By D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Suppiah Paramu Thamilchelvan, the 40 year old political division head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was killed in an air raid along with five other tiger cadres on Friday November 2nd 2007.

Two jet bombers ,an Israeli K-fir and a Russian built MiG – 27 , engaged in aerial bombardment at first light between 5.55-6. 00 am. The target area was suburban Thiruvaiyaaru about three km from Kilinochchi town in the Wanni region controlled by the tigers.

The others killed along with Thamilchelvan in the Thiruvaiyaaru bombing were Muthukkumaru Soundarakrishnan alias Lt Col Anpumani , Dharmarajah Vijayakumar alias Major Mikunthan, Karunanidhi Vasanthakumar alias Capt. Kalaiyarasan, Panchatcharam Sajeeban alias Lt Aatchivel, and Muthukkumaarakkurukkal Srigayathrinatha Sarma alias Lt Maavaikumaran.

Sivalingam Aathavan alias Major Selvam was critically injured in the bombing. Selvam passed away on November 9th and was buried with full military honours at Kanakapuram great heroes cemetery along with the others. He was from Kandaavalai in the Kilinochchi district.
Anpumani also known as Alex , Mikuthan , . Kalaiyarasan aka Nethaji, Selvam were from the political wing. , Aatchivel and Maavaikumaran were Thamilchelvan’s bodyguards.

Anpumani or Alex is a skilled photographer and known to many media persons. He is in charge of the strategic communications unit of the LTTE’s political wing. He also served as Thamilchelvan’s personal assistant.Closely associated with Thamilchelvan Anpumani has accompanied the political commissar on trips to Europe.

Mikunthan a sklled writer in Tamil was the propaganda secretary of the LTTE poliical division.Kalaiarasan was the administrator of the LTTE’s political secretariat. Selvam was co-ordinating secretary of the political division.

Thamilchelvan fuctioning from 1994 as the LTTE”s political commissar had been assigned additional quasi – military duties recently . He was placed in charge of defences at Pooneryn as he was familiar with the area.

Thamilchelvan had been at Pooneryn for three days at a stretch from Oct 29th to Nov 1st. He returned to Kilinochchi town on November 1st afternoon.

Kilinochchi is the place where the LTTE’s political headquarters, Peace secretariat and strategic communications unit are located.

Thamilchelvan’s last official duties were at the communications unit from where he contacted several persons in Sri Lanka and abroad. Some well – wishers brought specially cooked food including mutton curry.

The political commissar and others stayed late into the night at the place , partaking of food and engaging in conversation.

Thereafter at about 2. 30 am the six tigers moved to a safe bunker located in Thiruvaiaaru. Given the prevailing security situation important tiger leaders sleep at night in well – fortified bunkers away from their homes. They also avoid sleeping at the same place on successive nights.

The L shaped bunker was well camouflaged. It had a lower and and upper compartments. Thamilchelvan went to bed in the lower one while the others slept in the upper one.

In the early hours of the morning around 4 – 4,30 am an IAI “Scout” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spy plane had hovered over the skies of Kilinochchi. Later the two jet bombers came at first light and discharged their lethal cargo.

Subsequently three other planes (2 MiG;s and 1 K-fir) also dropped nine bombs from 6. 20 am to 6. 30 am in the South of Kilinochchi in the area around the 155th milepost and St. Anthony’s church.Two civilians were killed and six injured.

The first aerial mission had been bulls – eye on target when a bomb fell on the entrance of the bunker. There was a massive explosion and the entire structure collapsed and caved in. Six tigers were killed in their sleep.The seventh died days later of injuries.

Among top tiger leaders to reach the spot early were Intelligence chief Pottu Amman and Pappa head of the LTTE sports division. The destruction was so immense that a bulldozer was brought first to facilitate excavation. Thereafter the bodies were dug up manually.

Most LTTE bunkers are strong and designed to withstand aerial bombardment. What troubled the LTTE was the thought that a giant bomb has knocked out Thamilchelvan’s bunker.

“Sinhala nation did not open its heart and send a peace message. On the contrary, it is sending war-vultures that are dropping giant bombs. It has cruelly killed our peace dove”.

The above sentences excerpted from Velupillai Prabakharan’s statement released after Thamilchelvan’s death denote the concern of the LTTE about a “giant bomb”. The LTTE leader’s statement was unusually emotional and had an agitated tone to it.

What is the bomb which Prabakharan referred to as “Ratchathakkundu” or giant bomb.?

According to some reports in the LTTE media it was an American general purpose bomb called Mark 84 or MK 84.The largest of the Mark – 80 series of weapons, it is nicknamed “Hammer” for its considerable power.

The Mark 84 has a nominal weight of 2,000 lb (908 kg), but its actual weight varies depending on its fin, fuse, and retardation configuration, from 1,972 lb (896 kg) to 2,083 (947 kg).

It has a streamlined steel casing filled with 945 lb (429 kg) of Tritonal high explosive. The Mark 84 is capable of forming a crater 50 ft (15.2 m) wide and 36 ft (11 m) deep. It can penetrate up to 15 in (380 mm) of metal or 11 ft (3.3 m) of concrete, depending on the height from which it is dropped, and causes lethal fragmentation to a radius of 400 yards (366 m).This free-fall general purpose bomb’s Length is 10 ft 9 in (3.3 m) ;Diameter is 18 in (457 mm)

The extensive destruction caused to Thamilchelvan’s fortified bunker suggests that an extremely powerful bomb was used. Only one bomb fell on the bunker. It was a direct hit. The bomb could very well have been a MARK – 84.

Thamilchelvan was post-humously promoted as “Brigadier”. He was the first tiger to be made Brigadier.
Thamilchelvan was born on August 29th 1967 in Madduvil, a sprawling agrarian village in the Thenmaratchy sector of Jaffna district. He was the fifth among six children. There were five boys and a girl in the family. All his brothers are elder to Thamilchelvan.
His eldest brother is Balasubramaniyam alias Moorthy who is also a senior member of the LTTE. Moorthy was a close confidante of former LTTE deputy leader Gopalaswamy Mahendrarajah alias Mahathaya. Moorthy was one of the LTTE delegates who participated in discussions with the Government in Colombo when Ranasinghe Premadasa was president.
Moorthy fell from grace after the Mahattaya downfall and was detained. He was released after a long period of incarceration. Demoted from his earlier positions, Moorthy functioned as a low rung cadre engaged in clerical work for the LTTE.

He surrendered to the armed forces after the LTTE military debacle in May 2009 and was released after undergoing a period of rehabilitation.

Thamilchelvan was married with two children. His wife Sasirekha was a former woman cadre of the LTTE.Her nom de guerre was Isaichelvi. The daughter is named Alaimagal (daughter of waves). The 4 year old son’s name is Oliventhan (King of light).

Thamilchelvan’s wife and two children surrendered to the armed forces and were kept under house arrest at the Panagoda cantonment. Later the family was awarded aq restricted release due partly to the efforts of ex-LTTE chief Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP. The family lives in a Colombo suburb now.

Thamilchelvan had his primary education at the Madduvil Maha Vidyalayam and secondary schooling at Chavakachcheri Hindu College. His family was politically conscious and was for long active supporters of Shanmugadasan’s pro – Beijing Communist party.

His father and elder brothers participated in many activities against caste discrimination. They were in the forefront of the protest demanding that the famous Pandrithalaichi Amman temple in Madduvil be throw open for all to worship. This was done in 1970.

With the escalation of the ethnic conflict Thamilchelvan’s family like many other Tamil families shed their marxism and became increasingly Tamil nationalistic.

Thamilchelvan joined the LTTE after the July 1983 violence at the age of sixteen. By international standards he was a child soldier at that time. According to family members Thamilchelvan had gone across to India for arms training by boat on June 13th 1984.

Thamilchelvan was a member of the fourth batch of recruits and received military training in the Thirumalai camp near Dindigul in Tamil Nadu. His nom de guerre was Dinesh.

It was as Dinesh that Thamilchelvan was known for a long time. Later the LTTE started a de- Sanskritisation process of Tamil names. Dinesh was a Sanskritized name but his real name Thamilchelvan was a pure, Tamil name. So Dinesh transformed back into Thamilchelvan, the name given by his parents.

After training Thamilchelvan was posted to Prabakharan’s security detail in India. One of his main duties was to function as bodyguard to Mathivathany Prabakharan.
She was an ardent Hindu devotee and Thamilchelvan accompanied her to several temples. The young lad’s subservience and sense of duty impressed her very much. This in turn led to Prabakharan also becoming fond of him. Soon Thamilchelvan became a trusted lieutnenant.

Before Prabakharan crossed over from India to Jaffna on January 5th 1987 the LTTE leader sent three of his trusted bodyguards first to Jaffna. Their duty was to inform then Jaffna commander “Col” Kittu and make necessary arrangements and then return.

Thereafter the trio accompanied Prabakharan to Jaffna clandestinely. The RAW was furious at his slipping out of their grasp.The trusted trio were Imran, Pandiyan and Dinesh (Thamilchelvan).

After returning to Jaffna , Thamilchelvan was assigned to the Thenmaratchy sector. He rose rapidly and soon became Thenmaratchy sectoral commander.What happened was that “Curdles ” the legendary Thenmaratchy commander was killed in an accidental explosion in Kaithady along with Ponnamman, Vasu and others on Feb 14th 1987.

The LTTE then appointed two cadres known as Kunchan and Daya as acting commanders. They were inefficient and so Naren a native of Jaffna town was appointed Thenmaratchy commander.
This led to dissatisfaction among cadres from the region who wanted a son of the (Thenmaratchy) soil to lead them. The LTTE was thinking of appointing Abdullah , a Thenmaratchy cadre as divisional commander. But Abdullah along with Pulendran, Kumarappa and others consumed cynaide in October 1987.

This incident led to war breaking out with the Indian army stationed in North – East lanka. The Thenmaratchy sector was leaderless.So Thamilchelvan was made commander in October 1987. Pappa was his deputy.

In 1991 Thamilchelvan was made military commander and later special military commander for Jaffna district. Thamilchelvan’s rise was resented by many cadres who felt he was Prabakharan’s blue eyed boy. Thamilchelvan endeared himself to the leader but aroused resentment among colleagues.

He was seriously injured in the Elephant pass battle of 1991 when he was Thenmaratchy commander and in the Pooneryn battle of 1993 when he was Jaffna district commander. Among other major battles he participated were “operation Yarldevi”, and the LTTE attacks in Silavathurai, Karainagar and Thachankaadu.
After the Pooneryn battle Thamilchelvan was on the verge of death and survived miraculously. Most of the flesh on a leg was stripped away.He sustained a permanent limp and had to walk with the aid of a walking stick after that.
With active military duty ruled out due to injury, Thamilchelvan was now utilised on the political wing. Narendran alias Yogi the former political commissar was expelled from the movement after Mahathaya’s downfall.

At one point Prabakharan wanted to appoint Sornalingam alias “Col” Shankar in place of Yogi. But Balasingham who did not like Shankar intervened and persuaded Prabakharan to appoint Thamilchelvan instead.

As political commissar, Thamilselvan received the Government delegations led by Kusumsiri Balapatabendi during the peace talks held from October 13, 1994 to March 28, 1995. He participated in all rounds of peace talks held after the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement on February 22, 2002 in Thailand, Norway, Germany and in Japan. Balasingham and GL Peiris led the respective delegations.Thamilselvan also presided over the LTTE conference in Paris on August 23, 2003. After the Paris conference Thamilselvan left for Switzerland to study the federal system from August 29, 2003 to September 03, 2003.

Once again Thamilselvan presided over discussions held to finalise the proposals for interim administration in the North and East at the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation in Ireland from October 03, 2003 to October 10, 2003. In 2005 Thamilselvan headed a LTTE delegation to Europe and toured Norway, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa and Ireland. Thamilselvan also participated in the Geneva talks between the Government and the LTTE held from February 22 to 23, 2006 and again from October 28 and 29, 2006 in Geneva.

Thamilchelvan would summon the Tamil National Alliance MP’s to Kilinochchi and issue directives. He met with many important personalities in political discussions held abroad and at Kilinochchi.

His inability to express himself in English resulted in excessive dependence on a translator cum interpreter. Pancharatnam alias George – an ex postmaster – accompanied Thamilchelvan everywhere and became virtually indispensable to the political commissar.

Though inarticulate in English Thamilchelvan understood the language well Diplomats have noted that Thamilchelvan used George only to interprete what he says in Tamil but responds without translation to what is said in English by the other party.

There was a joke among Tamil circles that George and not Thamilchelvan spells out the LTTE viewpoint publicly.George along with Daya master surrendered in 2009.

Thamilchelvan has also given many media interviews and conducted press conferences.
Media circles were aware that he craved publicity. He also had a penchant to get photographed. The walking stick man with a perpetual grin had become a permanent fixture in tiger photos.

Thamilchelvan spoke very fluently in Tamil and was never at a loss for words. The content was poor and shallow. His Tamil interviews were relished by certain segments of LTTE supporters. Many however felt that he mechanically repeated things and called him “kilipillai” or parrot. Many Tamils referred to him as “Soonaa Paanaa” derived from his initials in Tamil.

The be – spectacled Thamilchelvan had an ever smiling face and amiable disposition. He went on to become the “smiling” face of the LTTE. His inter – personal skills were good.
This benign countenance did s not mean that the political commissar is “soft”. People who tried to override him or overwhelm him have found themselves unsuccessful.

Thamilchelvan reflected Prabakharan’s thinking perfectly. At times diplomats found him to be uncompromisingly intransigient despite the smiling exterior. He shakes his head from side to side smiling all the time.This led to a description in the media about him as a “smiling cobra”.

When charges are made about LTTE human rights violations he would deny them with a broad smile. The plastered . permanent grin was resented by many Western journalists and diplomats who perceived it as patently insincere.

In the opinion of this writer Thamilchelvan was a colossal misfit as political commissar during the ceasefire period. Despite his efforts to convince the Europeans of the LTTE’s bonafides the EU went ahead and banned the LTTE. He also mishandled relations with the SLMM

The Geneva talks fiasco was due to Thamilchelvan’s exaggerated vanity when he insisted that he would sit down at the negotiating table with only a senior minister.

When the six rounds of talks with the Government took place Thamilchelvan would describe them as productive and meaningful. But when the LTTE pulled out of talks Thamilchelvan did a volte – face and said all the rounds of talks were meaningless and useless. Only Thamilchelvan could say such things and still hope to retain credibility.

Thamilchelvan like Pottu Amman was an unquestioning acolyte of Prabakharan. His loyalty was immense and was a trusted deputy cum confidante. His relationship with Prabakharan had been Thamilchelvan’s passport to success within the movement.

There have been many attempts on Thamilchelvan’s life including a close call when a claymore mine killed his chief body guard. The political commissar was travelling in another vehicle behind.The army’s deep penetration squad was suspected.He has also had many narrow shaves during aerial bombardment and artillery shelling.

Being political commissar since 1994 Thamilchelvan became the political face of the LTTE in recent times. He personified the political dimension of the tigers.