Born in 1954 in the Tamil heartland of Jaffna, Velupillai Prabhakaran spent most of his time fighting what he called a freedom struggle for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority.

In the early 1970s, he founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE with thousands of young Tamil men and women joining it and hailing Prabhakaran as a 'freedom fighter'.

Jehan Perera, Executive Director at the National Peace Council in Colombo says Prabhakaran had always been very adamant in his demand for a separate country for the Tamil population

"He was a person who fought for an ideal and that ideal was a country, which Tamil could rule and he never gave up on that idea."

‘Ruthless’ leader

But Prabhakaran was also an aggressive and extremely ruthless man, adds Perera:

"He killed anyone who stood in his way whether they were Sri Lankan leaders or leaders of Tamil parties with different views."

Some of the high profile targets of the LTTE include former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991 and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was killed in 1993.

Prabhakaran and his group were soon branded as terrorists by many countries and he was wanted by Interpol for terrorism, murder and organised crime.

Over the years, Prabhakaran led the LTTE to become a well-organised guerrilla group, which had its own ground, naval and air wings as well as its own de-facto capital.

Tigers’ fall

In 2002, the LTTE signed a ceasefire agreement with the Sri Lankan government after Norwegian mediation. But the attempts to restore peace soon proved to be futile.

In 2006, fighting flared up, with the government ultimately driving out the rebels from their eastern strongholds and gradually regaining control of a vast area in the north.

By early 2009, the Tigers lost control of their de-facto capital Killinocchi and were isolated on a tiny coastal strip in the northeast.

Now that the government claims Prabhakaran has been killed and that the war has been won, the LTTE’s movement has also been laid to rest, says expert Jehan Perera:

"The LTTE is no more, because Prabhakaran and the top leadership were the life and inspiration of the movement."

Human cost

But Prabhakaran’s death and the LTTE’s end have raised many other questions, particularly regarding the future of the Tamil population. The human cost of the conflict has been very high.

An estimated 250,000 Tamil civilians are believed to be displaced. Kalyananda Godage, a former Sri Lankan diplomat to the EU says the government’s first challenge will be to empower people politically.

"The 13th amendment of the Constitution will be implemented in the north. They will hold election and empower people. The second task is development, because the north has been in shambles for the past so many years. There are no hospitals, schools and roads. People have to be rehabilitated."

However the government's resources are limited. And in order to ensure speedy settlement of the people, the government may need outside help.

The European Union has meanwhile issued a statement saying it is appalled by reports of high numbers of civilian casualties in the war. It has called for an independent inquiry into the matter.

Author: Disha Uppal
Editor: Arun Chowdhury