{"id":48491,"date":"2015-10-06T21:10:11","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T03:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=48491"},"modified":"2015-10-06T13:36:37","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T20:36:37","slug":"tragic-phenomenon-of-forcible-recruitment-of-tamil-civilians-by-the-ltte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/10\/06\/tragic-phenomenon-of-forcible-recruitment-of-tamil-civilians-by-the-ltte\/","title":{"rendered":"Tragic phenomenon of forcible recruitment of Tamil civilians by the LTTE"},"content":{"rendered":"

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj\u00a0Courtesy The Daily Mirror<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The Human Rights Investigation\u00a0 report on Sri Lanka compiled by the Office of the United Nations\u00a0 High Commissioner for Human Rights released last month\u00a0 has revealed\u00a0 much information about the alleged activities of the Sri Lankan armed forces, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and state affiliated para \u2013 military outfits such as the Eelam People\u2019s Democratic Party(EPDP) and Tamil Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal(TMVP) during the final phase of South Asia\u2019s longest war. While overseas members of the\u00a0 LTTE demonstrate in Geneva with tiger flags and portraits\u00a0 of LTTE supremo Veluppillai Prabhakaran, those who read the UN report are appalled and horrified by the acts of cruelty perpetrated by the LTTE on its own people. Among the many aspects focused upon by the UN investigation\u00a0\u00a0 report on Sri Lanka – abbreviated as OISL report \u2013 is the tragic phenomenon of forcible recruitment of Tamil civilians by the LTTE.<\/p>\n

In earlier times the LTTE had not engaged in the exercise of forcible recruitment or conscription. It was in fact organizations such as the Eelam People\u2019s Revolutionary Liberation Front(EPRLF) and Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front(ENDLF) who pioneered forcible recruitment during the days of the Indian army\u00a0 deployment in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.The LTTE campaign of\u00a0 forced recruitment on a massive scale\u00a0 began in June 2006 and\u00a0\u00a0 accelerated from October onwards. One of the factors contributing to this was the split\u00a0 caused in the LTTE\u00a0 by the revolt of its former eastern regional commander.<\/p>\n

The LTTE breakaway faction led by former tiger eastern region commander Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias Col\u201d Karuna was\u00a0 actively engaged in child conscription and forced recruitment in the East after his defection. Security forces were allegedly\u00a0 complicit in this campaign undertaken by the Karuna faction known as the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP). The Eastern Province thus became\u00a0 the focus of attention in the sphere of abductions, conscription and forced recruitment in those days.<\/p>\n

Apart from the TMVP involvement and complicity by the security forces the mainstream\u201d LTTE was also engaged in abductions and conscriptions. The Eastern province saw much activity in this regard after the split in the LTTE in 2004. Thousands of cadres who dropped out or escaped from the LTTE after the split were targetted again by both parties. Also both the LTTE and TMVP began abducting and forcibly recruiting new persons into their respective organizations. Some instances\u00a0 were reported in the media .<\/p>\n

While the focus was\u00a0 on the volatile east,\u00a0 the actions of the LTTE in the north did not\u00a0 receive the same glare of publicity. Lack of access to the LTTE dominated regions in the Northern mainland was the chief contributory factor to this state of affairs then. The unwillingness of many Tamil people to publicly articulate their grievances against the LTTE was another reason for the situation. The Tamil community grapevine was humming with tales of tiger abductions but few Tamils\u00a0 were willing to come forward and say so openly.<\/p>\n

Fear of repercussions<\/strong><\/p>\n

The main reason was fear of repercussions at the hands of the LTTE and its minions. Another reason was the feeling that the Tamil cause would be weakened if accusations were levelled against the LTTE. Family members of those conscripted were also afraid to speak out because the lives of those abducted may have been\u00a0 in jeopardy. Families were\u00a0 explicitly warned of such consequences if details of abductions leaked out.<\/p>\n

Besides\u00a0 many\u00a0 families\u00a0 concerned were\u00a0 also residing in LTTE controlled areas and\u00a0 themselves were in danger.The prevailing totalitarian control of society by the LTTE prevented\u00a0 people speaking out except for communicating their distress to trusted persons. All these reasons helped the LTTE to get away with continual abductions and forcible recruitments in those years.<\/p>\n

The scale and intensity of forcible recruitments increased in 2006 as the fighting escalated. It was always the LTTE position that the movement faced a shortage of personnel because enough people were not volunteering. If enough numbers were forthcoming the elusive goal of Tamil Eelam would be a reality they used to\u00a0 say then.There was\u00a0 also much talk of a massive counter \u2013 strike against the armed forces by the LTTE. Additional cadres were necessary for this it was argued by the LTTE then.<\/p>\n

While the military priorities and objectives were given pride of place the human dimension was once again lost sight of by the LTTE . The sad irony was that\u00a0 the war was\u00a0 being supposedly fought for the liberation and upliftment of the Tamil people! What was happening however was that of\u00a0 the position of the Tamil civilians\u00a0 worsening day by day.<\/p>\n

The LTTE may have wanted\u00a0 more and more people to join up and fight but the ordinary Tamils were in no mood to oblige. They simply wanted\u00a0 to be left alone to pick up the pieces of their fractured lives and get on with living. This\u00a0 war was not their war any more. The tigers may have celebrated\u00a0 death but the ordinary Tamil\u00a0 people wanted\u00a0 life no matter how miserable it may have been\u00a0 under prevailing\u00a0 conditions.They did not want their children to die as cannon fodder in what was clearly an unwinnable war.. Which parent would\u00a0 want that?<\/p>\n

Civilian arms training<\/strong><\/p>\n

The LTTE had earlier started the process of civilian arms training. All able bodied persons from 16 to 45 were required to undergo some physical training and learn techniques of self \u2013 defence. Those willing to go the extra \u2013 mile were given more intensive training and forged into an auxiliary outfit known as Ellai Padai\u201d or border force. They functioned\u00a0 mainly as helpers to the LTTE cadres in border areas.<\/p>\n

Another category of persons was selected out of the original batches of trainees and given further training. They were supposedly reservists and called Makkal Padai\u201d or peoples force.These people were allowed to get on with normal civilian life but were required to show up whenever necessary or required. Most members of these civilian militias were not willing to fight or die. But they had no choice and were reluctantly compelled to go along with tiger diktat. These\u00a0 enlistment practices were overshadowed by a new direct campaign of forced recruitment that began in 2006. The intensification and acceleration of the LTTE campaign to forcibly recruit\u00a0 Tamil civilians directly\u00a0 into their ranks\u00a0 caused much resentment amid the Tamil people then. However they had no way to resist or protest. Some\u00a0 went\u00a0 into hiding. Others\u00a0 found ways to leave or escape from those areas. Those detected while trying to escape\u00a0 were punished. The LTTE\u00a0 also infiltrated the Govt controlled areas of Mannar , Vavuniya and even Jaffna districts and abducted people. However the full force of tiger conscriptions\u00a0 was\u00a0 faced by the people of Kilinochchi and Mullaitheevu districts.<\/p>\n

The LTTE which was running\u00a0 a parallel administration then\u00a0\u00a0 set up its monitoring apparatus in the areas it controlled. There were two or more LTTE operatives functioning as grama sevakhas\u201d in each village. They were in possession of all family details in every household in their areas of authority. LTTE operatives armed with such particulars visited\u00a0 each home and press ganged\u201d the reluctant young men and women into joining them. If unsuccessful at day \u2013 time the tigers returned at night. Nocturnal raids were a regular feature.<\/p>\n

All students in the Advanced level classes were\u00a0 compelled to undergo training in self \u2013 defence and first \u2013 aid. The training period was between two to four weeks.The bright ones were identified and brainwashed or forcibly recruited as permanent cadres. Initially\u00a0 the\u00a0 families of\u00a0 fallen tigers or great heroes\u201d and serving LTTE members were exempted. Later they too were targeted.Many of the parents stopped sending children to schools. Young people seldom moved around publicly. If they were seen the chances of being taken\u201d away were very high. Some parents avoided going out to work and stayed home under the impression that they could prevent their children being taken.<\/p>\n

Pathetic predicament<\/strong><\/p>\n

An incident in Kilinochchi\u00a0\u00a0 illustrates the pathetic predicament of ordinary people then. A family of five in Aanandapuram in Kilinochchi was killed in bombing by the Air Force. Two of those killed were boys aged 18 and 20 respectively. The boys were kept at home to avoid being conscripted by the LTTE at school. Tragically Yaman\u201d came for them at home\u00a0 via an Israeli K- fir. Students of that particular school were afraid to attend classes because the principal of that institution was allegedly helping the LTTE to\u00a0 identify and abduct students. The principal\u201d who was a close relative of a top tiger commander is today holding high political office as an elected representative of the people.<\/p>\n

One way of avoiding conscription was to resort to matrimony\u00a0 since married persons were not forcibly recruited when the conscription campaign commenced. So many people in tiger controlled areas began marrying early. With the\u00a0 recruitment drive being launched in June 2006\u00a0 the rate of marriages shot up among young people. The LTTE then\u00a0 declared that all marriages after August 2006 were null and void. Regardless of marital status the new grooms and brides were\u00a0 conscripted. The LTTE\u00a0 also went to the extent of declaring a moratorium on marriages till a particular age was reached. Males could not marry till they were 40 and females till 35 was the new commandment. This was only a temporary measure assured the LTTE then.<\/p>\n

An\u00a0\u00a0 incident of suicide that occurred then was pathetic.\u00a0 On January 22nd\u00a0 2007 a schoolmaster from Uruthirapuram married an employee at the Mallavi hospital. Both were in their mid \u2013 twenties. Two days later on the 24th, LTTE operatives came to the newly married couple and insisted that the groom give up marital bliss\u201d and join up with them. The wedding\u201d was not valid they pointed out because the legal\u201d marriage ages were 40 and 35. The distressed couple pleaded with the tigers and obtained a few days grace\u201d to complete wedding rituals .The tigers agreed and went away.<\/p>\n

The groom and bride escaped\u201d and hid themselves elsewhere. The tigers returned and were infuriated at this defiance. They abducted the groom\u2019s sister and the bride\u2019s brother and took them away. The groom was asked to present himself within a week. Otherwise the siblings would not return, warned\u00a0\u00a0 LTTE.The groom was extremely agitated and worried. After pondering the situation for days in a frustrated and confused mental state the man committed suicide by hanging on February 5th 2007. He died exactly two weeks after his marriage.<\/p>\n

This woeful tale was\u00a0 talked about widely in the LTTE areas and elsewhere .Many people were highly critical of the LTTE for this act which encapsuled the predicament faced by ordinary Tamils under the jackboots of the LTTE. In a bid to counter this resentment the LTTE\u00a0 put a counter spin by spreading the rumour that the man was diagnosed with terminal cancer and therefore had taken his own life .<\/p>\n

Detained and punished<\/strong><\/p>\n

The LTTE\u00a0 also banned the movement of people to Govt controlled areas. People were allowed out only for specific reasons on a very strict basis. In most instances someone living in the Wanni had to stand surety. If the person who exited\u00a0 did\u00a0 not return\u00a0 on time the person who stood surety would\u00a0 be detained and punished. The LTTE was very strict in disallowing juniors between 12 and 17 from leaving the Wanni in those days.<\/p>\n

The people particularly the mothers\u00a0 resisted\u00a0 as much as\u00a0 they could. But most efforts were futile. Some of the stories related\u00a0 about those dark days are pathetic. One mother fell on the ground in front of a tiger vehicle in a desperate attempt to block it from driving away with her son. The LTTE driver callously drove over the woman\u2019s leg crushing the bone. In another incident the frantic mother tried to cling on to her son but was pushed away roughly. She fell down and hit her forehead on a stone. Seeing the wife bleed the elderly husband\/ father got angry and slapped the tiger cadre. The tigers were enraged.\u201dEngalukku Kai Neetta thuninjitiyo?\u201d (Are you brave enough to raise your hand against us?) they shouted. Thereafter the old man was given a merciless thrashing and was hospitalised.<\/p>\n

In one case the 21-year-old brother was given permission to go to Colombo\u00a0 to welcome an uncle who was visiting from abroad. His family guaranteed his return in three months. While he was in Colombo the LTTE recruitment drive escalated. Family members urged the son not to return but stay in Colombo and try to go abroad. When the LTTE went to the house the family said that the young man was sick and needed medical treatment in Colombo.<\/p>\n

The tigers took away the 16-year-old sister and said she would be released if proof of the brothers medical condition was furnished. The brother got himself admitted to a private hospital and after some doctoring\u201d with some sympathetic help by those concerned sent the necessary paperwork\u201d to convince the LTTE of his medical condition. The LTTE rejected the documents and wanted\u00a0 the family to give them medical records from a Govt hospital!. The sister was\u00a0 under tiger custody for many months and finally co- opted into LTTE ranks.She was killed in the fighting.<\/p>\n

The LTTE slogan for recruitment was Veetukku Oru Veeran Allathu Veeranganai\u201d\u00a0 ( One hero or heroine from each house). The tigers began\u00a0 strictly enforcing this . All households were\u00a0 forced to send one member. If those eligible escaped or avoided\u00a0 being recruited another was taken away as hostage\u201d. Those protesting or objecting were assaulted severely. Some were detained for indefinite periods.<\/p>\n

Face consequences<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of the persons taken by the tigers\u00a0 managed to escape and went into hiding. The LTTE sent letters to the families saying the escapees\u201d must surrender themselves before a particular date. Otherwise family members would\u00a0 have to face consequences the tigers warned.In another incident on Feb 9th\u00a0 2007\u00a0 in Vattakachchi an elder sister was taken in place of a younger sister who went into hiding. The protesting parents were kicked and pushed aside.<\/p>\n

An LTTE member had absconded from the tigers after being sent to Vavuniya to do political work after the ceasefire. He came to Colombo and then went abroad. This was in 2003. After making inquiries from the family the LTTE did not do anything. But\u00a0 in 2006\u00a0 the LTTE came to the house and wanted the escapee\u201d to return to the LTTE again. When told that he was now abroad the tigers took away his younger sister aged 15. The family was told that the girl would be sent home if the brother returned to the Country and the movement.<\/p>\n

Some people\u00a0 sent their children or even moved out of the LTTE controlled areas through circuitous jungle routes. There was much hardship and danger but people risked\u00a0 it rather than see children being conscripted. The LTTE\u2019s elite leopard\u201d commano unit also prowled\u00a0 these jungle routes keeping up vigil. While some people\u00a0 managed to escape many\u00a0 were caught and punished.One family had twin sons in their twenties. The LTTE wanted one to join up. The family tried to escape through a jungle route and was caught. As punishment both sons were taken away.<\/p>\n

One particularly sad incident was about a young girl in Puthukudiyiruppu. She was the only daughter in the family and very clever in studies. Her elder brothers had either died as LTTE Maaveerar\u201d or gone abroad. The family was however worried because the girl did not attain age\u201d for many years. Finally she became a periya pillai \u201d (loku lamaya) at the age of 18. The parents were so happy that they had a comparatively grand celebration on the day of pouring water\u201d. (thanni vaarkum naal). Two days later the tigers came and took her away leaving the parents devastated.<\/p>\n

Fences devoured crops<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some families from Allaipiddy and Mankumban\u00a0 had relocated to the Wanni after the spate of killings by the Navy and EPDP in\u00a0 May 2006. They felt the LTTE controlled Wanni was safer than their own villages. In 2007\u00a0 some youngsters from these displaced families went missing. Family members rushed to the LTTE Kaavalthurai\u201d (Police) run by Nadesan. The Eelam cops\u201d promised to inquire into the matter. It was only some days later that enlightenment dawned on the families that the fences had devoured the crops.\u201dAmong those taken away by the LTTE were some girl students staying with Catholic sisters at a nunnery and attending a convent. The tigers took those over 17 years of age forcibly. Church leaders\u00a0 appealed to the LTTE hierarchy but did\u00a0 not publicise the incident for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n

The LTTE also\u00a0 abducted\u00a0 young persons in the government controlled areas of Mannar, Vavuniya and even Jaffna. Age or marital status was not a bar when it came to abducting those in Govt controlled areas. They were taken to LTTE controlled areas clandestinely and forcibly inducted as tiger cadres. It was alleged then\u00a0 that most incidents of youths abducted in Jaffna during daytime and then going missing were perpetrated by the LTTE. As the conflict intensified the use of mobile phones by members of the public\u00a0 was banned by the LTTE in the Wanni. Anyone found using one was penalised.All foreign calls could\u00a0 be taken only from LTTE run communication centres. The numbers had to be registered in the mornings. The calls limited to 5 minutes per call were allowed in the evenings. The time in between is used by the LTTE to verify details about those\u00a0 being called.<\/p>\n

There\u00a0 were\u00a0 however many\u00a0 who managed to come out of the Wanni in that period. This was mainly due to nepotism and\/or corruption. High ranking tiger leaders who had sent their own children abroad for higher studies were known to have intervened in some instances and ensured the sending away\u201d of close relatives. In other cases massive donations were\u00a0 paid officially\u201d to the LTTE and unofficially\u201d to tiger officials for people to get away. The sad irony was that\u00a0 some of these escapees were treated as LTTE suspects\u00a0 when they came to the Govt controlled areas.<\/p>\n

Grim gloomy scenario<\/strong><\/p>\n

This then was the grim, gloomy scenario\u00a0 that unfolded\u00a0 in the LTTE dominated north during the days of war. The so-called liberators of the Tamil people were intensely\u00a0 recruiting people forcibly to be conscripted into tiger ranks. The rationale being,\u00a0 manpower requirement\u00a0 was necessary to\u00a0 continue the Por\u201d (war). All oppression was\u00a0 justified as being necessitated by the Tamil cause.<\/p>\n

Ordinary Tamil civilians however\u00a0 wanted\u00a0 no part of this war being fought in their name. They only wanted\u00a0 to be left alone so that they could\u00a0 get along with their life. Sadly that was being denied to them.\u00a0 That\u00a0 was the Tamil tragedy!<\/p>\n

After some more years of terrible suffering the war was finally over in May 2009!<\/p>\n

D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj\u00a0Courtesy The Daily Mirror The Human Rights Investigation\u00a0 report on Sri Lanka compiled by the Office of the United Nations\u00a0 High Commissioner for Human Rights released last month\u00a0 has revealed\u00a0 much information about the alleged activities of the Sri Lankan armed forces, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and state affiliated para […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48491","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=48491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}