BBC, Prabhakaran's obituary
The Sri Lankan civil war, which has raged for as long as I have been alive, is finally at its end. Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers and longtime de facto dictator of the territory the rebels and terrorists controlled, has been killed by the Sri Lankan Army; may he rest in pieces.
Since I've never before discussed Sri Lanka in this space, a brief outline of the conflict is in order. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, more commonly called the Tamil Tigers, are (or now, hopefully, were) a radical guerrilla army, hellbent on carving out 40% of Sri Lanka's land area as a homeland for the Tamil minority population of the island, which comprises less than 10% of its people. The Tigers invented suicide bombing as it is known today, as cited by the New York Times, and used it extensively in their terroristic campaign against the Sri Lankan government and people. They also, at the height of their power, managed to become a conventional threat, with artillery, a naval flotilla, and even a small air wing, which they used to conduct aerial bombings until just a few months ago, when the last of their planes were shot down.
The Tamil Tigers negotiated many ceasefires and truces with the Sri Lankans during the course of the war when strategically convenient for them, using each one to rearm and then breaking it when they were prepared to resume their offensive. The current Sri Lankan government, to its very great credit, decided enough was enough, and pressed on to destroy the Tigers once and for all despite international calls for another ceasefire. The LTTE stayed true to form even in their last days, resorting to using their remaining artillery to shell civilians behind their own lines so that they could attempt to blame the Sri Lankan government and step up international pressure for a truce.
The world is better off without this scourge. May the rebuilding move swiftly and without recrimination towards those ethnic Tamils who did not take up arms.
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7 comments:
Not bad, Mr. Paladin, but you have made me curious. How old are you?
The Sri Lankan civil war started in 1983. If it has been going on for your entire life, that makes you 26 at the most. I see that your first entry in this blog was back in 2006, when you could have been no more than 23.
Why would someone who is so young describe themself as an "old Paladin?" Do you consider yourself to be old? Am I taking you too literally?
You're taking me too literally. I'm 24 years old; the blog name refers to a fictional persona I used to hold. I suppose I could change the name, but I really don't feel like it after all this time.
No reason to change it if you like it. I was just curious.
That's okay. Glad to answer.
is this a full end or just a temporary lull/ceasefire? hopefully the former of course
from
EE
The Tamil Tigers are utterly crushed as a conventional threat. I expect there will continue to be terrorists with allegiance to the LTTE, but as a land-holding power, they are finished.
I have a friend from Sir Lanka and I don't know much about the details unfortunetly, even through i should research it. but thanks for bringing attention to it
from
EE
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