The virtual "cult of Prabhakaran" and its on-going human rights abuses
[27 Apr 2000]

The Tigers have admitted that they have committed severe human rights abuses and atrocities against the Sri Lankan government, in a recent in-depth interview with French newsmagazine, 'Le Point'.

Interviewed in the jungles of Batticaloa, the Tigers spoke of the routine execution of the captured, injured security forces personnel and the summary execution of civilians branded by them as" traitors". Sri Lankan soldiers wounded in the Tiger's November 1999 offensive in the Wanni were executed by the advancing LTTE, Mariana, a female Tiger said, adding that even her sister cadres "take no prisoners", but deal with any captured or injured soldiers by killing them on the spot.

According to Mariana, the few prisoners who are taken alive have their blood extracted for use in Tiger hospitals and once these captives are literally drained of their blood, they are executed.

The Tiger hospitals are fully equipped with the aid of Sri Lankan Tamils living abroad and the LTTE boasts of even being able to sell their large supplies of medicine to the enemy, she said.

The LTTE described their system of rule as a totalitarian system of social justice, which prevails in their areas, while adding " no one escapes the law of the Tigers. For traitors there is a bullet in the head".

The so-called "traitors" in these LTTE held areas are executed before an assembly of local villagers, their bodies are decapitated and the side of a public road exhibits their heads.

Reports indicate that the virtual "cult of Prabhakaran" is instilled in the minds of girls and boys in their early youth and those as young as 11 years are being recruited to Tiger armies, most often against their will and in clear violation of international law.

Sources reveal that Female Tigers or Tigresses are most often low-caste Tamil women who join between the ages of 11 and 13 years and the Tamil women recruited for suicide bombings come from this group. Before embarking on a suicide mission they are "honoured" by having the suicide kit bestowed upon them by their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

"If we are needed to explode we'll explode", said Mariana, who like her male counterparts accepts without question the LTTE's brutal strategies.

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