This image released by Sri Lankan authorities made it to the front of all papers in the next day’s edition. News channels had a field day investigating and analyzing the Lankan endgame.
President Rajapaksa seems to have made good his promise of liberating his country wrecked by LTTE for over a quarter of a century. A recent conversation with a friend showed me how much I had analysed and believed in the war.
I reproduce the conversation verbatim. Red is a good friend who works with a South Asian paper. What are your views? Let me know?
do u believe prabhakaran is dead
or rather the dead man is prabhakaran
me: i dont think he's dead
looks like SL propoganda
3:07 PM he wud've made plans for the day when he wud hv to go underground
Red: there is no ground to go under now
3:08 PM whatever happened to his family
did u see his pix
me: yes .. top of his head blown off .. bullet in the middle of his forehead
eyes still open
3:09 PM Red: yup
does he look anything like prabhakaran
3:10 PM me: he doesnt .. i dunno how they'd do a DNA test to confirm as well
3:11 PM Red: did they have prabhakaran's dna profile stored in their computers before
3:12 PM me: they will regroup after a few months .. maybe a year .. go after SL in such a way, i can only imagine the sheer disastrousness of it all .. like taliban going after Pak now .. that chap is way smarter than rajapaksa credits him for
Red: so that at an opportune moment they cud just recall the data and match
me: SL thought they'd just stop all the international outrage by announcing its over
sounds very logical and reasonable to me
3:13 PM Red: hmmm
but its not over till its over
me: by over it depends on who's side u are on
3:14 PM if u believe rajapaksa, its over .. he's won .. become a national hero
3:15 PM no matter the ethnic cleansing, gagged and butchered media, the silenced opposition and international outrage
3:16 PM Red: hmmm
3:17 PM ethnic cleansing and gagged media were true for both sides
prabhakaran was not a messiah of free speech
nor was he open to letting sinhalese stay in Eelam hewanted to carve out from the Lankan country
3:18 PM me: but he never shot journos like rajapaksa had wikramatunga shot, did he?
3:19 PM Red: but he made sure his own extravangant living and comforts were never published for the Tamil people to see.. all they saw him in was combat gear
even in family photos
thats hypocrisy
3:20 PM i wonder if his underpants were also of camouflage material
3:21 PM me: maybe he wanted to be seen and known as a guerilla fighter 24X7 .. even saddam hid his fortune from his own people .. power breeds corruption .. not everybody can be Che
Red: u are a che fan eh
me: who isn't?
3:22 PM Red: prabhakaran had turned into a complete dictator later.. i don't sympathise with him and his sympathisers
i am not
I do not follow the Left ideology
I do not even understand how they can go about claiming it to be right
me: of course i hate him too .. but i hate the way the SL govt has gone after him .. its like glorifying his crimes
3:23 PM Red: oh ya
u have a point there
they came to their senses later, and started releasing pix of soldiers rescuing trapped civilians
that was good PR
3:24 PM me: yeah .. something to show their so-called humane side for the international media
Red: u r being idealistic
me: the local media was allowed to travel to the affected areas until everything had been sanitised by the SL army
Red: no govt is humane
look at wat india is doing in kashmir
3:25 PM me: yes .. but if u say prabhakaran is hypocrite .. what is the SL govt? the SL army?
Red: of course they are not clean
i am not taking sides..
3:26 PM me: the only thing i didnt understand is the China angle .. how does their helping the SL govt harm us?
Red: that means we are surrounded from all sides by china wat
they are in Pak
they are in tibet
3:27 PM they are near arunachal, myanmar
they are in the himalayas and now also in the south
when business interests come in.. govt usually listen to where the money comes from
if money comes from china then india is out
me: aahh.. ok .. i thought they wanted it only so that better access to the Palk strait .. for their business interests
3:28 PM Red: china cannot be stopped now
we just have to catch up with them
me: really .. is that even possible?
Red: but look at wat our politicians are doing instead
wen will karunanidhi die
3:29 PM he suddenly thiinks congress won 206 seats becuz of him
he wants portfolios for his entire family in the cabinet
can u believe that
me: lol .. he's hallucinating of course
3:30 PM all these Tamil ministers supported the Eelam during elections
Red: yeah he went on a hunger dharna and wat not
me: for like 4 hrs apparently
