The Wanni dance - Prabhakaran goes for a human face
Tiger cadres check their microphones, re-check them at least ten times. Sea Tiger songs are played over the speakers for a minute, and they reach a crescendo. The man in charge of preliminaries - George master, Daya master?, so many masters here - says in nuanced English "don't break any fences.''

Euphemism for don't move, or the jittery guards with assault rifles might panic and put a bullet in your head. "Sorry,'' he says, "for the inconvenience, the press conference is the most important event of the day.'' Definitely, a master of understatement….

"Peace purr by the Tigers'' says one headline the next day, the best among many. A hyper - cautious purr, one might say. Tiger guards run through my hair, deft fingers replacing fine tooth comb. They are looking for hidden weapons, in my hair, my face, my belt, my behind. A female correspondent is asked to put her tongue out. For two minutes, they examine under it, run their fingers behind her ears. She is totally miffed about the ENT.

Everybody complains, but who couldn't cut the tension with a knife? After 12 years, Velupillai Prabhakaran is ready for his peace purr. The joke is that he has cancelled it all, last moment "for security considerations.'' He arrives with retinue, in a gray safari suit, and one overwhelmed journalist starts clapping. Prabhakaran reacts for a nanosecond; his guards spring. False alarm one - the preliminary - as Prabhakaran sizes up the 400 plus crowd, from The Hindu, Lankadeepa, CNN, Xinhua, India Abroad, BBC - you name it. The number one fugitive (that was?) of the sub-continent, meets the press.

The next day, the Prime Minister analyses the marathon press briefing. So does everybody who is somebody. On the one hand Prabhakaran says "Yes,'' when asked whether his cadres should still "shoot you if you ever give up your demand for Eelam.'' But, he says, self-determination could mean an internal settlement.

But, then, this empathy for the Sri Lankan state is killing. He says, through faithful interpreter Bala ( .. of "Prabhakaran and I are one and the same'' fame) that "the talks in Thailand are about an interim administration in the North East - and while they go on, maybe for two years - Ranil Wickremesinghe will have a chance to repair the Sri Lankan economy!'' I pinch myself - am I dreaming in Kilinochchi? It's the economy, stupid.

Shankar is dead. He masterminded the most devastating attack on the economy of Sri Lanka on August 8, 2001, a successful assault on the Katunayaka Air force base and airport. Balasingham apologizes for the tight security at the Wednesdays press conference. "Deep penetration units have been striking at some of our key leaders'' he says - "so the need to be extra careful.'' Months ago, Shankar was taken out by a deep penetration unit. The economy almost died with the Katunayaka attack - and now, Prabhakaran wants to give Ranil an year to revive it? More self-pinching….

A demure lady introduces herself, and says she has a "question from Dow Jones news''. What kind of economy does the LTTE want? "I'll says it in a word,'' Prabhakaran deadpans. "An open economy.'' Mullathivu, here comes the mall.

At the end of it, everybody who wants to know where Sri Lanka is really headed wants to analyse the one million dollar question that one cannot ask at a press conference. "What does Prabhakaran want?'' Maybe that little bit off the top of the map - but maybe then, an economy, a chance at reinventing himself, of converting adversity into opportunity - and of course ( …take a pinch here) helping Ranil build the Sri Lankan economy.

They all say he didn't lose his cool at the Vadakachi (Kilinochchi) press conference. There is no deep penetration in that reading of the briefing. Nobody was expecting Prabhakaran to lose his cool. "The number one exponent of that kind of warfare'', coming out after 12 years in the international glare of TV lights, and losing his shirt?

But, Prabhakaran is a complete three-quarter demystified from Wednesday. At least for a good interim of two years, he is demystified. He has come out and faced down the press, and demystified himself - - a sizeable price for a shadowy cult leader who is revered and deified by his cadres. It's not for nothing that he did it. It's not for nothing that he began to look, for a moment like a South Indian politician, with four men in bouncer suits and authentic Ray Ban shades typically South Indian style, guarding his press conference table.

Prabhakaran smiled smirked and at times almost self-indulged at the most curious press conference of the decade. Asked which Army General he respected the most in the Sri Lankan army, he actually pondered the question for around five minutes, while the AP correspondent behind me kept saying audibly "now, can you end this conference please - so that we can all go and file our stories?''

If he came out, he came out - clearly and in the flesh, and there was no carbon copy ersatz about it. Obviously, anybody with a head - and a head for these kinds of press conferences - will want to know what he has up his sleeve.

Some thought he may have won the day. They know nothing about press conferences. When there are 400 plus at a press conference, a correspondent can ask one question at a time. There is strictly no follow-up; a thousand other fellows are there with maybe mellower questions for him. There is no grilling. The man can get away with any evasive answer he wants, and there is nothing anybody can do about it. Most of the time on Wednesday, Prabhakaran made good use of this strategic media advantage.

Maybe he is getting used to this coming out. If he is reinventing himself, as the consummate politician - - Arafat in safari suit - he did the first step well. He must be telling himself on the way to the bunker "You can't win them all.'' Sure, he lost a good part of his mystique. But he is up there among the international media lights, almost telling the Indian press "so I killed Rajiv Gandhi - so come off it - let's get real and get on with life.'' The Indian press didn't seem to be able to believe this. There was no denial about the Gandhi killing - only a confession by omission of a denial.

If Prabhakaran came out - and waltzed his way into a new image of prospective North East council boss/ President/strongman and eschewed the image of grenade thrower and don of the suicide brigade, well it takes two Tango. The Sri Lankan government is deeper in this than he is, even though it may be by his design. The international media did the Tango even better with Prabhakaran. They swore, they berated him, they complained as much as their jobs and their brief allowed them to, about the ( without exaggeration) day long security clearance. But their bureaus and their Murdoch driven bosses know when there is a story that sells. Prabhakaran came out - with a bang the other day in Kilinochchi in Tiger held territory, with the not inconsiderable help of the international news media.

Back to Top

Back to Columns

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Webmaster