FRANCE: Tamil diaspora reluctant to accept Prabhakaran’s death
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Cinema! Montage! Photoshopped picture, fake corpse, Sri Lankan government propaganda.. These are the reactions of the Tamil diaspora in France, who refuse to believe that the Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran is dead.. But for the Tamil diaspora, these images are manipulated or fake.
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On Tuesday, Sri Lankan television showed images of the corpse of Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the chief of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Rejecting government declarations, a large majority of the Tamil population in France has been relying on information on the separatist group website.
Nadesan, a Sri Lankan who feels the images are good news, because Prabhakaran is behind much violence, is among the very few in the Tamil diaspora to celebrate Prabhakaran’s death.
Prabhakaran, I know him well. A communique from the LTTE international relations head Selvarajah Pathmanathan re-affirmed on Tuesday morning that the rebel chief is alive and safe. This is false information meant to discourage the Tamil people, said a client at Nissan Exotique Market, a grocery store at the corner of Rue Louis-Blanc and Rue Perdonnet. . Many shop-owners in the area placed his effigy at the entrance.
An honest man
In the neighbourhood crammed with Sri Lankan shops and restaurants, the number one Tiger is a highly regarded political personality. Our leader of the Tamil people and of our land, the Tamil Eelam, is very precious. Written roughly in French, the inscription leaves no room for ambiguity. He is not like other politicians, who send their children to study in Europe and in the US.
Others took it a step further by putting a portrait of Prabha as their mobile phone wallpaper. He an honest man, says Regaan, while getting a haircut in a salon. He has never kept a cent for himself. The classification of the Tigers on the list of terrorist organisations is unfair, says Vithuran, who has been living in France since 1987.
Most Tamils fail to understand why the West compares their hero Prabhakaran to Osama Bin Laden or a godfather of a new mafia. No-one forces us to pay a claimed revolutionary tax. Their targets were never anything but military. In France, during the Second World War, was General de Gaulle a terrorist or a resistance hero? he argues. In France, during the Second World War, was General de Gaulle a terrorist or a resistance hero? he argues.
For Vithuran, Tamils have lost their land, but not their courage. We will soon recover our territory, he says.
France - Sri Lanka - Tamil Tigers - Vellupillai Prabhakaran