How many times did Velupillai Prabhakaran get ‘killed’?

How many times did Velupillai Prabhakaran get ‘killed’?

Look at the numerous news reports about his death since 1980s….

It was falsely reported that he was shot dead by the Sinhalese Army on 5th Sep 1984 but he was in Tamil Nadu at that time.

It was claimed by the Sinhala government that Prabhakaran was killed on 25th July, 1989 in a fight between Prabhakaran and Mathaiya. Puppet Chief Minister Varadaraja Perumal also  vouched this.

The Sinhalese government spread the news that Prabhakaran had drowned in the sea on 24th Decemeber 2004 when the tsunami struck. The next day, Prabhakaran’s picture with Norwegian Foreign Minister appeared in newspapers and proved that news was wrong.

On 15 December 2007, the Sinhalese government claimed that Prabhakaran had died in an airstrike. That too had gone wrong.

The Sinhalese government eventually confirmed that his body was found in Mullivaikal on 18 May 2009 and Karuna identified it as Prabhakaran. Udayananayakkara, an Army officer, initially said it was not Prabhakaran later withdrew his statement due to insistence of the Sinhalalese government.

One genuine concern is, if Prabhakaran was dead, what stopped the media especially Television channels from broadcasting the footages of the spot where he was said to have died and from where his body was said to have been recovered? There is no evidence to support this. Even if that was true, Rajapaksa would have taken the body to Colombo and displayed in front of international journalists.

The funny part was that his body was sent for the genetic test by 11 am and by 12.15 pm it was confirmed that it was Prabhakaran. Generally, it will take at least a week to get the results of any genetic test.

Earlier on 17 May 2009, it was announced that he was killed. It should be noted that the above mentioned army officer, Udayananayakkara gave a news to Reuters stating it was not Prabhakaran. The Sinhalese government also claimed that the body of Prabhakaran, who was killed on 17 May 2009, was recovered on 18 May 2009 in an ambulance in Vadapulam, Mullivaikal.  There were confusing reports stating that Sinhalese Armywere fired at from the ambulance and so Army had to retaliate with gunfire. It was also mentioned that later the Ambulance was abandoned and when they went there, they found Prabhakaran’s body.

Some people even claimed they had cremated Prabhakaran’s body and thrown the ashes into the sea. So many messages are doing rounds.

It should be noted that the death and DNA certificate of Prabhakaran and also Sinhala Government’s official white paper were not discussed in the Sri Lanka Parliament.

There have also been scenes in the past that Prabhakaran himself was reading the headline in a newspaper which stated “Prabhakaran killed”.

This post is to state that all these aspects must be kept in mind…