LTTE leader pays homage on Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2008, 17:30 GMT]
Leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) payed homage to 22,390 fighters who have lost their lives in the armed struggle since 27 November 1982, the day when the first LTTE fighter Lt. Sankar lost his life. The Heroes Day remembrance event was held at 6:03 p.m. at an undisclosed location in Vanni on Thursday, LTTE officials told TamilNet. 2,239 LTTE fighters have been killed in action in the largely defensive war of the Tigers in 2008.

The LTTE has released photos of Mr. Pirapaharan attending Heroes Day event in Vanni where he paid homage to Lt. Sankar and the senior commanders who have been killed during the 26 years since 1982.

"It is for us a commemoration day of reverence when we pay homage to our brave and valiant heroes who have transformed our land from one that was for many years subjugated by foreign rule into a defiant land refusing to submit to the will of the alien oppressor," LTTE leader said in his annual Heroes Day speech on Thursday.



"This is our national day on which we engrave tenderly in our hearts the memory of our great heroes who died and whose sacred aspiration was the redemption of our land so that our people may live in freedom and with self-respect."



"Our heroes loved this land deeply. From the moment they fixed their eyes on the redemption of our motherland to the moment they closed their eyes permanently, the sacrifices they made have no parallel in the history of the world. No country but ours had at any time encountered such wonderful dedication as expressed in the actions of our valiant heroes."



"Our heroes died for this land and are at rest in its bosom. The land where they are embedded, belongs to us. It is our own land. But an arrogant Sinhala nation stands adamant and is determined to occupy and conquer this historic land."



"All human suffering springs from unbridled desire. Unless one extricates oneself from the clutch of greed, one will not free himself from the fetters of sorrow. With its greed for land, Sinhalam has entered a militaristic path of destruction. It has sought to build the support of the world to confront us. It is living in a dreamland of military victory. It is a dream from which it will awake," Mr. Pirapaharan said in his speech.