The Tigers Who Set Fire to Poonagari

Eelam war 2
The Tigers Who Set Fire to Poonagari

The Poonagari War

The Poonagari War – The battle that marked the beginning of Tamil Eelam’s relentless resistance against Sri Lankan genocidal occupation. This represented a new dimension in the structuring of the armed forces, the unification of forces, and in the strategic deployment of armed forces. It marked a significant advancement in both the system of warfare and the strategy of war. A monumental battle where the Tamil armed forces came together, united on a national scale, and confronted the enemy. This battle is cemented in world history as a war like no other, unparalleled in its scale and significance. The credit for devising and orchestrating this offensive goes to the national commander-in-chief. For an entire year, he worked tirelessly, without adequate rest or sleep, with unwavering focus, until his plan manifested as an earthquake in Poonagari.

The armed forces of Tamil Eelam relentlessly breached the enemy’s unbreakable iron fortress. Every division of the armed forces of Tamil Eelam’s liberation Tigers — ranging from the Sea Tigers (Navy), Black Tigers (Special forces), Striped Tigers, and Tigresses (all women battalion) confronted the enemy head-on across all battlefronts. The Poonagari joint force base turned into a fierce battlefield. Intense fighting broke out across all fronts, with every commander pushing their Tigers ahead. They displayed incredible speed and courage.

On each front, every chapter became a legendary testament to their heroism. The opposing forces were fragmented and disarrayed. They were obliterated, and their occupying camp turned into their final resting place. A thousand heads of the Sinhala occupying forces were struck down. The torrent of their fall turned the Yāḻppāṇam (Jaffna) watershed into a crimson sea. At that time, this sea lay under the dominance of the racist fueled Sinhala genocidal armed forces. It was in those waters that Tamil civilian blood flowed relentlessly. That monstrous army hunted in the waters of Kalalik, claiming blood sacrifices with their drawn swords.

In the dead of night, amidst the eerie silence and biting cold, they ambushed our people—those who were traveling with their lives in their hands—turning their desperate journey into a twisted and ruthless game. In desperate cries, they begged for their lives to be spared. Their hands struck together in a desperate, final plea. and then being hacked into pieces. On that day, the anguished sound of our people’s deaths echoed through the skies of Poonagari, shaking them violently. Upon hearing that cry, the demon army, which had been plotting and rejoicing, collapsed lifeless on the soil of Poonagari. The triumphant roar of our valiant warriors, who avenged our people, struck down the enemy, and ended the hatred, continues to reverberate across the sky of Poonagari to this day.

The fierce battle of Poonagari left the genocidal enemy in disarray, rattling their royal military leadership, causing their commanders to hang their heads in defeat. It caused those who stood with the demon of the genocidal Sinhala chauvinism to tremble. It made the world recognize that the armed forces of Tamil Eelam were unrivaled in the art of war. The flames of Poonagari fueled the rise of the armed struggle, empowering it with fresh vigor. In an unparalleled turn of events, the enemy’s weapons, from motorboats to tanks and artillery, were seized by the Tigers in massive quantities. The enemy’s stranglehold on Yāḻppāṇam neck (Jaffna) loosened, and the core of the Munveli siege was broken.

Dominance over the Tamil Eelam’s Sea waters was firmly established into the hands of the Sea Tigers (Tamil Eelam Navy). This historic war, etched into the land of Poonagari, propelled the revolutionary armed struggle to a new stage in the movement towards self-determination. With one decisive leap, the second phase of the Eelam War steered the movement down a new path and solidified the foundation for the liberation of Tamil Eelam.

We recognize the names and stories of 458 fearless warriors who etched their place in history on the battlefield of Poonagari. – The lives sacrificed by these heroes, so that our people may live in peace, dignity, and security in an independent Tamil Eelam, deserve to be enshrined in the temple of our hearts. In reverence, the nation of Tamil Eelam bows to these historic heroes, whose names will never fade and will live forever in the pages of history.

We, the Tigers, thirst for the liberation of Tamil Eelam.