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The LTTE supremo's press conference raises
more questions than it answers. During the 144-minute-long press
conference, Prabhakaran made a fool of himself by not answering most
questions which pertained to sensitive issues like the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination. Obviously, the organisers had paid more attention to a
rigorous security drill in searching hundreds of journalists who had
gathered than preparing for the most likely questions that could have
been asked.
Such is the obsession
of the LTTE with security that its cadres subjected the journalists to a
search operation that lasted more than 10 hours. Not only were their
bags, clothes, personal belongings and equipment searched thoroughly,
but they were also required to open their mouths and remove their shoes
and socks.
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The LTTE was allegedly responsible for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination
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This reminds one of the
stringent security drill followed by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence
agency which has incidentally trained both the LTTE and Sri Lankan
troops in guerrilla warfare. So much is their obsession with security
that undercover Mossad agents deployed at Israeli airports force
passengers to even squeeze their toothpaste to make sure that plastic
explosives are not inside the tube. What Osama bin Laden has been doing
to ensure personal security since the 1998 US Embassy bombings in
Tanzania and Kenya, Prabhakaran has been doing for past more than 12
years. Apparently, Prabhakaran has modelled his security on that of
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who keeps shifting his base as well as
the guards of the innermost security ring. It would not be wrong to say
that Prabhakaran has, in many ways, pioneered the art of how to keep a
master terrorist protected from his adversaries for long long years.
Given this mindset of
the LTTE and Prabhakaran, can the outfit switch over to a political role
overnight? Can a ruthless guerrilla leader like Prabhakaran don a
political mantle overnight and be acceptable to the domestic as well the
international community? Can the Tigers change their stripes?
Politically, the
question that looms large is: Why should an outfit like the LTTE, born
in 1976, and fighting a violent and blood-soaked battle for an
independent state of Tamil Eelam since 1983, suddenly declare itself
"committed to peace" as Prabhakaran did at the press
conference?
The terror trail of Prabhakaran clearly
indicates a pattern. There is a method in his madness. During the last
19 years, he has systematically eliminated his rivals in Jaffna and Sri
Lanka as well as within the LTTE. Like an octopus, which lies motionless
and attacks its prey and catches it unawares, Prabhakaran lulls his
would-be victim into complacence by offering a hand of friendship. The
hand that feeds, more often than not, becomes the hand that kills. This
is how Rajiv Gandhi was killed on May 21, 1991 and this is how the then
Sri Lankan President, R. Premadasa was killed two years later.
Prabhakaran is a pastmaster in the art of camouflaging his real
intentions. But over the years, he has become predictable. When he talks
of a ceasefire, it should be interpreted as the LTTE being short of arms
and ammunitions. When he talks in terms of peace talks, an assassination
bid could be seen to be in the pipeline. His current motive could also
be the same. The ceasefire has been holding good for past four months
for two reasons: Firstly, because of the post-September 11,
international situation and secondly, due to the fact that the LTTE is
biding for time to let the war against terror wane. It is quite possible
that the LTTE has been utilising the past four months as well as the
coming months of ceasefire for regrouping, recharging, reorienting and
reformulating its strategies. The real trouble will arise when the
Norwegian inspectors are not allowed a free and fair inspection in the
LTTE-controlled territories. But this stage is unlikely to come in the
near future. But come it will, sooner or later, when the LTTE is ready
for the final offensive and declaration of Tamil Eelam.
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PRABHAKARAN |
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PRABHAKARAN
had a humble childhood. There was nothing to manifest the
larger-than-life stature he was going to acquire a couple of
decades later. Like any average boy, he was scared of cockroaches
and detested rats. A loner as a child, he is even now not known to
mix with anyone. He does not emote. Few people have seen him
laughing, particularly ever since he became the undisputed LTTE
leader. His marriage with Mativadani, much younger to him, was
like a typical guerrilla act.
Mativadani was a
student leader of Jaffna University, where the Tigers had called a
strike in 1986. Prabhakaran went to the campus. He did not use any
threat; his presence was enough. But there was a girl who not only
opposed the strike, but also took the "leader" to task
for organising strikes at the drop of a hat.
This was the
first time when the LTTE chief had been rebuked and that too
publicly. A stunned Prabhakaran left the venue. He returned the
next day, did not ask for a date or express love. He lifted
Mativadani, brought her to his bunker and married her. No one
knows of what she had thought then. Today, she's the mother of
Prabhakaran's two children, a son and a daughter. She is also
active in LTTE's affairs. Miserly with words, Prabhakaran is known
to be ruthless, even with comrades-in-arms. Between 1980 and 1990,
he got killed at least 300 men belonging to his rival cadres and
several important leaders within the LTTE who posed a challenge to
him.
Prabhakaran
continues to control the LTTE with an iron grip. He does not
delegate powers, has no second-in-command, and chiefs of all LTTE
wings report to him directly. A man who distrusts others,
Prabhakaran operates through intelligence and
counter-intelligence. Under his command, the LTTE follows three
big don'ts - no smoking, no drinking, no sex. What punishment he
has in store for the violator of the LTTE ethos is not known,
simply because not a single violation has been reported yet.
The LTTE supremo
has no formal training in guerrilla warfare. Arrested cadres speak
of a British mercenary, who once came to Jaffna to give a few tips
to the Tigers, and met Prabhakaran. The conversation soon
developed into a wordy duel on shooting skills, until Prabhakaran
whipped out his favourite weapon, a 9-mm pistol, and started
firing. The necks of bottles placed at quite a distance away were
shot off cleanly. The mercenary was left gaping.
Prabhakaran is
not well educated. He cannot speak good English, but can
understand the language. He is always in his favourite army
fatigues which, incidentally, are made in Bangalore. A loaded
pistol tucked in his left belt pouch, a wireless on the right side
and two threads-red and black, each carrying a cyanide
capsule-around his thick neck are his personality trademarks. He
has a dog-like sleep. Probably this is the only time when he can
be caught alive. And he is aware of it. That is why he sleeps with
a loaded pistol under his pillow and wears two cyanide capsules
instead of one worn by every LTTE cadre. He has at least five or
six underground bunkers made of solid concrete and iron in jungles
which can withstand the impact of a fairly lethal bomb attack. He
meets people very selectively. Whosoever he decides to meet is
brought to him blindfolded.
Like Saddam Hussein, the dictator
guerrilla also has a personal elite unit for protection. Called
Base 14, it is not a a very big unit. Its strength is not even in
three digits. Base 14 is not just the wireless code name of
Prabhakaran but also denotes his personal special task force. It
comprises of highly-motivated and brainwashed commandos who are
fiercely loyal to their leader.
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LTTE |
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THE
LTTE is an amazing outfit. It is the only terrorist organisation
in the world which has a fleet of ships, anti-aircraft guns,
surface-to-air missiles and even a submarine. In 1992, Indian
security agencies seized a submarine assembled by Shankar, a key
LTTE politburo member, who was once an aeronautical engineer in
Canada. It's still not known whether the submarine had ever been
pressed into action.
The LTTE
submarine portends alarming security threats given the fact that
the Tigers are master frogmen trained by Norwegian mercenaries.
The training went on clandestinely for months on an island in the
Andaman Sea. The IPKF had unearthed a factory to manufacture
microlight aircraft and destroyed it. It was once again Shankar
who was instrumental in developing the aircraft. The LTTE had a
diabolic plan: to launch suicide attacks on key targets, including
the Sri Lankan Parliament. Once it takes off, the engine of the
aircraft can be switched off to save fuel and like a glider, it
can float in the air with the wind current. Upto 15 kg of plastic
explosives like RDX can be loaded on to it, and its fibreglass
body can be laced with more explosives.
A very thin
suicide bomber, who is made to undergo dieting to further shed his
weight, is entrusted with the mission. The thinner the pilot, the
more explosives the plane can take. The pilot can be asked to put
on the minimum possible clothes, may be just an underwear. He has
to die anyway, that is the logic. Thus the microlight aircraft can
be turned into a lethal flying bomb and can carry upto 20 kg of
RDX, which can wreak havoc. Considering that a microlight aircraft
can easily cover a distance of 500 kilometres, its lethalness can
be imagined. So far, no terrorist outfit is known to have used a
microlight aircraft for a suicide attack. The news of the LTTE
acquiring manufacturing knowhow of microlight aircraft leaked in
the early nineties, sent panic waves in New Delhi and Colombo.
Both India and Sri Lanka decided to deploy anti-aircraft guns to
ward off possible aerial attacks from terrorists. The air-space
over the Sri Lankan parliament was declared a no-fly zone as long
as it was in session. It was around this time that an unidentified
small aircraft was reportedly seen hovering over the official
residence of then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha.
The LTTE has
offices in about 40-odd countries with a sizeable Tamil
population. Funds are not much of a problem with the LTTE, thanks
to its vast network. The half-a-million Tamil expatriates in
Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Italy, Australia, Singapore
and Malaysia "contribute" at least five per cent of
their salary to the LTTE. It is not exactly a voluntary
contribution, they are coerced into paying for the security of
their relatives back home. The LTTE raises approximately 25 to 30
million dollars every year through extortions. Such extortions are
rampant in Jaffna as well, all in the name of the cause. You
should not just be happy but also be seen to be happy about your
imminent self-caused death. This is the unsaid, unwritten
commandment of a suicide bomber. Perhaps, this makes the suicide
bomber feel himself superior to others. Perhaps, the visions of
martyrdom justify his decision to end his life. Perhaps, these
visions give him a kick and keep him going...., nay, galloping to
his self-inflicted death.
A suicide squad
member performs only one operation in his life-and it has to be
performed with his death. There are no rehearsals, no retakes, no
repeats. There is no scope for improvement. There cannot be any
regrets or moments of joy or failure. They would not come to know
the result of their own operation. They are dead as soon as they
take the plunge, whether their mission is accomplished or not.
Their first operation is the last operation. How these terminal
terrorists end their own lives in ghastly modes is an unexplored
area for psychoanalysts and students of para-psychology. But the
LTTE's "Black Tigers" unit is a breed apart and seems to
be beyond all frontiers of human learning and psychology.
It is the elitist
and the most obscure unit of the LTTE. Several terrorist outfits,
particularly the Abu Nidal group of Palestinian terrorists, are
known to have had suicide squads and have successfully executed
suicide missions much before the LTTE emerged on international
terrorism scene. But the readiness, the ease and the aplomb with
which an LTTE cadre embarks on a suicide mission is unparalleled
in the history of international terrorism.
LTTE's suicide
squads are also known as the "nizhal" group, which
literally means the "Shadow Group".
(Extracts from "Beyond The
Tigers: Tracking Rajiv Gandhi's Assassination" by Rajeev
Sharma)
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