Colombo/New Delhi/Amman/Stockholm, 16 May (Asiantribune.com): There is heightened speculation that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the megalomaniac responsible for the death of hundreds of thousand of innocents is dead. Just as the Asian Tribune's on-line poll predicted.The speculation gained currency after reports trickled in from the War Zone that two army divisions marching different directions in the north on Saturday captured the last strip of the coastline held by the LTTE, killed many rebels in the confrontation and cut off all sea escape routes for the beleaguered rebels who are now confined to just 1.5 sq km territory encircled by the security forces. There has been a buzz of explosions in and around the New-Safety Zone (NSZ) as the military and the Tigers engaged in a no-holds-barred battle.
How and when Prabhakarans end came is still unclear. There is no official word as yet from any quarter -- Presidents office, Army headquarters or defence ministry.
It is said that the President would make an important announcement tomorrow after his arrival from Amman where he is at present to attend G-11 summit.
Only on Friday, President Rajapaksa vowed to stamp out the Tigers within 48-hours. It was rather unusual of him to make such a public declaration since he is given to the old school dictum of understatement.
So, if the speculation is true- there appears no need or even justification not to believe the grapevine for the first time in Colombo -- Asian Tribune can take credit for foreseeing the end of a person who had successfully sold the dream of Tamil Eelam and moulded the Tigers as the Khmer Rouge of Sri Lanka with an ultra extremist ideology.
In the on-going poll by Asian Tribune on "How Prabhakarans saga will end", 49 per cent of ATs global readership voted that Prabhakaran will be killed. 23 per cent said that he would flee the Vanni. Only 20 per cent voted that he would commit suicide by swallowing the cyanide pill. Just 8 per cent felt he could surrender to the armed forces, notwithstanding their skepticism.
A clear pointer to the possible end of Prabhakaran is the big blow the SL Navy had inflicted on the LTTE by 'capturing the wife and daughter of Soosai, the Chief of the Sea Tiger's. Soosai, whose real name is Thillaiyampalam Sivanesan, is a close confidant of Prabhakaran. He is also the senior most leader in the military wing of the LTTE. His brothers wife and daughter were also captured off Mullaitivu coast as all of them were trying to flee.
There has been a flurry of activity in Wanni and Colombo and also the rush of communications between Colombo and Amman where the President is on a short visit signaling that the dreaded 'man-eater had met his tryst with death finally.
Interestingly, the government released early in the day a photograph of President. It was of a beaming Rajapaksa in a T-shirt. The photo was circulated to the media outlets at home and abroad.
The caption said 'Gotabaya Rajapaksa Defence Secretary of Srilanka informs over the phone to President Mahinda Rajapaksa(16th morning) in Jordan latest update in the battle field.
Seen against backdrop of speculation about Prabhakarans end, the caption is perfect give away to herald celebrations over the death of a person, who had become a living scourge since he had set out on his killing mission in1975 beginning with the assassination of Alfred Duraiyappah, the peoples Mayor of Jaffna.