lawgon (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lawgon) wrote,@ 2009-05-18 17:56:00 |
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Prabhakaran meets his end
The 30 year saga has come to a close. Prabhakaran was arguably one of the greatest military geniuses of the era. His failing was political. Successful guerilla leaders were also expert at building up a united front with a fairly wide spectrum of support. The classic example was Mao. Prabhakaran failed miserably here - he was unable to distinguish between friends, enemies, potential supporters and neutrals. And it was this rank terrorist aspect of his operations that lead to final defeat. He wiped out a whole generation of moderate (and some pretty radical) Tamil leaders and any one of his own cadre who was perceived to oppose him. His biggest blunder was the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi - his movement was doomed the moment he did this. It took 18th years, but the end began then.
The LTTE had a number of firsts - not all of them laudable. They invented the suicide belt bomber. They were also perhaps the first guerilla army to field an air force, navy and even submarines. This showed great creativity and resourcefulness among the cadre. It is a real pity that one man was allowed to subvert this into rank terrorism.
I had contacts with many Eelam supporters back in the 1970's and at that time their cause was genuine as Tamils were being treated as 2nd class citizens. That is: the Eelam Tamils, as the plantation Tamils had no rights at all. After 30 years of killing and suffering, I hope that at least this is rectified. I wonder. Chauvinism is a terrible thing - hats off to the Indian voter for showing the local chauvinists their place. If I believed in God I would pray for the Tamils of Eelam. Maybe readers of my blog would?
The 30 year saga has come to a close. Prabhakaran was arguably one of the greatest military geniuses of the era. His failing was political. Successful guerilla leaders were also expert at building up a united front with a fairly wide spectrum of support. The classic example was Mao. Prabhakaran failed miserably here - he was unable to distinguish between friends, enemies, potential supporters and neutrals. And it was this rank terrorist aspect of his operations that lead to final defeat. He wiped out a whole generation of moderate (and some pretty radical) Tamil leaders and any one of his own cadre who was perceived to oppose him. His biggest blunder was the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi - his movement was doomed the moment he did this. It took 18th years, but the end began then.
The LTTE had a number of firsts - not all of them laudable. They invented the suicide belt bomber. They were also perhaps the first guerilla army to field an air force, navy and even submarines. This showed great creativity and resourcefulness among the cadre. It is a real pity that one man was allowed to subvert this into rank terrorism.
I had contacts with many Eelam supporters back in the 1970's and at that time their cause was genuine as Tamils were being treated as 2nd class citizens. That is: the Eelam Tamils, as the plantation Tamils had no rights at all. After 30 years of killing and suffering, I hope that at least this is rectified. I wonder. Chauvinism is a terrible thing - hats off to the Indian voter for showing the local chauvinists their place. If I believed in God I would pray for the Tamils of Eelam. Maybe readers of my blog would?
