A butcher slaughtered...

Is there any lesson at all for humanity in the ugly story of Prabhakaran's life? And, if indeed there was one, will anyone even remember it a few weeks from now?

I distinctly remember that The Hindu initially used the term "freedom fighters" to describe VP and his gang back in the 70's. It was very thrilling to read.

But as the years rolled by, that romantic, heroic fiction of a modern day Che, a Tamil Robin Hood, an Asian Castro, a veritable "hero", turned out to be just that: fiction dosed with a large slug of wishful thinking.

The evidence was there for all to see right from the early days - the serial assassinations of political rivals; the murders (executions) of close aides who were perceived as potential threats; the cynical, nerveless massacre of innocent civilians; a complete disregard for international protocol - all the pieces were in place, but no one in the Indian media was willing to recognize them as such. VP was too good a story for the media to play spoilsport. And politicians of all hues gleefully jumped on the bandwagon for their own devious, filthy reasons.

In the final count, Prabhakaran wrought more damage, permanent damage, to the legitimate aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils than all the Singhalese governments of the last 50 years put together. Prabhakaran single handedly circled the history of the Tamils with a dark, black ring of shame with his psychopathy and megalomania.

It is chilling to reflect that only if Prabhakaran had been even a fraction more politically savvy he might have actually won the mantle of international legitimacy that he so craved.

Makes me wonder about the thing they say about people always getting the leader they deserve!