from land, sea and air for the past 100 days and more by the Sinhala government of Sri Lanka.

He also said: "Deeply within me I feel for the hundreds of Tamil children, pregnant mothers, elderly women, men, the youth, the handicapped and mentally ill -- without any energy even to stand, they are blown into bits and buried in mass graves for the inhuman reason that they were born Tamils. Tamils are killed in the shores of Mullaitivu but it is humankind that gets assassinated. In a tragedy like this we expect the free world to stand on the side of the innocent victims. Silence and neutrality only helps the perpetrator."

He mentioned that "the categorical humanitarian call of President Obama that 'Sri Lanka must seek a peace that is secure and lasting' is also very reassuring in our plight for peace and freedom with dignity and justice."

Finally, Gunapalasundaram Veerakathipillai thanked the Ontario Provincial government and Federal government of Canada "for their understanding and solidarity in upholding the fundamental human values of peace and freedom."