Even in the mid-'80s, both Prabhakaran and his Merlin, Anton Balasingham, had categorically told this writer, in an interview in Madras, that the LTTE would not want to remain a puppet in the hands of Indian agencies. They had set about actualising this by systematically eliminating leaders and cadres of rival Tamil factions. The long list still makes one shudder. Sam Thambimuttu (EPRLF), Sri Sabaratnam (TELO), Uma Maheswaran (PLOTE), Appapillai Amrithalingam and Yogeswaran (TULF), Ranjan Padmanabha (EPRLF). It is ironical to imagine all this was, by proxy, of Indian making.
