Tamil nationalist leader and President of the World Tamil Confederation Dr P Nedumaran claimed on Monday that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran is still alive.

Nedumaran said Prabhakaran will appear soon and would announce his plans for the “liberation" of the Tamil race.

Addressing a press conference at the Mullivaikkal Memorial in Thanjavur- set up by Nedumaran himself to commemorate the Mullivaikkal massacre during the final phase of the LTTE-Lankan army war in 2009 – the veteran Tamil nationalist said that the geopolitical situation and the Sinhalese people’s “revolt” overthrowing the Rajapaksa regime had led him to reveal the “truth” about Prabhakaran, whose death was officially announced and scientifically confirmed by the Lankan army.

“Pleased to announce the truth about our Tamil national leader Prabhakaran. He’s fine. I’m very happy to announce this to the Tamil people all over the world. I hope this news will put an end to the speculations that have been systematically spread about him so far," news agency ANI quoted Nedumaran as saying.

“Let me inform you that he (Prabhakaran) is soon going to announce a plan for the liberation of the Tamil race. All the Tamil people of the world should support him together," he added.

He also claimed that Prabhakaran is doing well, his family is in touch with him and he is revealing it with Prabhakaran's family's permission. 

Nedumaran said Prabhakaran’s “return” would also be important for protecting India’s geopolitical interests. “The Indian government is aware of the risks,” Nedumaran said. “This can be fixed by taking proactive steps to protect India’s interests, which will also help Eelam Tamils get justice.”

Prabhakaran was pronounced dead in the ethnic war by Sri Lankan military in May 2009. Sri Lankan army had taken care to announce Prabahakaran’s death to ensure claims of him having escaped from Sri Lanka don't emerge. Prabhakaran’s body was identified by none other than this former lieutenant and rebel LTTE leader Karuna Amman who laid the guns and became a minister in the Mahindra Rajapaksa-led presidency.

This was however not the first time that Nedumaran made such a claim about Prabhakaran being alive.

In an April 2018 interview with The Indian Express, Nedumaran had made similar claims about Prabhakaran being alive and about the days when the Indian agencies used a Madurai farm house owned by his relatives to train the LTTE. “I know for sure that Prabhakaran is still alive, that he was never caught, and that he ran away,” he had then claimed. In the interview, he also said how India had “helped” in the formation of the LTTE by giving the rebels weapons and training.

Image source: Indian Express