Shenali D Waduge

We salute the Bravery of Sri Lanka’s War Heroes and the truth they defended with their live. Each May, while large numbers pay tribute to the War Heroes who defeated terrorism in May 2009, a minor group gather to glorify the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization under the guise of mourning”. In doing so they are slapping the victims of the terrorists who comprised Sinhalese, Muslims, Foreigners & even Tamils. No liberation movement uses their own as human shields, hostages or child soldiers. It was Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces who carried out South Asia’s largest humanitarian rescue operation simultaneously as they took on the LTTE terrorists & brought to safety close to 300,000 Tamils. This truth echoes louder than any candles lit for terrorists.

The Western diplomats, the UN, INGOs know very well that the military onslaught was against terrorists & not the people. Their only angry is that their 30-year investment in terror came to an abrupt close and they wished to take revenge as it meant having to re-charter a new strategy.

They didn’t care that Sri Lanka bled from a conflict that was created in India in late 1970s to pass on India’s Tamil Nadu self-determination headache to Sri Lanka as that fitted well into India’s strategic objective of using the Tamil” card to exert influence in the strategically important North & East of Sri Lanka, which the West was also eyeing. Eventually, LTTE passed pillow from India to West with heavy influence by the Church & Western NGOs.

None of those who supported LTTE be they foreign or locals cared that civilians were taxed, abducted & executed, that Tamil moderates were silenced with bullets, that suicide bombings became a routine, that schools became recruitment centres & hope became hostage. Those that commemorate LTTE with full fanfare cared not how over 30 years generations of Tamil children were kidnapped & turned into child soldiers. Why should they bother, their children were safe overseas, in foreign schools & getting foreign employment! Every annual commemoration was only a means of riding on Tamils & even LTTE to secure themselves a place among their society & politically. If these fronts dared not come forward to even claim the body of Prabakaran & conduct his funeral rites, what is the point of lavish commemorations after his death!

After 30 years of terror, President Mahinda as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces decided to finally bring peace to all & declared a military offensive though LTTE was given 3 occasions to surrender which they refused. It was following this declaration that the military was ordered to carry out a humanitarian rescue operation which rescued close to 300,000 Tamil civilians sacrificing over 6000 soldier lives though LTTE had shot some fleeing Tamils dead. No one wants to keep a scorecard on how many Tamils LTTE killed. No one is even bothered to count how many injured LTTE combatants LTTE put into buses & killed either.

The Largest Hostage Rescue in the Region

This achievement cannot be diluted or humiliated as the rescue was done while Sri Lankan soldiers were under fire, under pressure & under immense international scrutiny. Their duty was not only to end the terrorists but to save lives of Tamils kept as hostages & human shields by LTTE.

The Consultative Committee Meetings held every two weeks in the presence of Govt Secretaries & Military heads inviting diplomats & heads of INGOs to be present since the start of the offensive. If they had issues, they could have easily raised them at these bi-weekly meetings. However, none of the diplomats or INGOs raised a single issue about inadequacies in delivery of food, medicines etc… months later they were all parroting 40,000 dead” without an iota of proof highlighting their hypocrisy.

Let the World remember who the Real Victims are

Yes, people have the right to mourn. But when they gather under LTTE flags, glorify suicide bombers, and call mass murderers freedom fighters,” they aren’t mourning. They are rewriting a fake history glorifying terrorists!

Everyone who attends these LTTE commemorations kneeling down at altars meant for LTTE dead are dishonoring the thousands of Tamil civilians & Sinhalese/Muslim & even Foreign civilians who were:

• Killed by LTTE landmines
• Forced into battle against their will
• Used as bargaining chips in the final days of war
• Assassinated & targeted for no reason

And they dishonor every nation that has suffered from terrorism by celebrating one of its most ruthless practitioners.

We Remember Differently

We don’t light candles for terrorists.

We light candles for victims.

We salute the bravery of the Sri Lankan Army — not because they were perfect, but because when faced with evil, they fought — and they saved lives.

Let the world glorify who they will.

• We will continue to speak for the mothers who lost children.
• For the children who lost limbs.
• For the soldiers who walked into death zones with water bottles instead of grenades
• For the soldiers who even gave their meal to the Tamil civilians that were starved by LTTE.
• For a nation that chose peace — not by surrender, but by sacrifice.

Sri Lanka’s Final Stand wasn’t just a Military Victory — It Was a Humanitarian Triumph

To every foreign politician, activist, or misguided sympathizer who still kneels before the LTTE’s flag, ask yourself:

Would you lay flowers at a grave marked with Al-Qaeda’s emblem?

Would you excuse ISIS because they claimed to fight for someone’s rights?

Then why would you do it for the LTTE?

We can’t stop those who want to glorify terrorists.

But we will never let them own the truth.

We stand for the real victims.

We remember the real heroes.

And we will never forget the price paid for Sri Lanka’s peace & who paid that price with their lives.

Investigate monetary links of foreign individuals & politicians who glorify terrorism under the guise of human rights.

Realize that Sri Lanka’s conflict lasted 30 years because of West/India’s political & financial investment. This cost innocent lives. Sri Lanka fought not only to end LTTE terrorism but against international geopolitics too.

There can be no healing until people & the Govt especially distinguishes who the terrorists are. Allowing terrorists to hold commemorations while LTTE remains banned shows that the Govt needs to face reality & facts first.

From the moment President Mahinda Rajapakse declared decision to militarily end LTTE & rescue Tamils kept as hostages by LTTE, nationalists & patriotic citizens too joined the war effort by providing the people’s support & the moral backing for the armed force. This went along way as it provided a defense nexus against the entities & enemies though small but were powerfully positioned & were trying their utmost to prevent the defeat of LTTE.

The ploy these entities used was the slogan human rights” – agents of the West/India who wanted to continue LTTE terrorism set up the mechanism for the human rights rhetoric as a weapon to undermine Sri Lanka’s war victory. The Resolutions & the smear campaigns continue to be part of that campaign alongside the UNHRC demands that aim to take revenge against those that ended LTTE & to weaken the Sri Lankan state diluting its own administrative legal structures. All those blindly agreeing to draft new legislation, pass MOUs, allow interference, give up State land & resources are all agents of these foreign lobbies.

To mourn the death of a terrorist leader who held the Tamil people hostage under brutal conditions is a mockery. These terrorists were no martyrs; they were tyrants who imprisoned their own people. They used their own as human shields and killed those who dared to escape & destroyed the childhood of thousands of Tamil children turned into child soldiers.

The younger generation, particularly those in Sri Lanka, must be taught the truth about the LTTE, their crimes, and the heroes who fought to defend them not the bogus genocide week” being taught in Canada. This is not about creating division but about cultivating a future where violence and terror are recognized as unacceptable solutions to any political problem.

Victory Day should remain a unifying moment for all Sri Lankans.

Shenali D Waduge