Demand for separate Tamil state ends with Prabhakaran's death

NEW DELHI: Velupillai Prabhakaran's death not only means the end of LTTE but also the demand for a separate state for Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka for which he doggedly fought for more than three decades.

The 54-year-old guerrilla leader never settled for less than a Tamil Eelam, which remained a dream for him, his organisation and also for the Lankan Tamils.

The Tamils of the island always wanted a homeland for themselves, as they felt they were being marginalised and sidelined by the majority Sinhalese.

Experts on Sri Lankan affairs and media analysts say the LTTE's latest offer to rival Tamils organisations to join hands to work for the interests of the Tamil people is a good sign given the fact that the outfit has a considerable amount of support with the diaspora.

"The visuals on TV show that Prabhakaran has met a violent death and now the LTTE has issued a statement asking rival outfits to join hands. I think the LTTE is reconciled to a post-conflict and post-Prabhakaran era," senior journalist R Bhagwan Singh, who has extensively covered the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, said.

He felt the Tamil leaders would now accept a political solution which will meet the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people.