{"id":116595,"date":"2021-07-29T16:52:29","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T23:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=116595"},"modified":"2021-08-01T15:35:49","modified_gmt":"2021-08-01T22:35:49","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-21ha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/07\/29\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-21ha\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 21Ha"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p><strong>Revised 1.8.21<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the Tamil\ncivilians found that they were getting caught in the gunfire between the army\nand the LTTE, in the last phase of Eelam War IV, they decided to get out of the\nwar zone, into which they had run so eagerly. They ran to the government\nsector, across the lagoon. Television news showed these hostages streaming in\nto the government sector between April and May 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Sri\nLankan armed forces rescued nearly 290,000 Tamil civilians in this manner. This\nis considered the largest humanitarian operation in the world. The army had made special arrangements to\nreceive them .Troops kept the civilians informed about the safe routes to the\ncleared areas as they opened up more escape routes. Public address systems were\npositioned at several locations to convey this information to the civilians.. Television\nnews showed the soldiers helping the aged and sick very tenderly, as these\npersons came into government territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sri Lanka vs LTTE - Hostage rescue mission\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Lv0SaR9Zw9A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Lv0SaR9Zw9A\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/Lv0SaR9Zw9A<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\ngovernment of Sri Lanka need not have rescued civilians who had joined the LTTE\nin its last stronghold. These Tamil civilians were complicit. Complicit means involved with others\nin an activity that is unlawful or wrong.\u201d &nbsp;In this case, they were engaging in treason. They\nhad&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; willingly acted as a human shield\nat Nanthikadal. But the nervous government of Sri Lanka separated the civilians\nfrom the LTTE, rescued them, stabilized them and returned them to their homes\nin the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tamil\ncivilians showed no gratitude towards the government. They never acknowledged\nthe efforts and sacrifices made by the army to bring them to safety, noted\nanalysts .They were simply making&nbsp;&nbsp; use\nof the government for their own ends, which in this case was survival.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;They had shown similar ingratitude\nearlier too. In the 1990s&nbsp;&nbsp; the Tamil\ncivilians&nbsp;&nbsp; in Jaffna, had readily\naccepted the welfare services provided by the army but turned virulently\nagainst the army once the Ceasefire Agreement was signed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the war\nwas over the Tamil civilians resumed their opposition to the government. It is\nno secret that the majority of the Tamil community in the north and east\nsympathized with the LTTE, said analysts.&nbsp; &nbsp;They now\nfelt\nconquered. The cause for which the Tamils fought still remains, said Jehan\nPerera. They distrust the government which has prevented them from obtaining\ntheir Eelam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once these\nTamil civilians returned home, they were given a&nbsp;&nbsp; new status, that of \u2018innocent victims.\u2019&nbsp; Tamil Separatist Movement concocted the story\nthat the Tamil civilians had got caught up in the war, by accident. They knew\nnothing about the war, they were utterly innocent and they deserve sympathy and\nsupport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka Tamil community has suffered disproportionately from a\ncivil war which lasted nearly three decades, the Tamil Separatist Movement\nsaid. They have<strong> <\/strong>suffered unjustly<strong>\u201d<\/strong> during the war,\u201d&nbsp; &nbsp;They are the worst-affected by the war\nand many still remember the suffering they underwent due to decades of conflict.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forty one (41)\nSri Lanka academics issued a statement in 2016, where they drew attention to\nthe \u2018tremendous losses, suffering and trauma to which the citizen of the north\nand east were subject.\u2019 We must remember that this war was fought against its\nown citizens and was the result of historical failures in state building, the\nstatement said. It is necessary to\nacknowledge the loss, suffering and trauma of this war, they emphasized. &nbsp;These educated persons seem to have forgotten\nthat in a civil war fighting \u2018against its own citizens\u2019 was inevitable. &nbsp;Also, it was the LTTE who initiated the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From\nvictimhood, the Tamil civilians were then elevated to hero status. Some analysts\nchose to emphasize the victimhood of Tamils and from this to heroism and valor,\nobserved Maunaguru. Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research has concocted a series\nof stories titled&nbsp; \u2018stories of\nresilience\u2019. US Deputy Chief of Mission Martin Kelly visited a demining site in\nVavuniya and spoke to several women de- miners. Clearing the deadly devices\ntakes skill, patience, and bravery,\u201d Kelly said. The women de-miners are\nperforming a courageous service in rebuilding their communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tamil\ncivilians were never \u2018innocent victims\u2019. That is nonsense. They supported the\nLTTE and they knew what they were doing. They spied for the LTTE .They watched\nthe movements of the STF teams, and informed the LTTE<strong>.<\/strong> Tamil villages were hostile to&nbsp;&nbsp; soldiers who entered them having lost their way.\nSoldiers avoided these villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tamil\ncivilians were anti government from the beginning. In 1983 the Gajaba battalion\nwas deployed to Jaffna for counter-terrorist operations.&nbsp; We took in large number of youth for\nquestioning, recalled Kamal Gunaratne.&nbsp;\nTheir parents and relatives used to come in large groups and start\nshouting and weeping outside the camps. They used to curse us&nbsp;&nbsp; and ask us to release their children. I\ntried to console them only to have them come up to me and pull my uniform and\nhands whilst cursing and crying. I was continuously subject to curses. The\nother officers avoided them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2009, in\nthe last phase of the war, the Tamil civilians went to the war zone, to support\nthe LTTE .Tamil civilians had readily travelled&nbsp;&nbsp; towards the war zone, taking with them land\ndeeds and personal belongings, including photo albums. Clearly, they were\nhoping to safely return home after this trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2010,\nphotographer Cassie Machado photographed 14 burnt photo albums found at\nMullaitivu at the battle site. These photographs were shown in a single frame at\nthe exhibition titled <strong>\u2018One hundred thousand small tales\u2019<\/strong> held in 2020 in\nthe Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Colombo <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"606\" height=\"308\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/kamalika307211.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-116596\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/kamalika307211.jpg 606w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/kamalika307211-300x152.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"652\" height=\"330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/kamalika307212.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-116597\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/kamalika307212.jpg 652w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/kamalika307212-300x152.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Cassie Machado<\/em> 2010 burnt photograph albums,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tamil civilians voted against the sitting government at all three elections after the end of the War. The north voted for Sarath Fonseka against Rajapakse, In the Presidential election of 2010.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0It voted for Maitripala Sirisena at 2015 presidential polls. They knew what they were doing. A Tamil woman was filmed speaking to President Sirisena.\u00a0 She said in Sinhala it is we who voted you into power.\u201d\u00a0 (Derana news, 15.10.2017). Thereafter, the north voted against Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"238\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kamalika010821.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-116690\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kamalika010821.jpg 468w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kamalika010821-300x153.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>More than half\nthe population &nbsp;of Jaffna listed in the 1981 Census were low\ncaste farmers. They have been an oppressed group for a long time, said R.\nCheran. Their participation in mainstream political matters has always been\nmarginal. The Tamil leadership did nothing to uplift them. &nbsp;Tamil Separatist Movement and LTTE would have\nfound it easy to brainwash them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tamil\ncivilians never handed the LTTE over to the army and never supported the\ngovernment . They &nbsp;ran to them for\nshelter in 2009 and then voted against them at the next three elections. &nbsp;(Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 1.8.21 When the Tamil civilians found that they were getting caught in the gunfire between the army and the LTTE, in the last phase of Eelam War IV, they decided to get out of the war zone, into which they had run so eagerly. They ran to the government sector, across the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}