INSIDE AN ELUSIVE MIND - A Review

Inside an Elusive Mind written by M.R. Narayanaswamy (Published by Konark Publishers, Delhi – Price Rs.400, pages 290) is the story of one of the world’s most dangerous outfits and their undisputed leader, Prabhakaran.

Inside an Elusive Mind is in three parts, each consisting of 10 chapters. The first part begins with the LTTE ambush and massacre of 13 Sinhalese soldiers in Jaffna in July 1983 that triggered off the deadly confrontation between the group and the Government for nearly two decades.

Sri Lanka remained fractured country for the major portion of its existence (British left Sri Lanka in February 1948). In 1955 when the Prime Minister John Kotelawala pledged to give equal status to Sinhala and Tamil languages, the wily Bandaranaike seized the occasion and presented himself to the Sinhalese as their savior and promised he would make Sinhala the sole official language, if voted to power. In 1956 elections Bandaranaike elected to power. He kept his word. He brought about legislation to make Sinhala the country’s official language. It was a monumental decision that served to sow the seeds of Tamil separatism. As Sri Lankan Parliament enacted the laws, by force of majority against the Tamil members, anti-Tamil violence erupted in the country for the first time. By the time the violence was brought under control, about 150 people were dead. Most were innocent Tamils, including women and children. The Tamils felt let won and left out. This was to lead to social upheaval when sections of the Tamils would feel that the only way out was to secede from Sri Lanka and have an independent homeland.

Many small groups were formed by the Tamils to safeguard their interests. One of such groups was LTTE.

The LTTE was formed on May 5, 1976 by Prabhakaran with the avowed aim of fighting for an independent homeland in the island’s north and east for the Tamil minority. Even earlier, he and three of his associates had allegedly taken part in the assassination of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duriappah on July 27, 1975, after which he escaped to the southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu.

Prabhakaran is the undisputed leader of LTTE. Those who had dared to question him could not survive or continue in LTTE.

It is interesting to know that Prabhakaran once left LTTE and joined TELO (Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation), another outfit of Tamils.

At the beginning of 1980s, there were differences of opinion inside the LTTE. Some even demanded that LTTE be disbanded. For once it seemed, the tide was up against Prabhakaran. “I have done so much for the movement, but no one recognizes it” he complained publicly. He announced he was calling it quits. The announcement was greeted by shock and silence. He walked away.

After joining TELO, he was given the change of a TELO military training programme in Tamil Nadu. Prabhakaran accepted. LTTE’s official history would later describe Prabhakaran’s association with TELO as a ‘working alliance’ between the two groups. Prabhakaran’s association with TELO was short. Prabhakaran was back in LTTE to take its reins.

The ethnic violence in Sri Lanka intensified. Thousands dead. Nearly 80,000 Tamils fled to refugee camps. For the first time, hundreds of Tamils huddled together in boats and started sailing to Tamil Nadu.

The reaction in India to the slaughter of Tamils was unprecedented. In Tamil Nadu, thousands of people took to the streets, denouncing Sri lanka and calling upon Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to stop genocide. Daily protests erupted on the street leading to Sri Lankan High Commission in Madras. Indira Gandhi decided to act. Gandhi took a momentous decision, one that was to have far reaching consequences. She decided to train and arm Tamil militants.

Prabhakaran and his fellow members enjoyed patronage of Tamil Nadu and Indian Governments. All Tamil outfit groups of Sri Lanka had been permitted to operate their full fledged offices in India.

Prabhakaran was arrested twice by the Indian police. First in 1982 after a street shoot out with his foe Uma belongs to TELO in a crowded part of Madas known as Pondy Bazar. Second in 1984 - a devasting bombing at Madras airport was seen as a disturbing aberration. Tamil Nadu police craked down all Tamil militant groups, seizing their weapons and ammunitions and detailing their leaders. No one was spared, not even Prabhakaran. Prabhakaran was kept under house arrest.

Though Sri Lankan Govt. pressurized India to extradicate their most wanted man, he was let off on conditional bail due to political pressure and sympathy towards Tamils of Lanka.

The India-Sri Lanka accord was destined for failure. The IPKF was in direct conflict with the job it was forced to do. For Sri Lankan political and military establishment the turn of event could not have been better. The wily Jayewardene had accomplished something close to being Machiavellian. He had managed to pit India, a country that for years had supported the Tamil cause, against its most aggressive champion. While the Sri Lankan army remained safe in the barracks, the Indians had to fight it with the LTTE guerrillas.

It was one of the worst ever period of history of the Indian army. Instead of peace keeping it was in direct war LTTE. The Indian army chief boasted that LTTE would be crippled in 72 hours if it engaged in any misadventure with the Indian troops. It was a gross misjudgment. Indian army planned to capture Prabhakaran. It was a herculian task. India had about 5,000 troops when fighting began in 1987 but it had to increase the strength to 1,00,000 to fight against 4000 odd LTTEs.

Despite a year of fighting, the LTTE’s dominance over the Tamil people remained undisputed. As long as Jayewardene remained the President, it looked unlikely Colombo would ask the Indians go home.

Prabhakaran had to protect himself against Indian army into his secret base, a well fortified, sprawling LTTE camp in the dense of forest some distance away from Kilinochhi town. When the Indians were closing in, Prabhakaran had to shift to the impregnable forests of Mullaitivu district in the border of the north and east of Sri Lanka.

The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and President Premadasa shows LTTE’s meticulously devious planning, its miraculous ability to plant itself in the heart of enemy domain and its monumental patience to wait for the right moment to strike.

LTTE runs a parallel administration in Sri Lanka. The newly recruited young guerrillas do not know for what they are fighting. They simply obey the instructions of its dictator leader.

NUJUM H
October 12, 2006