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Tamil Tigers Admit Defeat After Battle Reaches 'Bitter End'
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels admitted defeat today after a final flurry of suicide attacks on the government forces which have surrounded them in a tiny patch of coconut grove on the northeastern coast.
An estimated 50,000 civiilans have fled in the past few days. (Sri Lankan Government/Reuters)
The Tigers' surrender -- after 26 years of fighting for an ethnic Tamil
homeland -- was announced in a statement by Selvarasa Pathmanathan, their
chief of international relations, on the pro-rebel Tamilnet web site.
"This battle has reached its bitter end," said Mr Pathmanathan, who is believed to be in hiding outside Sri Lanka. "We remain with one last choice - to remove the last weak excuse of the enemy for killing our people. We have decided to silence our guns. Our only regrets are for the lives lost and that we could not hold out for longer."
The surrender came after the army announced that it had freed all of the 50,000 civilians that the UN estimated were trapped with the Tigers in a pocket of land smaller than London's Hyde Park.
Government forces had encircled the rebels and cut them off from the sea yesterday, taking control of the entire island's coast for the first time since the Tigers launched their armed struggle in 1983.
There was no immediate word from either side on the fate of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the elusive founder and leader of the Tigers, who the army and the rebels say has been leading his forces on the frontline. Mr Prabhakaran and his fighters have always vowed to fight to the death, and all carry cyanide capsules around their necks to take in the event of capture.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President, who returned to Sri Lanka after a trip to Jordan this morning, had already declared victory over the Tigers yesterday, sparking celebrations on the streets of Colombo, the capital.
Fighting raged on this morning despite his announcement, with several Tigers blowing themselves up in suicide attacks on Fgovernment forces, according to Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman.
"They were actually defeated some time ago, but they have formally accepted defeat only now," he said.
"They fought for an Eelam (separate state) that they could never win. It was only a waste of lives. They have caused massive death and destruction over the years. Finally they themselves have realised that it is all over," he said.
He added that troops had killed at least 70 rebels masquerading as civilians trying to flee in six boats via a lagoon overnight.
The Tigers have now been defeated as a conventional military force, and lost all their territory, which once covered as much as a third of Sri Lanka, as well as many of their leaders.
However, they have vowed to continue their struggle underground, using sleeper cells around Sri Lanka and a vast network in the 73 million strong Tamil diaspora.
"No force can prevent the attainment of justice for our people," said Mr Pathmanathan.
He also appealed for help from the international community, which had appealed repeatedly for a ceasefire to allow civilians to escape the frontline.
The Red Cross -- the only international aid agency allowed access to the frontline -- suspended its operations last week because of the intensity of the fighting, warning of an "unimagineable humanitarian catastrophe".
However, the government rejected all those appeals, saying a ceasefire would only allow the Tigers to regroup and re-arm, and accusing Western governments -- especially Britain, the former colonial power -- of hypocrisy.
The UN and Britain have now called for a war crimes investigation, and the United States has said it is blocking Sri Lanka's application for a $1.9 billion emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund because of its conduct of the war.
12 Comments so far
Show All"The UN and Britain have now called for a war crimes investigation, and the United States has said it is blocking Sri Lanka's application for a $1.9 billion emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund because of its conduct of the war."
War crimes investigations for our own war of naked aggression in Iraq would just be too divisive, however. There's a halfway decent chance that we might deign to end that war three years from now. Unless, of course, we decide to change our minds.
"He added that troops had killed at least 70 rebels masquerading as civilians trying to flee in six boats via a lagoon overnight."
Judge, Jury and Executioner.
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Don't capture; KILL, no questions asked!
&
Beat that guy that threw the shoe at Bush to a bloody pulp!
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These indicate how JUST a government is!
Under the Geneva Conventions, a soldier disguising himself as a civilian is a spy and is entitled to no more than summary execution. Not everything in that treaty is what you would call nice.
This from my brother in Toronto:
Title: She Began to Cry
Hi,
Late this afternoon I was walking home from a daylong workshop on asbestos and mould abatement. I walked by the provincial legislative building and Queens Park.
It is a beautiful evening so I decided to go say hello to some of the Tamil folks keeping vigil there. I went up to a few women and told them that I was inspired by their strength. I told them that I support their cause for a homeland, that I support their demonstrations and their flag too for that matter. A woman there then began to tell me stories about when she was younger and living in Sri Lanka. She began to cry. She told me about how in the late 1980s her mom cut her hair and made her look like a boy so that she could go out and find food and lessen the risk of getting raped by the government troops. After a while she could not do this anymore so they spent the next six months eating almost nothing but tomatoes. She began to cry harder when she told me that since moving to Canada when she is asked where does she come from she does not know what to say. She is not Sri Lankan. She is not Canadian. She is Tamil. Her hands trembled when she told me about how she is so tired of struggling and about how she wants to just stay in her apartment with her children but she can't. She is compelled to go be with her people. She spoke frankly about her deep depression and lingering war terrors from before coming to Canada as a refugee. She cried when she talked about how she and the Tamil community in Toronto feels like they are abandoned by Canadians who call then terrorists, yell at them to get out of Canada and to stop making demonstrations. She asked my why they did this. I said that maybe its because those people can't see past their own noses. During all this time about 5 of her friends kept nodding and supporting her. She gave me a copy of a brief speech that Premier McGuinty made today about the situation in Sri Lanka. She was grateful to him for his half-hearted support. I thanked her and those with her for talking to me and continued my walk home. I didn't feel sad. I felt honoured.
sd 14 May 2009
Gee SaboCat, that is one hell of a story. See if you can find a bigger audience for it. please.
i am not a literary critic, but i know great writing when i feel it, and you conveyed this experience so well, i totally shared your feelings at the end.
My brother Steve wrote it, not me.
SaboCat - Your unabashed honesty is truly refreshing. /cm
Terrorist is the new "communist". It is used as a label against entire groups of people.
Some years ago one of our Political leaders here in Canada went to a gathering organized by the Tamil community. The opposition Conservatives, with Stephen Harper at the helm, got wind of this and ripped into the Liberals for supporting "Tamil Terrorists".
Ever since then politicians are loathe to be linked with the Tamils. They are seen as "toxic".
This is the nature of "Conservative" Politics in the post 9/11 world.
"Terrorist is the new "communist". It is used as a label against entire groups of people."
GW,
Exactly. I am not saying that terrorists do not exist but rather the term terrorist and the word's geopolitical applications have rendered the word meaningless. The same applies to Al-Qaeda.
The shameful Sri Lankan State will celebrate these war crimes like any 'victorious' army ! Clearly Budhhas teachings fell on deaf years for 2000 years !! Sri Lanka needs to be boycotted and made to pay for their crimes but ofcourse that will never happen thanks to how well weve managed to eviscerate any viable international organization that has the gall to enforce a punishment.
[quote]The UN and Britain have now called for a war crimes investigation, and the United States has said it is blocking Sri Lanka's application for a $1.9 billion emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund because of its conduct of the war.[/quote]
I guess the Sri Lanka government can't hide behind a holocaust or behind being the "chosen people of god"; otherwise they would be able to do as they pleased with the Tamil freedom fighters without having to worry about investigations or money issues.
talk about double standards....
one people bomb and kill a minority and they are subject to "war crimes investigation" and money is withheld
another people bomb and kill a minority and they get loads of money, no strings attached whatsoever, and any criticism is labelled as "anti semitic" and the killers are protected by veto from the US
the one sad thing they have in common is that these days the trend among politicians is to side with occupiers and governments and to tar any minority that fights for it's freedom as 'terrorists' that 'had it coming' when the minority dares to take up arms against an agressor/opressor.
so much for freedom and liberty.
slogan of the 21st century according to global politics: "if you belong to a minority: screw you, hippies..."
bah.
It has been damn all hard to get any real news- well about a lot of things but most especially here. Stories of the Tamil Tigers have been drifting in for the lst 20 odd years, but in capitalist press, even if some truth is allowed to creep in, there will be the "official story", and quotes from sinhalese and military authorities explaining the real evil of Tamils.
for a really good story, with history in it, see John Pilger:
http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=533