Colombo: With LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran dead, Sri Lanka did not declare an alert for the first time in several years on his birthday, celebrated as 'Maha Veer Day' by Tamil Tigers.
"The peace loving Tamils in Sri Lanka and overseas are jubilant as they are no more under the threat of the LTTE and the threatening 'Maha Veer Day'," an official release said.
"The Maha Veeer Day which is held annually on November 26 to mark Prabakaran's birthday is dead with the death of the LTTE leader," it said.
The LTTE supremo used to deliver a radio speech from the jungles of Wanni on this day during his lifetime. 54-year-old Prabhakaran was killed by the security
forces in May this year.
"The Tamils were threatened by the LTTE at the gun point for three decades and those who opposed were killed in thousands," it said.
In his last speech on November 26 last year, the tiger chief had remained adamant on formation of the so-called Eelam for Sri Lankan Tamils.
Meanwhile, the proxy Tamil Tigers have issued a statement from an undisclosed destination on behalf of "the Committee for the formation of Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam" to mark Prabhakaran's birthday.
"Today (November 26) is the day we strongly express to the world our desire for freedom and our determination to achieve it," it said.
PTI
First Published: Friday, November 27, 2009, 15:34