May 19, 2009

Let History Judge Him





Another living legend is dead. Velupillai Prabhakaran. The name of terror that we grew up with. We were taught that he was a soldier, a brother, a leader. Then we were taught that he was a terrorist, a brute, a megalomaniac who loved to kill.

He stood up against the atrocities committed against the poorest of Tamils who had migrated to Sri Lanka to work in the plantations there. He took up arms when Tamilians were burnt alive in the streets of Colombo. He struck back when Sinhalese mobs dragged out and lynched Tamilians even from prisons. He became the beacon of hope for a people who were treated as sub –humans by the Sri Lankans.

He killed his own people who did not obey him. He rose to power by exterminating other Tamil leaders. He built one of the most ferocious organizations ever in the world -the LTTE. He was the founder of suicide attacks. Most countries even now classify LTTE as more dangerous than Al Qaeda as it is clear that Osama Bin Laden copied most of his terrorist actions from Prabhakaran. He is the only leader to have assassinated two world leaders in two different countries.

If he was a devil, was it because he had lived in hell?

Even as debates rage on who he really was and what effect his actions will have on future generations, the truth is that no one could ignore him. You had to stand for or against him.

Even as his bullet-ridden body is being identified, let us not be his judges; for only time shall tell whether his actions were right or wrong, whether he shall find his place among the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln or the likes of Hitler and Mussolini.

Let history be his judge.

2 comments:

Cris said...

>>If he was a devil, was it because he had lived in hell?<<

Says it all

hareesh said...

ഡോൺ,
ശ്രീലങ്കൻ തമിഴർ
രണ്ട് വേട്ടക്കാർക്കിടയിലെ
ഇരകളാണവർ
രക്ഷകനെന്ന് നടിച്ച് ശിക്ഷിച്ചവൻ
അവൻ രചിച്ച നിയമങ്ങൽ
രക്തം കൊണ്ട് അവനെഴുതിയ
നീതികൾ
വിലാപങ്ങളെ നിശബ്ദമാക്കി
ഒരു ജനത അവനു മുന്നിൽ
മുട്ടുകുത്തിക്കിടന്നു
രക്ഷപ്പെടാൻ കൊതിച്ച
കുഞ്ഞുങ്ങളോട് അമ്മമാർ
വംശീയാധിപത്യവും
കൊടിയ പീഡനവും
ഓർമിപ്പിച്ച് തളർത്തി
തമിഴ് പുലികളോ
സിംഹളരോ അല്ലാത്ത
അഭയമറ്റ ഒരു ജനതയുടെ
വേദനകളായിരുന്നുവത്

ഒടുവിൽ
ഒരു വേട്ടക്കാരനൊടുങ്ങി
മാറിലടക്കിപ്പിടിച്ച
കുഞ്ഞുങ്ങളും
മറാപ്പിൽ കെട്ടിയസമ്പാദ്യങ്ങളുമായ്
അവർ പലായനം ചെയ്യേണ്ടതെവിടേക്ക്
കൂർത്ത നഖങ്ങളൂമായ്
സിംഹളർ കാത്തിരിക്കുന്നു
വെടിയുണ്ടകളല്ല
എല്ലാം നഷ്ട്ടപ്പെട്ടവരുടെ
ശാപങ്ങളൂം കണ്ണീരുമാണ്
പ്രഭാകരനെ
മരണത്തിലും
പിന്തുടരുന്നത്