06-22-2009, 05:21 AM
satp.org
Velvettiturai has since time immemorial been a fishing centre and a harbour famous for smuggling and the audacity of the Karaiyar fishing caste, and as an area where the Karaiyars were particularly well able to hold their own against the high caste Vellalas. This gives one some clues to the caste base of the militant groups, and it can be said that the LTTE is not only one of the few militant groups with a mixed-caste Karaiyar dominated rank-and-file base, but also the only one where Karaiyars are the leaders of the movement.
It was in Vvt of the mid-1970s that the pioneers of Sri Lanka Tamil militancy met frequently to organise their cadres, plan their crimes and chart their political course. Velupillai Prabhakaran, the daredevil "kid brother" (thambi) among the pioneers, already with a few murders and bank robberies to his credit, was a native Karaiyar of Vvt. So was Selvaduarai Yogachandran (alias Kuttimani) who, as far back as 1973, had been apprehended by the Sri Lanka navy while conveying a boatload of explosives. Gopalasamy Mahendrarajah (alias Mahattaya), liquidated by Prabhakaran in 1994 in the course of a power struggle within the LTTE, was also a Karaiyar from Vvt. Many others like Yogaratnam Yogi, Balakumar, Thangadurai, Sathasivam Krishnakumar (alias Kittu) and 'KP' Kumaran Padmanathan (alias Tharmalingam Shanmugam, best known for his highly successful international arms procurement operations), were all of the same caste, and all from Vadamaratchi, the area within which Vvt is located. Quite clearly there was, at this stage, a confluence of the firepower and the will-oâ-the-wisp skills of the Vvt smugglers, and the ruthlessness and fanatical commitment of the militants. It is also easy to understand in retrospect the haughty defiance shown in later times by the Tiger leaders to other prominent Tamil militants and, indeed, towards the entire Vellala elite.
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Incidentally most of the moderate tamils whom the LTTE eliminated were Vellalas and the EPRLF consisted of mainly dalit castes
Prabakaran called the EPRLF ' Pallan and Parayan Party '
Calling someone in India as Pallan or Parayan is an offence
Velvettiturai has since time immemorial been a fishing centre and a harbour famous for smuggling and the audacity of the Karaiyar fishing caste, and as an area where the Karaiyars were particularly well able to hold their own against the high caste Vellalas. This gives one some clues to the caste base of the militant groups, and it can be said that the LTTE is not only one of the few militant groups with a mixed-caste Karaiyar dominated rank-and-file base, but also the only one where Karaiyars are the leaders of the movement.
It was in Vvt of the mid-1970s that the pioneers of Sri Lanka Tamil militancy met frequently to organise their cadres, plan their crimes and chart their political course. Velupillai Prabhakaran, the daredevil "kid brother" (thambi) among the pioneers, already with a few murders and bank robberies to his credit, was a native Karaiyar of Vvt. So was Selvaduarai Yogachandran (alias Kuttimani) who, as far back as 1973, had been apprehended by the Sri Lanka navy while conveying a boatload of explosives. Gopalasamy Mahendrarajah (alias Mahattaya), liquidated by Prabhakaran in 1994 in the course of a power struggle within the LTTE, was also a Karaiyar from Vvt. Many others like Yogaratnam Yogi, Balakumar, Thangadurai, Sathasivam Krishnakumar (alias Kittu) and 'KP' Kumaran Padmanathan (alias Tharmalingam Shanmugam, best known for his highly successful international arms procurement operations), were all of the same caste, and all from Vadamaratchi, the area within which Vvt is located. Quite clearly there was, at this stage, a confluence of the firepower and the will-oâ-the-wisp skills of the Vvt smugglers, and the ruthlessness and fanatical commitment of the militants. It is also easy to understand in retrospect the haughty defiance shown in later times by the Tiger leaders to other prominent Tamil militants and, indeed, towards the entire Vellala elite.
--
Incidentally most of the moderate tamils whom the LTTE eliminated were Vellalas and the EPRLF consisted of mainly dalit castes
Prabakaran called the EPRLF ' Pallan and Parayan Party '
Calling someone in India as Pallan or Parayan is an offence