LTTE boss gets karate black belt
Friday, 24 October , 2003, 15:12
Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Pirabhakaran who is feared for his highly motivated suicide bombers has been honoured with a karate black belt for promoting the art of unarmed combat.
A pro-rebel website reported Friday that a grandmaster of the Shotokan branch of karate bestowed the honour on Pirabhakaran, 48, who has mastered the art of guerrilla warfare and made suicide bombings his trademark.
The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was given the black belt in the northern rebel-held town of Kilinochchi Thursday for “promoting the growth of the art of karate,” the Tamilnet.com website said. He was presented the honour by Bonnie Roberts, 74, who was a short while earlier recognised by Pirabhakaran as the “father of karate in Tamil Eelam,” the rebels’ name for the “homeland” of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority. "
The national award includes a medal embossed with the Tiger emblem," the website said. “At the end of the event, grandmaster Bonnie Roberts commended the LTTE leader for promoting the growth of the art of karate and honoured him by presenting a black belt, the leader’s sixth,” the Tamilnet said.
Pirabhakana’s prowess in karate is not widely known, but the Tamilnet website carried a photograph of him sporting a white karate outfit complete with a black belt and posing next to Roberts.
Roberts, who is Tamil, is a well-known karate instructor throughout the island. Pirabhakaran, who founded the Tiger movement in 1972, leads a band of dedicated guerrillas who scramble to carry out suicide bombings, before which they get the privilege of a last supper with the rebel supremo.