2.6.2008
By Walter Jayawardhana
The
report about the sudden death of the LTTE woman military
leader whom they call Lt. Col. Selvi came as another body
blow in weakening the already tottering military machine
of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, immediately after
the demise of “Brigadier Balraj”, military
analysts said.
Sri
Lankan Tamil sources said the woman leader was so important
to the Tamil Tiger outfit, the usually elusive Madhivadini,
the wife of LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was officially
representing her husband at the funeral despite their
security concerns for the first family of the Tigers.
The
LTTE arousing suspicion that the woman leader had died
of a recent Sri Lanka Air Force bombing did not announce
the cause of death or her age at death.
Many
members of the LTTE hierarchy were present at her funeral
apart from Prabhakaran’s wife the sources said.
Lt.
Col. Selvi was eulogized not only as a leading woman fighter
of the LTTE but also as a poetess who wrote inspirational
lyrics and poems for the cause of the outfit and also
as a presenter of those verses over the LTTE radio and
television in the Tiger controlled areas of Sri Lanka.
Selvi
not only led deadly attacks against the “enemy”
that is the Sri Lanka armed forces, but also did a tremendous
service as a trainer of women fighters, said people delivering
eulogies.
Opponents
said she was also training young girls in the tender ages
like 8-12, who had been kidnapped from their homes and
schools. Opponents also charged she was also involved
in taking care of girls getting accidentally pregnant
in the service by obtaining medical assistance to get
rid of the pregnancies.
Before
becoming a trainer, Selvi had been the Deputy Commander
of the deadly Shothiya Brigade of the LTTE, sources said.
Sanjana,
another trainer at the Training institute delivered an
eulogy at the funeral has reportedly said that Selvi was
a “versatile personality” who could write
songs praising LTTE “war heroes“.
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune