Monster meets his waterloo

by Shanika SRIYANANDA in Vellamullivaikkal

Blood keeps trickling from the gaping wound in the man’s head. A bullet piercing the skull has blown off the brains of the fugitive who made peaceful Sri Lanka a killing field playing with human lives by his savage butchery that did not spare even a little child in a 30-year long horror world of sheer terrorism that he carved for himself. Here lies on the ground the world’s most ruthless terrorist in his uniform.Still cannot believe our own eyes that the man, who made this part of the world a hell- hole was lying dead.

But then, time has at last caught up with the man; the world’s most dreaded terrorist who died by the very fire that he breathed; stark dead on the muddy waters. Apart from his head, the whole body is pale as he had been hiding neck deep in the lagoon for hours and hours. Indeed, it was a day for rejoicing for the valiant soldiers in their numbers as they kept flocking to the historical vicinity to catch a glimpse of the man who caged their young lives into thick jungles. These soldiers around the dead body jubilantly vowed in the name of their beloved motherland not to ever leave a space for another Prabhakaran to be born.

Everyone breathe huge sighs of relief. For it is a historical moment that has seen the end of the man who through his bloodbaths created Asia’s longest terrorist battle. Here, in the murky waters Prabhakaran, the terrorist has at long last met his fate; his dreams, his ruthlessness and his megalomaniac attempts ended in just a few minutes ago where I stand.

Around 10.05 this morning (Tuesday 19) the monster, who created thousands and thousands of grave yards has dug his own grave.

Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the terrorist leader whom the whole world thought invincible, is found dead in a small island surrounded by the muddy waters of the Nandikadal lagoon at Vellamullivaikkal in Puthumatalan. The man, who had the control of over 15,000 square kilometres of land, but lost the domination inch by inch, breathed his last by fire in a tiny patch of land.

Prabhakaran, who loved his life more than anything else, but motivated thousands of boys and girls to blow themselves up and bite a vial of cyanide, did not after all bite the deadly powder. He tried to realize his childhood dream which made the country a blood bath, by desperately trying to flee.

Prabhakaran, who was neck deep in the lagoon water when his loyal escorts were fighting with the elite commandos and the soldiers of the 4th Vijayaba Infantry Regiment, at last met death from a bullet fired by the soldier who joined the last clearing of the island where there had been an indication of yet another terrorist movement.

Sergeant H.P Wijesinghe from Allawwa is the happiest soldier among thousands. He is the first to identify Prabhakaran’s body lying near the dirty waters of the small islet.

Body discovered

“We were ordered to go forward as some terrorists were firing from 8.30 a.m. today. We were able to kill the remaining terrorists and started clearing the area. The fat body found dead was lying on the banks and I informed the Commanding Officer of the 4VIR Lt. Col. Rohitha Aluvihare about the body and under his command we brought the body here,” he said, adding with pride and glee that, ‘I am happy that I was the first to identify Prabhakaran’s body. For this is the man most wanted and who made our lives a misery. This is the man whom we fought to capture for decades.’ Sgt. Wijesinghe says that he does not have words to express his happiness.

With no cyanide hanging around him, his dog tag TT 3 bearing the number 001 and dated 16.09.95 hung around the monster killer’s neck. His Eelam identity card with his picture bearing number 01543301002 issued on 01.01.2007 and with his personal details like date of birth - 26.11.1954, place of birth - Velvatiturai and occupation - Leader of the LTTE.

The soldiers have recovered his belongings wrapped in a polythene bag. It contains a gas mask, diabetic drugs, dressings, insulin, hand cuff, two T56 rifles used by Prabhakaran, glucose, creams for wounds, and most interestingly a bottle of berry scent moisturizing and vitamin E cream made in Singapore.

Prabhakaran, who was wanted by Sri Lanka, India and the Interpol for the atrocities he committed against humanity, had launched a well planned psychological operation in which he tried to mislead the military through the civilians and the cadres who had surrendered who told the troops that he had escaped in a submarine before the 53 and 58 Divisions shut the beach front of No Fire Zone with a one square km stretch. The military assaults with the support of artillery and amoury continued in whatever spot that was suspected to be Prabhakarans’ hideout.

In the last few hours of his life, he tried to mislead the troops by spreading the rumour that he was dead while he was in a desperate attempt to disappear into the jungles and to hide in the small island until his plan worked out. But the soldiers, who surrounded from four corners, did not stop hunting the man until they dragged his body from the murky waters of the Nandikadal lagoon.

The military assault continued by the elite commandos and 4 VIR troops from the wee hours of Tuesday morning, ended the dark era that had haunted our sacred country at 10.05 a.m. after they captured the body of the most wanted man in the entire Asia.

The body of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Lt. Col. Rohitha Aluwihare, the CO of the 4VIR under 681 Brigade says that a large number of terrorists came from the lagoon to attack the soldiers and continued the offensives from 3 a.m. on Tuesday 19. “Our soldiers had killed over 126 terrorists and there was only an indication that Prabhakaran was there. We continued our search operations and at 10.30 the officers in the defence lines informed me about a body looking like Prabhakaran. His escorts armed with sophisticated weapons and wearing uniforms gave us a tight fight where they threw a grenades at us to prevent us reaching the dead body of their leader. But his close protection ring with ten strong terrorists were killed by the soldiers who conducted the search operation. We found the body and it was confirmed that it was Prabhakaran’s as his dog tag was hung around his body’’, says Lt. Col. Aluwihare.

The widely open eyes of Prabhakaran appear to be still burning with his greedy daydream. The eyes that burnt the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children and even Buddhist priests and other clergy and his own people and all those who tried to block his path, are still fully open. The man has been without a shave for days, the grey hair has propped up and his thick moustache around the chin. The ever chubby face still bears the anger that he breathed when he was alive. The fleshy stomach has disappeared and it shows that he had missed his favourite dishes for days. His entire body is pale having soaked in muddy waters of the Nandikadal lagoon for hours.

Last gasp foiled

The Brigade Commander of the 681 and a Commando Lt. Col. Lalantha Gamage says that under Task Force 8 Commander Col. G.V. Ravipriya the 4 VIR troops cleared the Western part of the island while the Commandos cleared it from the East. “With the Commandos, the artillery, armour and engineering units supported us to hunt down Prabhakaran. This is a collective effort of all the units involved in the hunt”, he reveals.

The 53, 58 and 59 troops, who have sweated from dawn to dusk and made sacrifices to record their ‘biggest’ ever ‘catch’ in the history of the war, have reaped their harvest.

The Commandos, who first launched assaults in the island to repulse the attacks by the terrorists, have collected the weapons from the fallen bodies.

Unknowingly, the Commandos, in their clearing operation, had taken a significant pistol. The number carved on it reveals the identity. It is the pistol with the number 001 that was used by the monster responsible for mass destruction of lives, limbs and property.

“In this dirty war thousands of fathers lost their parents, thousands of parents lost their children and thousands of wives lost their husbands and all these happened due to this dirty, ruthless man - Prabhakaran. Today, he is gone and this means that all Sri Lankans, irrespective of their communities, can be happy and live peacefully’’, the GOC of the 53 Division Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne says.

Explaining the last mission to hunt down Prabhakaran, Maj. Gen. Gunaratne says that the terrorists, who were hiding inside the small mangrove island of lagoon, first attacked the defence of the 53 division and tried to get a breakthrough.

“But within 10 to 15 minutes the troops managed to close the gap. The troops went inside and surrounded and were able to eliminate them on Monday with the support of the troops of 58 division, Special Forces and Commandos. But later, another group of terrorists started attacking us early morning and our troops with the Commandos attacked them too successfully. There was heavy confrontation, but from yesterday night we managed to kill over 77 terrorists. Again we continued search operations and the 4VIR team found this man’s body’’, he says confirming that the world’s most notorious terrorist has met his Waterloo.

Coward

Maj. Gen. Gunaratne says that the interesting story of this most ruthless terrorist was that he had ‘preserved’ the cyanide vial. “This shows how much he valued his life. Interestingly, throughout three decades he was showing the cyanide capsule to the world. But he did not swallow it. It is sad that the man, who gave cyanide to thousands of youth and motivated thousands of children to die biting the cyanide, did not do that himself. Basically, he wanted to live”, the Major adds.

While every soldier keeps flocking, creeping through hundreds of colleagues flocking around the body to catch a glimpse of the man who made them fight for over 30 years, Karuna Amman, Prabhakarans trustworthy bodyguard for years and now the Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation Vinayagamurithi Muralitharan visited the scene together with Daya Master, the LTTE’s former media spokesman who is now in military captivity, to identify the body of the LTTE leader.

While the man, who masterminded the three decades long battle and motivated them to take to arms to achieve his daydream, lies dead with a caved in head from which fresh blood flows, the luckiest among all his cadres and welcomed by the soldiers who fought in fierce battles in the Eastern region, Minister Muralitharan escorted to the lagoon front under tight security, has identified that he is Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

“I have identified him and according to history this is the fate of the terrorist leaders. Many of them had died in this manner. During the second world war Mussolini too had a similar fate. What had happened to Saddam Hussein and the Cambodian leader. No wonder that Prabhakaran too had died in a similar way. He encouraged lots of innocent youth to bite cyanide and motivated them to blow themselves up to serve his ends. But he did not do what he had ordered others to do, and he deserves this death’’, Minister Muralitharan says.

Though the atrocities committed by him are still fresh in the minds of thousands who lived outside his domination and also thousands who were held as hostages, the man who brought the Tamil community to zero is no more.

Simply, the so-called LTTE supremo and the sole representative of the Tamils has breathed his last. The man who believed that last minute international sympathy would save him has died helplessly.

The jubilant soldiers singing, ‘Mawbimata Jaya wewa’ (Victory for the motherland) waving the national flags and walking freely with still guns directed towards the thick jungles and carrying out search operations to hunt down Pottu Amman who is believed to be dead. But they have yet to discover the body.

Back in Colombo amidst understandable overflowing relief and rejoicing in trumpets and cheers and lion flags dotting every inch of the towns and cities, we heard of lots of unpatriotic rumours. Some say that it was Prabhakaran’s dummy. Interested parties still do not want to believe that the terrorist with mythical fighting powers is dead.

But truth is truth and there is no substitute for it. We saw to our very eyes the terrorist Prabhakaran lying dead.

Now, the sun is rising in the far end of the horizon of the Vellamullivaikkal while the ‘sun God’ who made this fertile land a blood bath, has kissed the earth six feet under, an earth that he meaninglessly slaughtered innocents to achieve his megalomaniac dream - Eelam that was never to be.