'It's a joke': Sri Lanka dismisses claims that LTTE leader Prabhakaran is alive

The Sri Lankan government on Monday (February 13) dismissed claims of Tamil nationalist movement leader Pazha Nedumaran that LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was still alive, and said it was a “joke” as even DNA tests have confirmed his death.

Colonel Nalin Herath, Sri Lanka’s defence ministry spokesman, told PTI, “It is confirmed that Prabhakaran was killed on May 19, 2009. The DNA has proved it.”

Nedumaran, a long-time supporter of Prabhakaran, on Monday read out a statement to reporters in Thanjavur that the LTTE chief was alive, and that the time was now appropriate for him to reveal himself.

Also read: LTTE chief Prabhakaran is still alive and will come out soon, claims Nedumaran

Nedumaran declined to furnish proof to back his claim that the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was still alive. He insisted that “they were in touch with the LTTE leader” and would say nothing more.

Sri Lanka’s military had put an end to the civil war that had lasted for almost thirty years when they killed the top leadership of the LTTE in May 2009. The LTTE had been carrying out a violent campaign to set up an independent Tamil state in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.