It's a joke: Sri Lanka dismisses TN leader's claim that LTTE supremo Prabhakaran is 'doing well'
Colombo, Feb 13: Sri Lanka on Monday dismissed as a "joke" a top Tamil nationalist leader's claim that LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in 2009 by the island nation's military, was still alive.
Pazha Nedumaran, a noted nationalist leader in Tamil Nadu, told reporters in Thanjavur that the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) "is doing well" and a "conducive atmosphere prevails for him to appear now."
Sri Lanka's defence ministry dismissed Nedumaran's claim as a joke.
"It is confirmed that he was killed on 19 May 2009. The DNA has proved it," Colonel Nalin Herath, Sri Lanka's defence ministry spokesman told PTI.
In a bitterly fought campaign that began in 1983, Sri Lanka's military ended the nearly three-decade brutal civil war in the island nation in May 2009, by killing the leaders of the LTTE.
The LTTE was fighting for an independent state for the Tamilians in Sri Lanka's North and Eastern provinces.
Though the exact date when Prabhakaran was killed by the Sri Lankan Army was not known, his death was announced on May 19, 2009.
The then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa on May 18, 2009 declared the end of a 26-year war in which over 1,00,000 people were killed and millions of Sri Lankans, mainly minority Tamils were displaced as refugees inside the country and abroad.
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BrahMos proof of continuity in governance which cannot be denied: Jairam Ramesh
New Delhi (PTI): With focus on India's defence arsenal, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday said the BrahMos missile is a remarkable proof of continuity in governance which simply cannot be denied or erased, "despite it being the regular habit of today's ruling establishment".
Ramesh said the BrahMos missile was inducted into the Indian Navy in 2005 and Indian Army in 2007, while the air-launched variant of BrahMos appeared in 2012, all during Manmohan Singh's tenure.
"It was his leadership that led to the historic Indo-US nuclear agreement of 2005, paving the way for India finally joining the Missile Technology Control Regime eleven years later. It was also during his tenure that the BrahMos Integration Complex in Hyderabad and the Brahmos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Limited were established," the Congress general secretary said on X.
"BrahMos is very much in the news these days. It is named after the Brahmaputra and the Moskva rivers and is an outstanding example of Indo-Russian collaboration. It is also yet another remarkable proof of continuity in governance which simply cannot be denied or erased - despite it being the regular habit of today's ruling establishment in New Delhi," he said, taking a swipe at the Modi government.
Noting that India's Integrated Missile Development Programme began in 1983, Ramesh said it has had great successes.
Sometime in the mid-90s, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and his colleagues like Dr. Sivathanu Pillai felt the need for collaboration with the Russians for supersonic cruise missiles, he said.
"An inter-governmental agreement was signed on February 12, 1998 when IK Gujral was PM. Incidentally he was India's Ambassador to the USSR 1976-80. Thereafter the first contract was signed on July 9, 1999, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM. The first successful launch took place on June 12, 2001," he said.
The BrahMos headquarters complex that includes design, simulation and aerospace knowledge facilities was inaugurated in New Delhi on December 4, 2004 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ramesh said.
"Thereafter the missile was inducted into the Indian Navy in 2005 and Indian Army in 2007. The air-launched variant of BrahMos appeared in 2012. All this was when Dr. Manmohan Singh was PM," he said.
His remarks come days after India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea with immediate effect after four days of cross-border strikes that triggered fears of a wider conflict.
