On a recent summer afternoon in June, as I walked through the streets of La Chapelle in northern Paris, better known as “Little Jaffna” which is located in the The three-decade war was brought to an end in May 2009 after Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed by the Sri Lankan army. An Indian Tamil nationalist has now claimed Prabhakaran is still alive. Prabhakaran was the main strength, as well as the principal weakness, of the LTTE. He created one of the most effective guerrilla forces in the world and turned the somewhat sleepy and unsexy... (NOTE: This is a reprint of an article published in the INDIA TODAY edition dated June 1, 2009) In the northern coastal town of Velvettithurai, where Vellupillai Prabhakaran was born, there is a Tamil saying that in the face of a ferocious storm, the palmyra tree, unlike a reed, doesn’t bend but breaks. This is an aphorism that Prabhakaran ’s supporters use to explain why one of the world’s most ruthless guerrilla leaders decided to die fighting to the bitter end along with his trusted ...
