The supporters of LTTE might think that rebel chief V Prabhakaran continues to live but the army has confirmed that his body has been cremated and the ashes thrown in the Indian Ocean.
The LTTE chief was cremated in Mullativu. Everything that was found on him including his Eelam identity card, a sophisticated micro pistol, the pistol case and a belt were burnt with the body.
“We want him to be totally out of the scene. We did not want anything that people could use to remember him. He should not be remembered as a martyr,’’ military spokesperson, Brigadier Udaya Nayayakkara told Hindustan Times. No DNA test was conducted, Nanayakkara said.
LTTE were ready to surrender to UN.
HT has learnt a desperate LTTE were ready to surrender to the UN through a third party hours before the Lankan army began the final operation that wiped out section of the top rebel leadership and ended the quarter-century war.
The LTTE’s chief of international relations, S Pathmanathan had called up top officials of the UN on the intervening night between May 15 and 16, telling them the rebels were cornered, “had nowhere to go’’, and were ready to lay down arms, diplomatic sources in Colombo told HT.
{{/usCountry}}The LTTE’s chief of international relations, S Pathmanathan had called up top officials of the UN on the intervening night between May 15 and 16, telling them the rebels were cornered, “had nowhere to go’’, and were ready to lay down arms, diplomatic sources in Colombo told HT.
{{/usCountry}}Pathmanathan conveyed to the officials that Soosai, chief of the Sea Tigers, had opened up negotiating channels with Lankan army to surrender.
It is learnt that the Lankan government was also contacted and the message from LTTE was conveyed. A Norwegian minister Eric Solheim had also been involved in attempting to engineer surrender.
But Foreign secretary, Palitha Kohona, had said: “Norway is no longer the facilitator. The LTTE wanted to surrender their arms a little too late.’’