The two photographs in the front page of today’s The Hindu stares so hard at me, I have problem in thinking anything else. I feel ashamed to be branded as a human alongside so many other humans who lack humane qualities. The photograph is of Balachandran Prabhakaran, son of Veluppillai Prabhakaran the dead leader of LTTE, a now extinct terrorist organization in Sri Lanka fighting for the cause of the Tamil population in a rather violent way. In the final days of the armed conflict between the Sri Lankan army and what was left of the once mighty LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran had been hunted across the LTTE controlled territory. A lot of civilians were reportedly shot and killed during this time by a desperate Sri Lankan Army, for information and to lure Prabhakaran out. Finally, they rounded off Prabhakaran and shot him and his aides in a conflict which resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.
The 12 year old son of the Tamil rebel Velupillai Prabhakaran in a Sri Lankan Army bunker before getting shot and killed by the Army.
Balachandran Prabhakaran’s body with shot wounds to his chest had made international news and the Sri Lankan armed forces had said that it happened during cross-fire. Now Channel 4 in the U.K. has released new pictures of the 12 year old boy, safely sitting in an army bunker, eating a snack. The pictures are said to be taken during the closing stages of the Sri Lankan civil war. The images will be aired as part of a documentary No Fire Zone, which will be screened at the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival during the UN Human Rights Council meeting in March.
Prabhakaran in November 2006 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A forensic pathologist, who examined the later images for the film-makers, said the boy was shot five times in the chest. Furthermore, propellant burns around the wound suggest he was shot at very close range. {independent.co.uk}
The photographs shames as well as intrigues me. There are human rights violations happening all over the globe and that is a fact that we have to face. But what would prompt a disciplined army of a democratic nation to kill a 12 year old boy just because he was the son of a rebel leader is something I don’t understand. They wanted to make sure that any form of resistance/revenge would not happen in the future? That they went to these depths would make the now crushed Tamilian population afraid of forming any sort of armed rebellion in the future? I was an admirer of the President Rajapakse because of the way he ended the long conflict in the island nation. I liked the speech he gave when he visited India after the end of the war. But, this incident has taken my respect away. U.N reports apparently show 40,000 civilians tortured and killed by the Sri Lankan army during the conflict. LTTE has terrorized the Lankans for a long time, bombing their ministers and crippling their economy and infrastructure. It was only natural that the Lankans snapped and bit back… But, the unethical way in which they handled the whole situation has to be condemned.
- Manu
P.S: For more details about this, see here.
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- Michelle Obama Asked to Help Tamil Women in Northeastern Sri Lanka (prweb.com)
- Sri Lankan inquiry says army did not shell civilians (worldbulletin.net)
- Revealed: UK sells arms to Sri Lanka’s brutal regime (oneislandtwonationsblogspotcom.typepad.com)
- Letter from the grave (newyorker.com)
It is so heart wrenching to see these types of things. Africa is another land of continuing horrors like this and then there is the matter of unwanted orphans.
Manu as you mentioned its a global issue -human rights violation ! Its in human , no matter, who does it… in the name of freedom,administration,poverty or name it anything else …none has the right to take lives intentionally …. any life ! Every practical problem of the date is due to lack of rational thinking .. this is a vicious cycle ! The bottomline is – only peace can stop war….be it Sri Lanka ,Egypt,Syria,Pakistan or India !! Few opportunists of the past and the present are the reason behind these inhuman acts !!
yes srilankan army did a wrong thing,which every parents of a child will condemn the way the army shot dead prabhakarans son.Now generally i would like to give you certain thinks the whole world condemns the way Prabhakarans terrorists men Killed srilankans Citizens and just born kids,without proper evidence i never speak out publicly,Prabhakarans men not only Killed thousands of Civilians but also killed very big army officers in Srilanka.No body Questioned this when he was mercilessly killing the civilians,do you know why.At that time media was not much powerful,but now every International reporter has the advanced phones/computer gadgets which they can record from any part of the world.
I was very much pained in 1991 May 20th I still not come out of the Incident which our Former Prime minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi was Assassinated by the Prabhakarans men with the support of the congress people.If Sonia was not Involved in Rajiv Assassination Case why the Hell she sent her daughter to meet the Killers in Vellore Jail.Its a simple logic.Rajiv was made scape goat at the profit of Sonia Gandhi.just think twice.Now at the present situation the way she is taking congress is very Pathetic.many Congress Leaders were Killed in Accidents No Probe No Investigation.This is become very common in our Country.What happened to the C B I Investigation on BOFORS.Actually it was just Rs.67 crore Commission deal.For Investigating C B I Spent Rs.271 Crores.In this Main case you may be heard about Ottava Quttarachi an Italian Mafia and a Friend os Sonia was left free from the CBI.Why? The case is totally Closed.For Investigating this you remember Hindu Paper’s Mr Raman’s Wife she had just delivered a Baby she took the responsibility investigation and Published the Whole Transaction About the Bofor’s Deal Ultimately Bofors case is Closed.I have just givin you a sample of Sonia Gandhi.Many Cases filed by Mr Subramaniam Swamy against Sonia is still Pending in the Supreme Court.Why? You just Imagine………..How much powerful she is…………….
Dear Sir/Madam
I wouldn’t like my blogspace to be used for describing how powerful Sonia Gandhi is or what all she has done to this country. I’m of the opinion that she is the worst thing happened to this country after Indira Gandhi-Sanjay Gandhi duo. And, history proves that any tyrant has a day in which s/he goes down with all might. No one has ever defied this law. Whatever you have said about LTTE may be right. I’m no sympathiser of that former terrorist outfit and I have clearly mentioned this in my post, if you have failed to get the meaning. I have only condemned this brutal act of a democratic nation where they thought a child needed to be killed for its future security. As a global citizen, I would raise my voice against this inhuman act. You are more than welcome if you want to praise Sonia Gandhi or make others understand how pwerful she is… but not at my expense.
Thank you for expressing your thoughts and sorry for my outrage because I cannot stand snobs.
Father the son and the lot of LTTE unholy cadres will all be sent to the hell where terrorists go, by the Sri Lanka army soon. However if they surrender we hope they will be handed to us for punishment for killing member of the Gandhi family
Dear Sir/Madam,
I don’t know which age you are writing this from but they have already been killed. I do not have any idea how any dead people can surrender. I am not going to consider your comment above for replying to this one for personal reasons.
Its really a shocking news Manu ! A barbaric and cowardly act. Same sort of things happens in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan .
Exactly Shobechi.
Its maddeningly sad and intrigues us to death as we start thinkin whether there’s any point in being alive here as humane values have nothing to do in this world.
There are more horrors in this world than the heart can bare.
True and it’s getting worse day by day.
Sadly, yes. But, as I think you pointed out in another post, we actually – and unbelievably – have fewer wars going on than ever. I think though it’s just a matter of size. It has to be so big to be a war, otherwise it’s called a “conflict.” Sigh. Seems to me a war by any other name is still a war.
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i knew about the tragic death of that young life and read about it too…so much for we being warm blooded species…we have completely lost humanity..maybe that is what mayans meant when they said end of civilization…although it happened earlier but ….
nothing nothing in this world can justify death of this boy…
It makes us somehow feel guilty, don’t it? It does that to me. for everything that happened in our country recently too, I kinda feel guilty for bearing it all.
Heartbreaking. I too belonged to the ranks that applauded the decimation of the LTTE, despite living in Tamilnadu. But the truth behind the ending of that war paints Rajapakshe with the same brush. And why isn’t there a bigger uproar over these atrocities? You are right, we are all regressing as a race.
All of this makes me so sad…
Very true, Sheri. its maddening.
I tried to like this post dear but word press seems to be having issues. This is such a sad thing. Its heartbreaking to know how cruel we have become as humans. I look forward to your next post.
Yeah, I had issues liking several posts today as I had to wait for the ‘like’ button to load up. Thank you for commenting and consoling a fellow human.
awe no need to thank me dear, its how everyone should be don’t you think?
Thank you Manu for bringing this to the fore. Atrocities anywhere and by anyone must be roundly condemned.
Thank you Eric, for the support. Issues like this are becoming a daily thing as they are growing in an alarming rate.
I don’t know what to say. After reading your post, I went through a few newspaper articles. And I’m almost crying…I can’t imagine how people could have the heart to do something like this. Like you said, it shames me to be called a human being if it means I’ll be in the same category as these brutal people!
I was left in a sad state for the whole day and couldn’t concentrate on anything. I didn;t want to upload the phot of the child with bullet wounds to his chest because I couldn’t take a look at the photo myself for a second time. We have to live through this, Roshni, that’s what we are left for.
Shocking !
But beneath the veil of international diplomacy ,high level discussions ,official press briefs etc.a lot of things happen, which may never be known , don’ t they ?
Nice post , Manu.
utham
You are absolutely right, Uthamz. As helpless citizens what we generally come to know is only the tip of the iceberg… and they almost always manage to shock us to death or numb us permanantly.