TAMIL GUARDIAN Wednesday May 21, 2008 3 NEWS Brigadier passes away

Brigadier Balraj, one of the top commanders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil (LTTE) passed away on Tuesday of a heart attack. The LTTE has announced three days of national mourning for 21-23 May. In over two decades of service with the LTTE, Brig. Balraj, 43, rose rapidly through the ranks on the strength of his notable courage and shrewdness on the battlefield, fighters who served with him said. He had been ailing for some time and had been hospitalised for three months earlier this year, reports said. He had undergone a heart-related operation in 2003, during the Norwegian peace process. The operation was conducted in a Singapore hospital and he had spent several months recuperating in thereafter. Throughout his career, Brig. Balraj, one the most feared LTTE commanders, preferred to lead from the front and had been seri- ously wounded many times. His healing was often compounded by his diabetes. LTTE soldiers who served with Brig. Balraj say preferred to direct battles from amid the exploding shells and flying bul- lets of the frontline - a few hun- dred meters from the enemy posi- In a famous picture, Brigadier Balraj is seen leading Tamil Tiger fighters in one the most daring missions the LTTE launched. Balraj’s tions - rather than the confines of strike force is deep inside Army-controlled territory, on its way to capture and hold a section of the -Elephant Pass high- a command-centre. way. With only the weapons they carried with them when the infiltrated the Jaffna peninsula by sea, the 1,500 Tiger fighters held their He had twice commanded the ‘cut-out’ or ‘box’ for several weeks against repeated attempts by thousands of Sri Lankan troops supported by tanks and artillery to open LTTE's crack Anthony the highway. Starved of supplies from Jaffna, the SLA base complex at Elephant Pass collapsed before an LTTE offensive in April 2000. Regiment. He was its first com- mander for two years from when the SLA for 34 days with only the Pasilan in 1986. moved into the deep jungles of "A measure of Balraj's it was established in 1991 and light weapons they had carried in Colonel , Northern Ma'nalaa'ru, which is near his courage revealed itself to us when commanded it again for two years or those arms captured from the Forces Commander of the LTTE, native place of Kokkuththo- shrapnel smashed his right leg in from 1995. enemy. recalled that in one heavy battle at duvaay. the Yarl Devi battle of 1993. A Brig. Balraj came to particular When the LTTE assault on the Munthirikaikkulam Balraj took Balraj was wounded three decision not to amputate the limb public prominence for his com- Elephant Pass base complex part in an LTTE ambush in which times during direct confrontations was made and Balraj suffered mand of a daring LTTE operation began, the garrison there was fourteen SLA soldiers were killed with the Indian Army. excruciating pain of limb repair. in 2000: he led 1,500 Tigers deep unable to receive supplies from and several weapons were seized The Indian military launched Compounding his healing prob- into the (SLA) - Jaffna. by the Tigers its Operation Checkmate in sever- lems was unstable diabetes. After held Jaffna peninsula to capture The SLA launched repeated Balraj took part in several al phases and in one phase many months in bed and a great and hold a section of the key A9 ferocious onslaughts against Brig. ambushes on SLA forces in Vanni deployed the elite Gurkha com- deal of pain, Balraj eventually highway linking the SLA base Balraj's position. As the situation during that year, demsontrating mandos. At one critical battle- walked again on his leg, but the complex at Elephant Pass with in Elephant Pass became critical, front, Balraj launched a surprise injury left him with a permanent the Jaffna rearbase areas. top Sri Lankan commanders con- Commander who frontal assault on the Gurkhas limp and a recurrent wound infec- The large strike force slipped verged in Jaffna to mobilise the located in open terrain. The feroc- tion." into the heavily fortified peninsu- relief effort, but to no avail: the rose through the ity of the LTTE attack forced the "Nevertheless, he viewed his la by sea and trekked inland from 'Vaththirayan box' held until the ranks on the strength elite commandos to scatter into injury a insignificant compared Thalaiyadi to the Puthukkaattu Elephant Pass garrison collapsed of his notable courage deep into booby-trapped jungle with the suffering and sacrifices Junction on the A9. With complex before the LTTE offensive. where they suffered heavy casual- of his cades and continued to defences manned by thousands of Balraj (Balasegaram Kandiah) and shrewdness on ties. function as a field commander in Sri Lankan troops, such a move was born on 27 November, 1965. the battlefield Adele Balasingham, wife of the warzone." had hitherto been considered an He hails from Kokkuththoduvaay the LTTE's late theoretician, Reports say that even as he impossibility. in Mullaiththeevu district. considerable courage and battle- , recalls was forced to rest in hospital by It was also considered impos- he joined the LTTE in 1983 as field acumen, Col. Theepan said. Brig.Balraj in her book 'Will to bouts of illness this year, Brig. sible for a lightly armed strike a part time member and became a However, Balraj's defining Freedom' based on her experi- Balraj had engaged himself in force, surrounded by thousands of full time member in 1984. moment as a field commander ences of living several years with Mannaar and Manalaaru war Sri Lankan troops supported by In 1985 he departed for India came later during the India - the LTTE. fronts where LTTE fighters are artillery, tanks and airpower to from Vanni for military training. LTTE war. In Jaffna, he fought "Incredible as it may seem, putting up stiff resistance against seriously disrupt the key highway. His batch, traveilling under the side by side with Major Pasilan this fighting hero is a reserved the SLA. Brig. Balraj's raid gave the lie supervision of a senior LTE cadre and Major Maran, when the con- man," she writes. Speaking in May 2006, soon to the assumption that no rear Kandeepan, was confronted by flict erupted between the LTTE "Balraj is known, loved and after the Sri Lankan government depth of defence of a state's con- the SLA. Kandeepan and some of and the Indian Peace Keeping respected not only for his leg- had launched its opening offen- ventional army can be seriously the other recruits were killed. Force (IPKF) in 1987. endary military successes and sive against the LTTE in Sampur, threatened by anyone except an Balraj was wounded. Armed with an AK-47 assault undisputed and abounding Brig (then Colonel) Balraj armed force with strategic air Fellow fighters remark that he rifle and a Rocket-Propelled- courage, but also for his utter observed: "The Fourth Eelam War power had been wounded in combat Grenade Launcher, Balraj fought commitment and devotion to the will be the final war, and a terrible Holding what became called even before he received his mili- Indian forces at Kopaay, destroy- cadres under his command. war that will bring the long await- the 'Vaththirayan Box', a perime- tary training: he was in the 9th ing battle tanks of the Indian Sensitive and respectful of the ed liberation to our people and ter of a few kilometres deep batch of the LTTE training camp army. sacrifice and tribulations they our homeland. We are certainly inside the Jaffna High Security in Tamil Nadu. Later, as the LTTE moved have endured, Balraj opts to positioned to be victorious. The Zone, with no hope of resupply, When Balraj came back to from urban- to jungle- warfare spend as much time as possible in people are with us and our leader Brig. Balraj and his troops battled Vanni, he served with Major and shifted its base to Vanni, he the camps with them." will lead us to victory."