On 17 May 2009, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the LTTE chief of international relations, admit the organization's defeat stating "This battle has reached its bitter end ... We have decided to silence our guns. Our only regrets are for the lives lost and that we could not hold out for longer".
He was born Shanmugam Kumaran Tharmalingam on April 6, 1955 in the town of Kankesanthurai in the Jaffna District of Ceylon.