Under relentless military pressure, two top LTTE leaders surrendered to the Sri Lankan forces on Wednesday as the noose appeared to tighten around Tiger supremo Vellupillai Prabhakaran with troops closing on in his possible hideout and the government ruling out amnesty for him.
As the over two-decades long war seemed to be nearing its endgame, there was no trace of the 54-year-old elusive Tiger head nor was there any report about the whereabouts of Prabhakaran or his family.
Velayutham Dayanidhi, or Daya Master, a former LTTE media coordinator and George, a close aide of slain Tiger political wing head S P Thamilchelvan gave themselves up to the army at Putumathalan in the no-fire zone where the battles are raging, defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said.
However, the LTTE said that the two were arrested from a hospital where they were undergoing treatment. Tiger cadres are known to swallow the cyanide pill they wear around their neck when under threat of capture. Over one lakh Tamil civilians have crossed over to the government-controlled ‘safe zones’ in last two days as troops pushed deeper into the no-fire zone, capturing one-third of the 18 sq km area where the LTTE has dug itself in.
Ruling out amnesty, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said “LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has spurned the possibility of pardon by us. In doing so, by not giving up arms and surrendering as required, he must now face the consequences of his acts.”
As the situation in the war-torn north deteriorated and echoed in India, the President sent his brother Basil Rajapaksa to New Delhi as a special emissary for discussions with the Indian government.
Reports said troops from the Special Forces and Commandos were poised to attack the LTTE’s current strongest point at Vellamullivakkal, a well-fortified location where military officials believe Prabhakaran is hiding. The government “strongly believes” that Prabhakaran and his other top aides were still in the area and had not escaped, Rambukwella said, claiming LTTE “had lost all its military capabilities”.
“They are fighting on their last legs and it is a losing battle. The only way for them to stop this military operation is to lay down arms,” he said.
The two surrendered leaders were among the top echelons of the rebel outfit. Daya Master, who started his career as a private tutor in English and began working with the LTTE in the early 1990s, went on to become to its propaganda head.
He was one of the few Tiger leaders to travel to Colombo for medical treatment during peace talks with the government. In July 2006, he underwent heart surgery at a private hospital near the capital, which also sparked a controversy and protests by ultra-nationalist groups outside the hospital.
VK Pancharatnam — better known as George — was a close aide of slain Tiger political wing chief SP Tamilchelvan and worked as the official translator of the LTTE.
The fast-paced developments came as over 1,00,000 Tamil civilians crossed over to government-controlled ‘safe zones’. The surrendered leaders indicated that there were only 10,000-15,000 people left in the NFZ, the spokesman said.
The plight of the trapped civilians has triggered an international outcry with the US, UN agencies and Red Cross warning that a “catastrophe” could unfold. UN and other aid agencies estimates are that there could be up to 200,000 people trapped in the NFZ.
The rapid Sri Lankan advance came as the first-ever satellite imagery of the embattled zone showed that tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were squeezed into the last small strip of land controlled by the Tamil Tigers. The imagery released by the US State Department shows about 25,000 tents packed into a coastal strip about 18 sq km, prompting US and Red Cross officials to ask Colombo for a pause to enable women and children escape the conflict zone. However, the Lankan government disputed the claims, saying “this could have been an earlier image.”
Britain, meanwhile, announced that it would depute a minister to the island country to impress upon Colombo to find a political solution to the problem.
In fresh fighting, troops claimed to have killed over 60 Tiger cadres. In Mullaitivu, two top LTTE men, Kaladen and Wijayan, were killed in an operation by army commandos.
A Sri Lankan daily reported that 62 LTTE cadres gave themselves up before the troops last evening, claiming that they were forcibly conscripted by the rebels.
