Journalist-author Anirudhya Mitra, who has extensively reported on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, said the sensational comments by a Tamil leader that former LTTE chief Prabhakaran is still alive could be part of a bid to regroup the sympathisers of the extremist outfit.
Mitra, who has authored the book 'Ninety Days: The True Story of the Hunt for Rajiv Gandhi’s Assassins', said he does not believe Prabhakaran was alive as the Sri Lankan Army had released a series of photographs of the LTTE chief's body after he was killed in 2009. His death marked the end to the two-and-a-half-decade-long civil war.
"I don't believe it unless I get to see that kind of proof that Prabhakaran is alive. In 2009, the Sri Lankan Army raided his den in Jaffna and he was killed. Photos of his dead body as well as that of the body after autopsy were released by the Army. His death has been confirmed and corroborated by Indian intel agencies as well," Mitra told ABP Live.
On Monday, Tamil Nationalist Movement leader Pazha Nedumaran put the cat among the pigeons by claiming that Prabhakaran was still alive and would emerge in public soon and announce "plans for Tamil Eelam".
"The fall of the Rajapaksa government after the Sinhala uprising in Sri Lanka has created a conducive situation. This is the right time for Prabhakaran's appearance," Nedumaran said.
The Sri Lanka Army has, however, categorically denied the claim and said there was no such evidence.
Prabhakaran, who led a bloody guerrilla campaign for a separate homeland for Lankan Tamils, was the prime accused in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, who died in a suicide bombing at Sriperumbudur in 1991.
Mitra said the comments could have been made to trigger some kind of sentimental feeling among LTTE sympathisers and younger generations. He said there have been reports in the past two years of the LTTE trying to regroup.
"Some people are trying to take advantage of the declining geopolitical and economic situation in Sri Lanka and trying to regroup the LTTE which disappeared with the death of Prabhakaran. I have reports that they are trying to regroup. When such guerilla outfits try to regroup, they have to be able to motivate the younger generation, possibly to once again raise their demand," Mitra said.
Last year, when Sri Lanka was facing violent protests, The Hindu quoted sources in the Indian security establishment as saying that ex-LTTE cadres were "regrouping to launch attacks" in the island nation.
The author also said that Nedumaran's sympathy and closeness with the LTTE was an "open secret".
"Nedumaran is not just a politician. In 1982, when MGR was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Nedumaran was the Congress president of the state. That year a brutal fight between two Sri Lankan people in their late 20s outside a cinema hall in Madras created a flutter. Both were arrested by police," Mitra said.
Mitra said both MGR and Nedumaran convinced then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to take a decision that would not hurt the sentiments of Tamils and send the two people back to Sri Lanka.
"One among those two was Prabhakaran. Nine years later, he went on to kill Indira Gandhi's son Rajiv Gandhi," Mitra narrated.
ALSO READ | Sri Lankan Tamils Protest In Jaffna As President Ranil Visits District
Tamils In Sri Lanka And Their Demand
Though the widespread anti-government protests in Sri Lanka were largely dominated by the Singhalese-Buddhist majority, some sections of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora tried to make their presence felt in the ongoing clashes.
Last month, the usually peace-loving Sri Lankan Tamils took to the streets to protest against President Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to Jaffna.
The protesters demanded justice for the families of Tamils who disappeared after the civil war ended, and also wanted the Sri Lankan Army to release their "occupied land" in the Northern Province.
After the LTTE was defeated, nearly 1 lakh people, mostly Tamils, were allegedly abducted by the Sri Lankan Army. They remain untraced till date.
Tamils are the largest ethnic minority in Sri Lanka, accounting for nearly 12 percent of the nearly 22 million population.