Velupillai Prabhakaran
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Velupillai Prabhakaran (sometimes spelled Velupillai Pirapaharan) (November 26, 1954- ) is the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an independence movement allegedly fighting for Tamil self-rule in North-East Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran was born in Velvettithurai, Sri Lanka. In 1972, at the age of 18, he founded an organization named Tamil New Tigers (TNT). In 1975, after becoming heavily involved in the Tamil protest movement, he was accused of assassinating the mayor of Jaffna.
On May 5, 1976, the TNT was renamed Liberation Tigers of Tamil-Eelam (LTTE), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation incorrectly reported Prabhakaran as having died in the Indian Ocean tsunami. The organisation Prabhakaran leads is on the terrorist list of the US, UK and India. It has however been removed from a simlilar list in Sri Lanka.
Quotes
- It is the plight of the Tamil people that compelled me to take up arms. I felt outraged at the inhuman atrocities perpetrated against an innocent people. - The Week, March 1986
- You are nations that have known war, that have suffered the indelible scars of war. You would not reward terrorism.- Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera to foreign donors. Lanka Web (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/latest.html), May 2005
External links
Peace Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (http://www.ltteps.org/)
Sri Lankan government's secretariat for coordinating the peace process (http://www.peaceinsrilanka.org/)