Historical Event on 8/5/1986

Vellupillai Prabakaran, Tamil rebel leader, died. The vision of secession for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority may have come to an end. But so, too, might the violence that the nation had endured. Today, Tamil rebel leader Vellupillai Prabakaran accepted the peace accord signed last week by India and Sri Lanka. Prabakaran surrendered to Indian forces and his men turned over their weapons. The pact is seen as a compromise by the co-signers. But to the dejected Tamil leader, who has fought since childhood for a Tamil victory, it was a stinging defeat. The treaty creates an autonomous multi-religious zone in the eastern and northern provinces. The rebels dreamed and passed away for a separate state of their own.