Mahinda Rajapaksa woos Tamils

NEW DELHI: On a day Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa made his victory speech and reached out to the Tamil community, the Lankan Army recovered Prabhakaran���s body from the war zone and released video footage to conclusively prove to the world and its own people that the LTTE chief was dead. Even though discrepancies appeared between Monday���s and Tuesday���s version on how and where the LTTE chief met his end, the video footage released by the Lankan Army scotched speculation that the LTTE chief was alive.

For India, the interest was more in the final outcome and less in the details of where and how Prabhakaran was killed. After the verbal confirmation from the Lankan government about the death of Prabhakaran, the Central Bureau of Investigation is getting ready to go through official channels to seek confirmation and evidence on the death of Prabhakaran and LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman, both of whom were wanted in India for the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Once CBI gets the evidence, it will take it to the trail court hearing the case in Tamil Nadu.

But the speculation on Prabhakaran started when Tamilnet, a pro-LTTE website, claimed Prabhakaran was still ���alive and safe���.

���I wish to inform the global Tamil community distressed witnessing the final events of the war that our beloved leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is alive and safe,��� LTTE���s International Relations head S Pathmanathan was quoted as saying by the website.

Speculation increased after Mr Rajapaksa did not mention Prabhakaran in his victory speech in Parliament, where he declared that the war against LTTE was over and reached out to the Tamil community offering the government���s protection.

Hours after Mr Rajapaksa���s address to the nation, the Lankan Army announced that Prabhakaran���s body had been recovered on Tuesday from the no-fire zone near Nandikadal lagoon in north Lanka. ���... the body of terrorist leader Prabhakaran, who ruined this country, was found in the battleground,��� Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka was quoted as saying. ���I take responsibility for this statement,��� he added. The Lankan government had announced Prabhakaran���s death on Monday and also confirmed the death to India when external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to Mr Rajapaksa.

India is concerned about the future course of action that will be taken by Mr Rajapaksa, who has promised India that he would work towards giving the Tamil community a degree of self rule.

Even in his speech to Parliament, Mr Rajapaksa reached out to the Tamil community by starting his address in Tamil and saying that the protection of the community was the responsibility of the government. At the same time Mr Rajapaksa also shot off a warning to the international community against exerting pressure.

���We must find a homegrown solution to this conflict. That solution should be acceptable to all the communities,��� Mr Rajapaksa said, adding that ���solution to the Tamil issue will be found, but not under international pressure���. Sources maintained that this was not aimed at India, which has been largely supportive of the Lankan government.

The Lankan president further said that the defeat of LTTE was a victory for the international community and invited Tamils, who fled the country during the conflict, to come back. Mr Rajapaksa, in his speech, also recalled the leaders who were assassinated by LTTE, including former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, former president Premadasa and former foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. ���Our intention was to save Tamil people from the cruel grip of LTTE. We all must now live as equals in this free country,��� he said.