Summary
Contents
Subject index
This is the story of the man who defined the armed struggle for an independent Eelam for over three decades and who lived by the gun and died by the gun—Velupillai Prabhakaran. A home-grown guerilla who built the LTTE into a ruthless war machine and controlled its world-wide network from his hideout and ruled territories under his control with an iron fist; who defied the world and eliminated whoever came in his way, including former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi; who had fighters ready to kill and die in thousands for him … yet he failed, leaving the future of Sri Lankan Tamils a big question mark.
The book is a first-person account by the author based on his innumerable visits to Sri Lanka during its turbulent years. He looks at the Prabhakaran era, a critical phase in the country's history, objectively, without being judgmental.
Jaffna under IPKF Rule
Jaffna under IPKF Rule
After the IPKF gained control of the entire north and east and flushed out the LTTE from the Jaffna peninsula, I visited the town in May 1988, that is, seven months after the bitter battle. The journey from Colombo to Jaffna by road ordinarily would take nine hours maximum. But mine took over 17 hours. I left Colombo at 9:30 in the night and reached Jaffna at 4:30 in the afternoon the next day.
With night curfew on from Vavuniya and other districts of the northern province, night buses from Colombo used to halt at Madavachia, the last Sinhala town before Vavuniya, another half an hour's drive from there. Ours reached Madavachia around 3:30 in the morning and we ...
- Loading...