Maaveerar Naal, LTTE Commemoration, and the Politics of Selective Memory

 

Maaveerar Naal has increasingly been presented—especially by diaspora activists—as a cultural or humanitarian day of mourning for Tamils. However, the historical origins, rituals, and political functions of Maaveerar Naal reveal that it was created and institutionalized by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) not as a Tamil national day of remembrance, but as an exclusively LTTE‑centric event. We examine the structure, symbolism, and ideological role of Maaveerar Naal, promoted by pro‑LTTE networks to keep alive the quest for separatism which has now progressed to political attempt having failed the terrorist attempt.

 

Maaveerar Naal is not representative of Tamil civilians. It was, and remains, a political ritual designed to reinforce LTTE identity, glorify armed militancy, and sustain diaspora mobilisation. The continued use of LTTE symbols, uniformed imagery, coordinated rituals, and selective commemoration raises legitimate national security, ideological, and ethical concerns. Maaveerar Naal is not relevant or applicable for non-LTTE Tamil civilians or non-LTTE Tamil militants.

 

1. Origins and Purpose of Maaveerar Naal

 

https://telibrary.com/en/maveerar-nal-1989/

 

Maaveerar Naal (Great Heroes Day) began as an LTTE‑created event.

The date—27 November—was chosen to honour the death of the first LTTE combatant, Lt. Shankar.

Prabhakaran institutionalised the day to create a “cult of martyrdom” central to LTTE identity-building.

When Jaffna university commemorates Maaveerar Naal on 27 Nov – they are glorifying terrorists

When academics professionals politicians commemrate Maaveerar Naal on 27 Nov – they are glorifying terrorists

When students,  youth living in Sri Lanka or overseas commemorate Maaveerar Naal on 27 Nov – they too are glorifying terrorists

When diplomats & headso f INGOs or foreign politicians take part in Maaveerar Naal on 27 Nov – they are definitely glorifying terrorists – shame on them

1.1 LTTE Exclusivity

Maaveerar Naal commemorates only LTTE cadres.

It does not honour:

• Non-LTTE civilian Tamil victims
• Victims of other Tamil militant groups (TELO, EPRLF, EROS, PLOTE)
• Tamil political leaders assassinated by the LTTE
• Tamils killed by LTTE
• Muslim or Sinhalese victims of LTTE attacks

 

This selective memory reveals the ideological nature of the event.

 

1.2 Ritualised Political Messaging

 

The commemorative structure includes:

• LTTE flags and insignia
• Red‑and‑yellow LTTE colour themes
• Video/photographic displays of LTTE cadres
• Speeches glorifying martyrdom
• The 6:05 pm ritual aligned with Lt. Shankar’s time of death

 

These elements are not markers of cultural mourning; they are symbols of political identity and militant continuity.

1.3 Earliest Documented LTTE-Organised Commemorations (Photos & Sources)

 

The first known photographic and documentary evidence of Maaveerar Naal comes from LTTE’s own publications.

 

These confirm the event’s unmistakeably LTTE‐centric, militarised origins.

 

• 1989 – First small‐scale commemoration held in LTTE‐controlled areas.

Documented in LTTE newsletters and memorial leaflets featuring Prabhakaran, Shankar, and early Black Tigers.

 

• 1991 – LTTE’s official magazine “Viduthalai Pulikal” carries full-page spreads of the event.

 

Images show:

– rows of uniformed LTTE cadres

– LTTE flag backdrops

– heavy emphasis on Prabhakaran’s leadership

– the first use of lamp-lighting rituals.

 

• 1992 – LTTE’s “Thuyilum Illam” (martyrs cemetery) photographs appear for the first time with formal tomb‐stones.

 

• 1993 – The first *mass* Maaveerar Naal event is recorded in LTTE’s international newsletters.

 

These feature:

– military parades

– Prabhakaran’s portraits

– heavy recruitment messaging

– coordination with LTTE overseas branches.

 

These primary LTTE sources establish beyond dispute that Maaveerar Naal was conceived, branded, and promoted by the LTTE itself as a militant organisational event – not a Tamil cultural remembrance.

 

 

2. Rebutting Key LTTE / Pro‑LTTE Arguments

 

2.1 “Maaveerar Naal is a cultural day of mourning for Tamils.”

Rebuttal: It is a commemorative day only for LTTE members. No Tamil civilian victims are included. Families from other Tamil militant groups are deliberately excluded by the LTTE. These families are not allowed to publicly mourn their dead sons & daughters. Universities including “academics” and diaspora groups that frame this as a “Tamil Mourning Day” are misrepresenting history and contributing to separatist sentiment.

 

2.2 “LTTE were freedom fighters, not terrorists.”

Rebuttal: Multiple governments and organisations across the world designated the LTTE as a terrorist organisation because of its systematic use of suicide bombings, civilian massacres, assassinations, and coercion. The continuance of the global ban even after 2009 demonstrates that the designation is based on evidence.

The quest for separatism continues.

Terrorism ended but not separatism – now being pushed by political means.

 

2.3 “LTTE did not use child soldiers.”

Rebuttal: International human rights organisations documented widespread recruitment of minors by the LTTE. Forced conscription campaigns targeted Tamil families, some repeatedly. Indoctrination included training rituals and, , distribution of cyanide capsules. These practices underline the militarised social control exercised by the LTTE.

Every family was mandated to “donate” a child by Prabakaran’s orders.

Adele Balasingham trained children from late 1970s to mid 1990s – several books authored by her proudly admits to such training.

No global legal action has been taken against her for these crimes while she freely lives in UK.

Children’s fundamental rights were robbed.

 

2.4 “LTTE did not endanger civilians or use them as human shields.”

Rebuttal: Independent UN reports record:

• LTTE prevented civilians from escaping
• LTTE shot civilians attempting to flee
• LTTE embedded military infrastructure among civilians
• Civilians were forced to dig trenches and serve as labour
• UNSG made several appeals to LTTE to release civilians & children which LTTE ignored.

 

These acts constitute grave violations of humanitarian law.

 

2.5 “Assassinations blamed on LTTE were propaganda.”

Rebuttal: LTTE’s political assassinations are well-documented by Tamil politicians, rival militant groups, independent analysts, and eyewitnesses. Victims include leaders of TELO, EPRLF, PLOTE, TULF, Sri Lankan officials, Muslim leaders, and even Tamil civilians. The pattern shows an organised effort to eliminate all political rivals.

 

2.6 “Diaspora commemorations are harmless and protected speech.”

Rebuttal: Commemorations remain structured around LTTE symbols.

 

When organisers insist on using LTTE flags, cadet portraits, Prabhakaran’s speeches, or militarised aesthetics, these events become political mobilisation platforms for a banned organisation—not neutral cultural rituals.

 

2.7 “Suicide cadres were heroes, not terrorists.”

Rebuttal: Suicide bombings targeting civilians and public spaces cannot be framed as honourable warfare. The LTTE’s systematic use of suicide attacks—including on economic, political, and civilian targets—constitutes an intentional strategy of terror. Heroic framing through Maaveerar Naal rituals reinforces radicalisation among youth.

 

2.8 “LTTE governance structures show it was a state-like administration.”

Rebuttal: While the LTTE established courts, police units, and tax systems in areas under its control, these institutions were tools of coercion. Dissenting Tamils were abducted, imprisoned, tortured, or killed. Forced recruitment and extortion contradicted the claim of a protective parallel government.

 

2.9 “LTTE fought humanely; the State alone is responsible for civilian deaths.”

Rebuttal: LTTE-specific crimes—preventing escape, embedding among civilians, forced labour—are directly linked to civilian casualties. Survivor testimonies repeatedly describe LTTE brutality against civilians seeking safety.

LTTE’s initial killings began by attacking border villages killing even pregnant mothers & slitting necks of babies.

LTTE committed ethnic cleansing by ordering eviction of Sinhalese & Muslims living in the North in order to claim North belong “only to Tamils”.

 

2.10 “Fundraising and front organisations are exaggerated claims.”

Rebuttal: The persistence of LTTE symbolism in diaspora events, political lobbying, and digital propaganda demonstrates an active ideological network. The commercialisation of Maaveerar Naal (souvenirs, coordinated campaigns, media productions) evidences ongoing mobilization and the profit making nature of the LTTE diaspora.

 

2.11 “LTTE empowered women; allegations of female abuse are false.”

Rebuttal: LTTE recruitment of women was militarisation, not liberation. Many female cadres—including minors—were coerced into frontline combat and suicide missions. Uniformed representation does not equate to empowerment, particularly within a violent, authoritarian movement.

 

2.12 “International criticism of LTTE is biased or political.”

Rebuttal: HRW, UNICEF, UN investigative bodies, and independent human rights researchers documented LTTE abuses through field evidence, interviews, and survivor testimonies. The consistency of these findings across multiple independent institutions undermines claims of political targeting.

 

 

2.13 “Cracking down on LTTE cemeteries is repression of Tamil mourning.”

Rebuttal: As the LTTE is a proscribed terrorist organisation, the State is legally bound to prevent the public display and eulogizing of its terror symbols. The concern is not mourning but the political glorification of a banned militant movement. If Maaveerar Naal were a genuine communal mourning event, it would include all Tamil victims—not exclusively LTTE fighters as well as not disallow family members of other Tamil militant groups to publicly mourn their dead.

 

2.14 “Tamil victimhood justifies LTTE violence.”

Rebuttal: Historical grievances do not grant any movement the right to commit war crimes, recruit children, assassinate civilians or political rivals, or use suicide terrorism. A legitimate political cause does not legitimise illegitimate methods. Majority of LTTE’’s victims were ordinary people who had done no harm to LTTE.

 

2.15 “Academics say it is cultural, not militant.”

 

Rebuttal: A number of diaspora‐aligned academics attempt to reframe Maaveerar Naal as a Tamil “grief tradition.” However:

 

• No Tamil cultural text, ritual, or historical practice predating LTTE mentions Maaveerar Naal.
• No other Tamil militant group commemorates on this date.
• All known rituals—6:05pm torch lighting, roll call of LTTE dead, LTTE flags, Prabhakaran speeches— were *invented* by the LTTE.

 

Academic attempts to “Tamilise” Maaveerar Naal are modern reinterpretations, not cultural traditions.

 

These reinterpretations serve:

• diaspora political mobilisation
• legitimisation of LTTE’s past violence
• pressure campaigns against Sri Lanka internationally

 

None of these claims withstand comparison with LTTE’s own printed and photographic record.

 

3. The Ideological Structure of Maaveerar Naal

Maaveerar Naal is not simply memorialisation—it is an ideological project.

Its key functions include:

• Myth‑making and glorifying “martyrdom”
• Consolidating a loyal cadre identity
• Mobilising diaspora youth
• Reinforcing separatist narratives
• Maintaining LTTE’s political relevance post‑2009
• Keeping LTTE kitty going – the project has become a lucrative business for a handful

 

This ideological apparatus explains why the LTTE invested systematically in cemeteries, monuments, week-long rituals (Maaveerar Vaaram), and symbolic choreography.

LTTE Families are also given special names and treated above all other Tamils.

 

The LTTE invested more in cemeteries, uniforms, and commemoration rituals than any other militant group in South Asia. This was deliberate psychological conditioning to create a generational identity tied to martyrdom.

 

The systematic documentation of each cadre’s death in LTTE publications (with photos, biographies, battlefield descriptions) shows that Maaveerar Naal was the central pillar of LTTE propaganda.

 

4. The Political and Security Implications Today

The persistence of Maaveerar Naal, often in LTTE colours, has several implications:

 

• Radicalisation risk:Youth are exposed to romanticised militant narratives. Many have not lived in terror times to feel the fear of LTTE terror.
• Diaspora mobilisation:Networks use symbolism for political lobbying & international lobbying.
• Historical distortion:The exclusive commemoration misrepresents Tamil suffering. Many Tamils suffered at the hands of LTTE – their narratives never get any public hearing.
• Security concerns:Glorification of a proscribed group encourages extremist continuity.

 

This is not an issue of Tamil identity; it is an issue of repackaged militant glorification.

All those siding with the LTTE post-2009 are not siding with ordinary Tamils who genuinely want to live in peaceful coexistence.

Maaveerar Naal events abroad follow an identical script every year—flags, Prabhakaran portraits, uniformed LTTE children, and coordinated slogans—demonstrating central direction, not spontaneous community grief.

These are political mobilisations, not cultural gatherings.

 

5. Towards a Balanced Framework of Remembrance

A legitimate Tamil remembrance framework would:

• Honour Tamil civilians killed byall actors
• Include victims of multiple Tamil political movements
• Acknowledge massacres of Muslims and Sinhalese by LTTE
• Avoid militant symbolism, uniforms, flags, slogans
• Promote reconciliation over militancy
• Not go to Geneva & put posters claiming “LTTE is our Savior”

 

Maaveerar Naal, as currently practised, does not meet these criteria.

 

Maaveerar Naal is not a neutral or cultural day of mourning; it is a political ritual created by a proscribed terrorist organisation to reinforce its identity and ideology. Its exclusive commemorative structure, militant symbolism, and ongoing mobilisation functions contradict claims of cultural harmlessness. Understanding the origins, purpose, and ideological implications of Maaveerar Naal is essential for any serious conversation on reconciliation, national security, and historical truth in Sri Lanka.

 

A path to genuine communal remembrance must be inclusive, civilian‑centred, and free of militant nostalgia. No one is stopping a mother or father of a terrorist mourning their dead son or daughter but that mourning does not need terrorist paraphernalia nor terrorist slogans & terrorist organizing.

 

A remembrance day that excludes Tamil victims of LTTE violence is not Tamil; it is LTTE. Any framework for true Tamil remembrance must break from LTTE symbolism entirely.

 

A message every Sri Lankan elected Government must take note of without appeasing terror outfits & their foreign campaigners.

 

 

 

Shenali D Waduge