Poddu calls from beyond the grave?

Some of DefenceWire's readers have asked us again about the fate of Poddu Amman.

The reason for this new-found doubt is due to newspaper (local and foreign) articles indicating a) Poddu's body has not been recovered b) Army was still searching for his remains, c) he may have escaped and d) he is now in SLA custody and revealing identities of remaining LTTE spies.

While the first two points, that his body was never found and that Army is searching for it has some truth in it, the latter points are completely false.

Poddu's body has not been recovered and the Army, like they are supposed to, are searching for ALL that is LTTE. If Poddu's remains were indeed recovered, they would now be beyond any form of recognition.

Poddu's death is a near certainty. Latest eyewitness reports say he was alive on 17th evening-18th dawn. Poddu was subsequently trapped inside the box in Vellamullaivaikkaal when at dawn on 18th May 2009, the Special Forces backed by heavy armour moved in.

The remains of a large number of LTTE cadres was in pieces after the small patch of land was decimated by heavy fire soon after the escape of the 80,500 odd civilians.

A cadre who surrendered to the Army had earlier mentioned that Poddu was killed by a shell in a direct hit and that his remains were buried in an unmarked grave. What is evident, beyond reasonable doubt is that Poddu never escaped the battlefield alive.

The other rumours that Poddu's status as a MIC captive and tipping off authorities about LTTE spies in the Army etc is inaccurate. Many of these stories point to a Lieutenant Colonel from the Army and one random report pointed to the capture of an electronic goods salesman in Colombo.

The arrest of the Lieutenant Colonel was forthcoming due to a number of tip-offs. The officer, formerly of the Special Forces (late 90s), was part of a unit that hunted down Sinhalese youth during the time of the second JVP uprising. He was also attached to Military Intelligence at that time.

Fresh doubts about the man arose in 2006-7 and now, with much less of a burden to fight a war, the Army has time to purge its rank and file of similar parasites as it had done continuously over the last half a decade or so.

This, again has nothing to do with Poddu Amman. In any event, Poddu Amman would not have known of these spies as there were other much junior cadres operating as their handlers.