Velupillai Prabhakaran

"Prabhakaran" redirects here. For the 2008 film, see Prabhakaran (film).

This article is about a person whose name includes a patronymic. The article properly refers to the person by his given name, Prabhakaran, and not as Velupillai.
Velupillai Prabhakaran
வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்
Prabhakaran in 2006
Born(1954-11-26)26 November 1954
Valvettithurai, Dominion of Ceylon[1][2][3]
Died18 May 2009(2009-05-18) (aged 54)
Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka
Cause of deathKilled in action on 18 May 2009[4]
Other namesKarikalan
  • Nicknames: Thalaivar, Anna, Thambiyanna, Thamizh Thesiya Thalaivar
Occupation(s)Founder & leader of the Tamil New Tigers in 1972 and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Known forTamil nationalism, National Leader of Tamil Eelam, Military Tactics.[5]
Criminal charge(s)Planning assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991[6][7]
Colombo Central Bank bombing of 1996[7]
Criminal penaltyArrest warrant issued by Colombo High Court[8]
Death warrant issued by Madras High Court, India.[9]
Sentenced to 200 years imprisonment by Colombo High Court.[7][10]
SpouseMathivathani Erambu (1984–2009)
ChildrenCharles Anthony (1989–2009)[11]
Duvaraga (1986–2009)[12]
Balachandran (1997–2009)[13]
Signature
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Velupillai Prabhakaran (listen (US English)ⓘ; Tamil: வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்; [ˈʋeːlɯpːiɭːaɪ pɾaˈbaːhaɾan]; 26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Tamil revolutionary. Prabhakaran was a major figure of Tamil nationalism, and the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka in reaction to the oppression of the country's Tamil population by the Sri Lankan government.[14][15][16] Under his direction, the LTTE undertook a military campaign against the Sri Lankan government for more than 25 years.

Prabhakaran was the youngest of four children, born in Valvettithurai, on Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula's northern coast. Considered the heart of Tamil culture and literature in Sri Lanka, Jaffna was concentrated with growing Tamil nationalism, which called for autonomy for Tamils to protest the discrimination against them by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka government and Sinhalese civilians since the country's independence from the United Kingdom in 1948.[17]

Founded in 1976, after the 1974 tamil conference killings by Sri Lankan government police, the LTTE came to prominence in 1983 after it ambushed a patrol of the Sri Lanka Army outside Jaffna, resulting in the deaths of 13 soldiers. This ambush, along with the subsequent pogrom that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Tamil civilians, is generally considered the start of the Sri Lankan Civil War. After years of fighting, including the intervention of the Indian Army (IPKF), the conflict was halted after international mediation in 2001. By then, the LTTE, which came to be known as the Tamil Tigers, controlled large swathes of land in the north and east of the country, running a de facto state with Prabhakaran as its leader.[18] Peace talks eventually broke down, and the Sri Lanka Army launched a military campaign to defeat the LTTE in 2006.

Prabhakaran, who had said, "I would prefer to die in honour rather than being caught alive by the enemy",[19] was killed in a firefight with the Sri Lankan Army in May 2009.[20] Charles Anthony, his eldest son, was also killed.[20] Additionally, the bodies of his wife and daughter were reportedly found by the Sri Lankan army; the Sri Lankan government later denied the report.[21] His 12-year-old second son was executed a short time later.[22] Prabhakaran's reported death and the subsequent ceasefire announcement by Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the Tigers' chief of international relations, brought an end to the armed conflict.[23]

A significant figure of Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism, Prabhakaran is often seen as a martyr by Sri Lankan Tamils. However, he is acknowledged to have created one of the most ruthless and sophisticated insurgencies of the modern era, with many of the tactics he pioneered influencing political militant groups globally.[24] Prabhakaran himself argued that he chose military means only after observing that nonviolent means were ineffectual and obsolete, especially after the Tamil Eelam revolutionary Thileepan's fatal hunger strike in 1987 had no effect. Influenced by Indian nationalists Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh, both of whom participated the revolutionary movement for Indian independence, Prabhakaran declared that his goal was 'revolutionary socialism and the creation of an egalitarian society'.[25]

  1. ^ "Lanka army sources". The Times of India. 18 May 2009. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  2. ^ Bosleigh, Robert (18 May 2009). "Tamil Tigers supreme commander Prabhakaran 'shot dead'". Times Online. London. Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  3. ^ Nelson, Dean (18 May 2009). "Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran 'shot dead'". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
  4. ^ "Tiger leader Prabhakaran killed: Sources-News-Videos-The Times of India". The Times of India. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
  5. ^ "THE SRI LANKAN INSURGENCY: A REBALANCING OF THE ORTHODOX POSITION" (PDF). Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Rajiv Gandhi assassination: Agency probing killing conspiracy plods on". The Times of India. 20 May 2011. Archived from the original on 9 September 2011.
  7. ^ a b c "Rebel leader sentenced to 200 years' jail as talks start". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 November 2002. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Colombo High Court Issue arrest warrant for Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman". Asian Tribune. 13 May 2009. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
  9. ^ "Obituary: Velupillai Prabhakaran". BBC. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  10. ^ Mydans, Seth (2 November 2002). "Rebels Protest Leader's Sentence". New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  11. ^ "Prabhakaran's son dead". Mid-day.com. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  12. ^ "National Leader Prabakaran's Daughter Dwaraka's photos released – Most Shocking". LankasriNews.com. 16 December 2009. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  13. ^ "BBC News – Balachandran Prabhakaran: Sri Lanka army accused over death". BBC. 19 February 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  14. ^ "Tamil Tigers". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  15. ^ "Sinhala Only Act destroyed peaceful Sri Lanka: Prof. Rohan Gunaratna | Daily FT". www.ft.lk. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  16. ^ "German Tamils highlight Tamil oppression as Sri Lanka marks 74th Independence Day | Tamil Guardian". www.tamilguardian.com. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  17. ^ Thottam, Jyoti (19 May 2009). "Prabhakaran: The Life and Death of a Tiger". Time. Time. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  18. ^ Lahiri, Simanti (3 April 2014). Suicide Protest in South Asia : Consumed by Commitment. Taylor & Francis. pp. 103, 108. ISBN 9781317803133. OCLC 876346345.
  19. ^ Hull, C. Bryson (31 March 2009). "Tamil Tiger leader no-surrender vow nears last test". Reuters. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  20. ^ a b "No peace offer from Prabhakaran – only war". Lanka Web. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  21. ^ Anderson, Jon Lee (10 January 2011). "Death of the Tiger". The New Yorker. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  22. ^ Mcrae, Callum (19 February 2013). "The Killing of a Young Boy". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  23. ^ Nelson, Dean (18 May 2009). "Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran 'shot dead'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  24. ^ Magnier, Mark (19 May 2009). "Tamil Tiger leader was seen as ruthless innovator". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  25. ^ "Profile of Velupillai Prabhakaran". Hindustan Times. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2022.