{"id":96063,"date":"2019-12-06T16:48:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T23:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=96063"},"modified":"2020-01-04T18:18:43","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T01:18:43","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/06\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-7\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

REVISED 4.1.2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamils living\nin the north were    admired as aggressors during the Eelam\nWar.  After the war, t<\/strong>hey suddenly became \u2018innocent victims\u2019. <\/strong> The Tamil population in the north is an\ninnocent group   who have suffered during\nthe war, said Tamil Separatist Movement. \nThe Tamils are an aggrieved people not aggressors, they added.  The Tamil people were the victims of the last\nphase of the war, said Jehan Perera. They lost their loved ones, lost their\nlands, their livelihoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, these\nso-called innocent people were not all that innocent, when in the 1970s they\nreadily followed an anti-government anti- Sinhala stance. When Jayatissa\nBandaragoda went as GA Trincomalee in 1978, his first public function was to\nattend the prize giving of St Joseph College. When he went there, he found\nposters urging parents not to be a part of a ceremony to receive a Sinhala\nchief guest. The boycott was effective, auditorium was almost empty, a few\nprizes were given away and the ceremony concluded. Bandaragoda then observed that\non National day, 1980, many of the schools in Trincomalee did not hoist the\nnational flag. Instead in one school they set the flag on fire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eelam wars were initiated and fought, on behalf of the Tamil\nSeparatist Movement by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.  LTTE fought it with the local Tamils and not\nwith mercenaries from abroad.  LTTE was\nable to sustain the war for thirty years because the Tamil population supplied the\nmanpower. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 A large section of the\npopulation would have gone voluntarily with the LTTE, to play their part in the\nLTTE war, said Desmond de Silva and David M Crane, in their reports to the\nParanagama Commission. Anne Abeysekera was told\nin 1994, 49 bodies of dead Tigers were brought to Pooneryn, immediately 112\nboys and girls joined the movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Amnesty\nInternational some were motivated by government abuse against their families or\ncommunities.  A 1993 study in Vaddukoddai\nfound that one quarter of the children studied had witnessed violence personally\nand many had joined the LTTE seeking to protect their families or to avenge\nreal or perceived abuses, AI said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One respondent said he   had\njoined in 2004 because in 1991 \u2018the army came to my house, burned my house and\nraped women in the neighborhood, they tortured us\u2019. This comment had been taken\nfrom a Human Rights Watch interview in Kilinochchi 2004. When I was 8 my father\nand all my uncles were killed by the Sri Lanka army, said another.  None of them had any links with the LTTE.\nThey were normal simple Tamil men. I had a lot of anger to army because of\nthat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Ceasefire of\n2002, LTTE established a parallel administration in the north. Two or more\noperatives were put as Grama sevaka in each area. They knew the \u2018family details\nof every family\u2019. They visited the homes and forced the youth to join. All households were required to send one member to join\nthe LTTE. Sometimes sisters were taken as hostage when the males were\nhiding.  Some tried to hide their\nchildren in the jungles but the LTTE found them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not possible to\nescape the LTTE. Fifteen families asked to give a child left the area, LTTE\nburned their house. When they returned after five months, LTTE came to look for\nthe children. Parents married off their\nchildren. Because then they were not taken as cadres, but used for other\nthings. They may give them training and use them in the border areas or our\nown villages\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cadres were also told to\nnab persons. I was told I had to capture two children or I would not be given\nfood, said an LTTE cadre member. I thought I was captured so why should I not\ndo that to another child, they were sent to the temple to each get two about 15\nyears old and strong and fit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The population in the North was very limited. Once the youth and adult\nmale groups were exhausted, LTTE had to turn to children. Children were\nfrequently abducted from homes at night or picked up by cadres when walking\nhome from school or attending a temple festival. Parent who resist the\nabduction of children   were beaten up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 LTTE  \nhad visited schools and spoken favorably about the LTTE. LTTE regularly\nexposed Tamil children to special event honoring LTTE heroes, parade of LTTE\ncadres. Families of LTTE heroes were afforded special respect and children were\ndrawn to the status and glamour of serving as cadres, reported AI.  LTTE had street plays. One play was about the\nStruggle. It had a father, mother, two children. One child gets shot and killed\nby the Sri Lanka army. Remaining child decides to join the LTTE. Father\nencourages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LTTE wanted to alienate the\nTamil people from the Sri Lanka government. They banned the movement of people\nto government controlled areas.  They\ncould only go if somebody stood surety for them and they had to return within\nthe stipulated time. The LTTE brainwashed the Tamils that Sinhalese were very\nbrutal and anti Tamil. LTTE visited families and questioned them. Those who\nsaid they have no problems with the Sri Lanka army were scolded severely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamil population it\nappears has been terrorized by the terrorists. The Tamil population could have\nresisted the LTTE, helped the Sri Lanka army and brought the war to an end. But\nthey did not do so. They stayed with the LTTE. When the fighting\nstarted we went behind the LTTE, as they conquered territory\u201d.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Eelam War IV started,\nthey left their villages and trekked to the east thinking that eventually LTTE\nwould win and they could return home. LTTE had instructed them to remove roofs\ndoors and windows of their houses, when they left. They did that too. They also\nhad to help with the war, such as building bunkers. Each\nfamily had several tasks like building bunkers\u2019 said an LTTE informant. The\nsupport for the LTTE was due   to fear of\nrepercussions from the LTTE, also that the Tamil cause would be weakened, said\nanalysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could be contrasted with the JVP insurgency of 1987. When the JVP\nmilitants took up arms in 1987, the Sinhala public helped to bring JVP under\ncontrol. Private armed groups, such as\nBlack Panthers and Yellow Scorpions, emerged to counter JVP terrorism. When JVP\nissued threats,   these vigilante groups\nissued counter threats. They replied JVP death threats with a poster which said\nape ekata thope dolahak.\u201d   These\nprivate vigilante groups killed JVP members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018Deshapremi Sinhala tharuna Peramuna\u2019 circulated a letter to JVP.\nThis letter said Dear father\/ mother\/ sister, your son, \/ brother\/ husband has\ntaken the lives of mothers like you, also sisters and innocent children.  They have killed the family members of heroic\nSinhala soldiers who fought the Tamil tigers to protect the motherland.  Is it not justified to put you also to death?\nBe ready to die. May you attain Nirvana. A \nfemale JVPer returned to her village, but found that it was difficult to\nlive there since the villager suspected her   and decided to return to the JVP camp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamil\npopulation   took  the position that the war was entirely the\nfault of the army. They ignored the fact that \nthe war was started by the LTTE \nin 1983, to create the state of \nEelam. The state has an obligation to protect its territory. The Sri\nLanka army had to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1994,  the Methodist church, Jaffna arranged  for a good will  visit from a \ngroup of Methodists from Colombo. Anne\nAbayasekara who led the mission wrote on it in her newspaper column. It was like going\nto another country, she said. We had to show ID and obtain visas at LTTE\ncheckpoint to enter. No radios, TV, fridges, electrical conveniences, no water\non tap, no telephones, no regular mail service, all cooking done on wood  fires, No drugs including even Panadol. Triposha is not allowed into Jaffna so they were trying\nto prepare a local substitute. There\nwere  memorials all over to LTTE heroes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne observed that\nthere was deep distrust of the government and outrage towards the army. A\ndoctor told Anne  \u2018you have seen the\ndestruction, tell this to the Sinhala people how intolerable are the conditions\nwe have to live under. Are people in the south aware of the  conditions here. We live in fear. We want to lead a normal life. If they would at least stop the bombing and shelling\nthey was shelling even on Christmas day and Thai Pongal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A priest said the\nchildren in Jaffna do not know any Sinhala people. The only Sinhalese they know\nis the soldier at Palaly releasing a shell that kills people. One person said\nto me, our children have never met any Sinhalese people but when the shelling\nstart form Mullaitivu or ht bombs drop \nfrom the skies they know it is Sinhalese people who are doing this to\nus. The message given by the shelling and aerial bombing is that the Sinhala\ngovernment is our worst enemy. Children of Jaffna know what it is to be subject\nto shelling and bombardment, noted Anne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are not against\nthe Sinhala people, we are against the government. If Sinhalese can bring\npressure on the government to establish peace and harmony we would be very\nhappy. Tell the Sinhala people we would\nlike to live peacefully with them. Old\ngrievances have not been settled, and now our children are fighting for their\nrights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti\n\u2013Eelamists  have their own view regarding\nthe Tamil population. They do not think that the Tamil population are innocent  victims. They argue\nthat the Tamil civilians supported the LTTE in the Eelam war. They were not\nvictims. They were complicit. \u2018Complicit\u2019 means involved with others in an\nactivity that is unlawful or morally wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nimal Lewke, then senior DIG Northern\nProvince had a close view of the last stages of the Eelam War IV.  How come that the people in Kilinochchi,\nMullaitivu and other surrounding areas ended up in Nanthikadal Mukkuwal areas,\nhe wondered . A number of buses, lorries, tractors, other vehicles, motorcycles\nand push cycles were abandoned in this area in large numbers. When he  questioned the people who escaped from the\nLTTE and came over to the government, they said that they were forced to leave\ntheir homes and proceed to Nanthikadal area and they had to abandon their\nvehicles and join the LTTE members as per instructions.  This means that the LTTE used them as human\nshields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is extremely unlikely\nthat 20,000 LTTE cadres could have taken control of 330,000 hostages against\ntheir will, said  the lawyers Desmond de\nSilva and David M. Crane in their reports to the  Paranagama commission. The population has\ncooperated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 If so, then the captive Tamil civilian\npopulation is not \u2018innocent\u2019, they are voluntary human shields,  said \nlawyer    Michael Newton. By placing themselves in the line\nof fire, voluntary human shields  \nare   participating in the war.\nThey are playing a passive role, not an active one, but they are definitely a\npart of the war and they definitely helped to influence its outcome, said\nNewton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lankan armed forces rescued nearly 290,000 Tamil human shields\nheld hostage by LTTE, at  the end of the\nwar. The Sri Lanka army took heavy losses to save these people. They went that\nextra mile to bring scores of malnourished wounded and star4ving Tamils to\nsafety, many of these men handed whatever food provisions they had. Television  news\nshowed these hostages running to government for shelter in 2009. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

then  they voted against the\ngovernment at  the elections. In the\nPresidential election of 2010 these rescued hostages voted for Sarath\nFonseka against Rajapakse.   The northern and eastern districts\noverwhelmingly voted for Maitripala Sirisena at 2015 presidential polls.  They did so knowingly. Derana news of\n15.10.2017 showed a Tamil woman speaking to President Sirisena.  She said in Sinhala it is we who voted you\ninto power.\u201d  These are not innocent\nvictims. They are ever ready to help de-stabilize the country. They are\nungrateful too. They are \u2018complicit\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should also be pointed out that throughout the war the government\nhad continued to provide social services, including health and education, to\nthe North and east. The government   actively delivered all essential services in\nthe LTTE controlled areas through the GAs of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu,\nreported the media.  State hospitals were\nadministered by the government . It is\nthe government  that is running the\nschools in north and east, paying salaries of teachers,  said observers. That meant, free books and\nuniforms, funds for school maintenance and public examinations. The salaries\nand pensions are fully met by government. \nWhen we got shot we would go to a hospital and be taken care of by the\nvery government  we were fighting\nagainst, said LTTE respondents of  the\nVoices of Peace\u201d study. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, we are told that\nthe IDPs who came across at Puthumathalam, fleeing from the LTTE at the last\nstage,  came with their\nland deeds tightly held.  they also carried millions of rupees in cash and\ngold securely wrapped in pottanis.  They\nhad deposited a total of 390 million in the bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army also came across a large stock of\ngold jewelry that had been hidden in  by\nthe LTTE in the East of Puthukudiyiruppu. It had 852 bangles, 188 small\nbangles, 20 damaged bangles, and these had been kept neatly hidden. This\njewelry had been pawned at the LTTE Eelam bank in the area. Security forces have recovered gold jewellery worth Rs\n680 million during operation in Vanni east, reported the media. They were\nhanded over to state owned banks. The army has shown exceptional conduct in\nthis matter.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TULF at its AGM in 2012 decided to demand\nthat the government return the gold recovered or seized from the LTTE by the\nsecurity forces during and after the war to their owners who have proof of\ntheir ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also the issue of political prisoners.  Tamil Separatist Movement drew attention to\nthe Tamil prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).  There are 107 detainees in prisons without\ncharges filed against them the Movement said in 2018. Almost all of them have\nbeen in custody for very long periods of time   and this had caused\nconsiderably   suffering for their\nfamilies, as well. The Tamil Separatist\nMovement urged Yahapalana government to release them all without further delay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convener of the Movement for the Freedom of Tamil Political Prisoners,\nRev. Fr. Sathyavel  as well as the\nCommittee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners (CPRP)   urged the government to look into the plight\nof Tamil prisoners detained under the PTA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\nare held under the PTA which is considered a \u2018draconian and obnoxious\u2019 piece of\nlaw. “The PTA is very different to proceedings conducted under the normal\nlaw. The manner of arrest, investigations, extracting confessions, basing\nprosecutions entirely on extracted confessions and the nature of the evidence\nare all different. The only evidence available against most of them is\nconfessions extracted from them against their will. This would not be accepted\nin a normal court of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These Tamils had committed crimes for political reasons and not for\npersonal benefit, said the Tamil Separatist Movement. Persons who were arrested\nduring the JVP insurrections had been granted amnesty and released. The same\nprinciple should be applied in regard to the Tamil prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, Yahapalana had transferred some cases from Vavuniya to\nAnuradhapura courts. The Tamil Separatist\nMovement protested over this too saying the transfers could deprive the accused\nof the opportunity of legal assistance and a fair trial.  Tamil Civil Society Forum questioned the\ngrounds on which the transfers have been made. It gives the impression that these\nCourts in North and East are treated as second class.  Further, the lawyers appearing for the\nsuspects practice at Vavuniya High Court, also when the case is transferred to\nAnuradhapura the proceedings would be conducted in Sinhala, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018 Eight inmates at the Anuradhapura prison launched a hunger\nstrike, yesterday, calling themselves political prisoners and demanding that\nthe cases against them be heard expeditiously. All eight inmates had been\ndetained under the provisions of the PTA and each of them had spent more than\nnine years behind bars without their cases being heard. (Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS REVISED 4.1.2020 The Tamils living in the north were    admired as aggressors during the Eelam War.  After the war, they suddenly became \u2018innocent victims\u2019.  The Tamil population in the north is an innocent group   who have suffered during the war, said Tamil Separatist Movement.  The Tamils are an aggrieved people not aggressors, they […]<\/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-96063","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\/96063","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=96063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}