Vaiko cuts cake to celebrate Prabhakaran's 60th birth anniversary

MDMK leader Vaiko Wednesday celebrated the 60th birth anniversary of slain Tamil Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran by cutting a cake, a party leader said.

"Our leader celebrated the birth anniversary of Prabhakaran by cutting a cake in Karur district," a party official told IANS here. Karur is 375 km from here.

The party leader also said MDMK got permission from the Madras High Court to hold a public meeting here Thursday.

On Nov 19, Vaiko had called for grand celebrations Nov 26 to mark Prabhakaran's 60th birth anniversary.

He urged people to burst crackers and offer special prayers at 7.18 p.m. -- which he said was the birth time of Prabhakaran.

The celebrations should take place wherever Tamils live around the world and "echo the cause of Tamil Eelam", he said in a statement.

Prabhakaran was born into a middle class family in the coastal town of Velvettiturai in Jaffna peninsula on the northern tip of Sri Lanka.

He founded a militant group called Tamil New Tigers in 1972 and the LTTE in 1976, and waged a prolonged war for secession of the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan military killed Prabhakaran in May 2009 in a blitzkrieg that also reportedly claimed the lives of thousands of rebels as well as civilians.

The LTTE, accused of assassinating former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, has been outlawed in India since 1992.