{"id":120484,"date":"2021-11-21T00:43:09","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T06:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=120484"},"modified":"2021-11-20T17:39:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T00:39:11","slug":"commemorating-maaveerar-naal-is-tamil-peoples-right-wigneswaran-then-who-is-going-to-commemorate-tamils-killed-by-ltte-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/21\/commemorating-maaveerar-naal-is-tamil-peoples-right-wigneswaran-then-who-is-going-to-commemorate-tamils-killed-by-ltte-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCommemorating Maaveerar Naal is Tamil people\u2019s right \u2013 Wigneswaran\u201d \u2013 then who is going to commemorate Tamils killed by LTTE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is Maaveerar Naal? Who originated it, when & why are\nfundamental questions anyone commenting on the subject should know to answer.\nMaaveerar Naal translated means \u2018Great Heroes Day\u2019 but it is not a Tamil\ncivilian, Hindu or traditional event. Commenced first on 27 November 1989 by\nLTTE, it is a LTTE event to commemorate LTTE dead. Not Tamil dead but LTTE\ndead. It essentially means that Maaveerar Naal omits non-LTTE dead. Maaveerar\nNaal is certainly not commemorating Alfred Duraiappah (Mayor Jaffna), A.\nAmirthalingam, Sarojini Yogeswaran (Mayor Jaffna), Neelan Thiruchelvan, Sam\nThambimuttu or even Lakshman Kadiragamar. Maaveerar Naal is a commemoration\nONLY for LTTE dead \u2013 it is not for Tamil civilians & certainly not for\nTamils (politicians, academics, public servants, clergy, children) killed by\nLTTE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly the Great Heroes imply only LTTE & does not\ninclude any of the dead from other Tamil militant groups \u2013 PLOTE, EPRLF, these\nfamilies were forbidden from mourning the loss of their loved one\u2019s publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maaveerar Naal is NOT\ncommemorating these dead Tamils<\/p>\n\n\n\n

V. DHARMALINGAM \u2013 TULF MP for MANIPAI\nfather of D. SIDDHARTHAN (PLOTE leader) killed by LTTE in 1985<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. AMIRTHALINGAM \u2013 MP,\nSecretary General of the TULF\/ a Former Opposition Leader killed by LTTE in\n1989<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K. PATHMANABHA \u2013 EPRLF leader\nkilled by LTTE in India in 1990<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TELO Leader K Sabaratnam killed\nby LTTE in 1986<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uma Maheshwaran, PLOTE leader\nkilled by LTTE in 1989<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gopalaswamy Mahendraraja\n(Mahaththaya) Deputy leader of LTTE killed by Prabakaran in 1994<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a list of prominent Tamils LTTE has killed \u2026. http:\/\/www.internationallawbureau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Law-Paper-Attachment-2-List-of-Tamil-Politicians-Assassinated-by-the-LTTE.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wigneswaran, TNA or Diaspora or even the Western leaders & NGOs\ncommenting on allowing the commemoration of this event are speaking of mourning\nfor the Tamils, that LTTE has killed. The commemorations are ONLY for LTTE dead\n& no one else so who is Wigneswaran & TNA really fooling?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LTTE Great Heroes Week to honor dead LTTE commences on\n21November & ends on 27 November while Prabakaran\u2019s birthday falls on 26th\nNovember. It was during one such event that Prabakaran announced that if he\nbetrays the Tamil Eelam cause he should be killed. The annual event turned into\na type of cult martyrdom. Another noteworthy aspect is that Hindus do not bury\ntheir dead. Committing suicide is considered a crime \u2013 burial is more of an\nAbrahamic faith & martyrdom was also part of brainwashing LTTE to think\nthey were going to heaven for the cause of Eelam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, there is mass participation with civilian members \u2013 but\nthese are family members of dead LTTE. They are known as Maaveerar\nKudumbangal\u201d(Great hero families).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it means is that Maaveerar Naal is for dead LTTE by LTTE\nfamilies. All LTTE families take part in these events in Sri Lanka &\noverseas\u2026 so everyone attending the events are linked to LTTE. During LTTE\nheyday only these families were given preferential treatment. Non-LTTE Tamil\ncivilians or non-LTTE other Tamil Groups or their families did not get any\npreferential treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-LTTE Tamils civilians do not attend & these public\nmourning\u2019s are not for non-LTTE dead \u2013 neither Tamil civilians nor Tamil\nmilitants from other armed groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of the family members of the dead in other Tamil militant\ngroups attended or were even invited. In fact families of these dead were not\neven allowed to mourn their loss publicly. Their families are not known as\nMaaveerar Kudumbangal\u201d(Great hero families)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the Maaveerar Naal commemorations are the Maaveerar\nThuyilum Illangal\u201d LTTE cemeteries. Each dead LTTEr had a tomb allocated though\nthe actual body was not buried inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maaveerar Naal ceremonies were in red & yellow the colours\nof the LTTE, LTTE flag is hoisted, Eelam map is prominently displayed, a\ngarland is placed first for Shankar the 1st great LTTE hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As D B S Jeyraj says Maaveerar Naal is an event \u2018of the Tigers,\nfor the Tigers & by the Tigers\u2019 \u2013 It is not a day or week of mourning for\nall Tamils killed but ONLY for LTTE dead & ONLY LTTE dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, while Maaveerar Naal is only for commemorating LTTE\nby LTTE supporting Tamils, the hype of \u2018war widows\u2019 are also relevant to only\nspouses of LTTE dead & is a term that should be immediately disallowed from\nuse. LTTE being a non-state actor are legally not entitled to the use of the\nterms political prisoners nor POWs & the term war widows specifically\napplies to only wives of soldiers of a national army & not armed\nterrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is time these abused phrases & terms are corrected\nlocally & internationally as even international experts, media & UN are\nusing these terms inspite of knowing their connotations & inapplicability\nto the LTTE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If LTTE commemorated only their dead even going so far as to\ndisallow families of other Tamil militant groups to mourn their dead publicly,\nwe demand to know why Wigneswaran & TNA should be allowed to mourn LTTE\ndead only & it is now long overdue to take action against the University of\nJaffna, its academic staff & students who are commemorating these dead LTTE\nunabashedly with LTTE flags, emblems, garlanding portraits of dead LTTE but\ncompletely ignoring the other Tamils killed by LTTE or even other Tamil\nmilitant dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shenali D Waduge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge What is Maaveerar Naal? Who originated it, when & why are fundamental questions anyone commenting on the subject should know to answer. Maaveerar Naal translated means \u2018Great Heroes Day\u2019 but it is not a Tamil civilian, Hindu or traditional event. Commenced first on 27 November 1989 by LTTE, it is a LTTE […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120484","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=120484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}