The World - News from April 5, 1988

The Indian government paid Sri Lanka’s top Tamil separatist leader to ensure his cooperation in an accord intended to end the rebels’ war against the dominant Sinhalese, an Indian spokeswoman said. She declined to specify the amount given to Velupillai Prabhakaran, but the Times of India said it was “common knowledge that it was to the tune of $385,000 per month.” Indian High Commissioner J. N. Dixit said that Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, asked for the money in lieu of “taxes” that had been paid to the militia by the people of Jaffna, the Tigers’ main stronghold in northern Sri Lanka.