CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

The 17 year old and the cyanide capsule

Media Centre for National Security

“Why didn’t you eat the cyanide capsule provided and end your life as required by the LTTE when you were arrested?”

“I wanted to see my mother and sister so I surrendered to the Army”

These heart warming words were uttered from the lips of a 17 year old female LTTE cadre, arrested by the Army in their victory in capturing a part of the LTTE defence line in Alankulam area on the 09th of June 2008. In the battle nine LTTE cadres were reported to have been killed however troops recovered the bodies of three LTTE cadres only. Two soldiers have laid their life in supreme sacrifice for their country and fifteen have been injured. The 17 year old female cadre was captured in a subsequent search operation conducted in the area.

This young girl is identified as Iranthani Sabapathi Udayamani alias Madhi Nila (LTTE number Ana 1823). She is just seventeen years old, a time in life when youth wishes to test their wings and learn new things in life living in happiness and peace. Her young years have been destroyed by the cruelty of the LTTE organization.

According to information given by her to the Security Forces she was a native of Pandaithereppu in the Jaffna Peninsula. Her father Iranthani Sabapathi was employed in Malaysia and had died in 1999. Her mother Iranthani Sabapathi Sarojani had married for the second time. She has an elder sister who is 23 years of age named Iranthani Sabapathi Anusha. She had been abducted by the LTTE on the 09th of August 2006 while attending a pooja ceremony in the Kilinochchi Kovil with her family. She had been forcibly taken amid her uncles protestations and he had been assaulted by these barbarians. There is no doubt that she is impatient to see her family after being separated for so long.

This young girl has proven to be a gold mine of information. According to her the LTTE have given her small arms training in a mere one and half months. She had been taken to a training camp where both adults and children between the ages of 13-17 were forcibly recruited. She also stated that LTTE still recruit children and are barbaric enough to send them to battle front as cannon fodders. It is evident from this information that the LTTE have not stopped recruiting innocent children as soldiers for their unworthy cause. She further stated that trained LTTE cadres moved about with the recruits therefore they had no freedom to talk or move about freely. These forcibly recruited people were not given nourishing food during their training period. According to her their food was always ‘pittu’ or bread with one curry. This is a gross infringement of basic human rights.

After the training period was over the LTTE assigned them to work in their Forward Defence Lines. The newly trained LTTE cadres were transported blindfolded and provided with a T-56 rifle, two ammunition magazines and a cyanide capsule necklace.

It was under these inhuman conditions that these people had to work. They had round the clock duties and were provided with breakfast, lunch and dinner all at the same time. Often she had skipped dinner because duties were so time consuming or simply because the dinner had gone stale. The LTTE seem to expect a lot from their cadres yet the conditions of these Forward defence Lines seems unfit to even rear animals. The information provided by this young girl brings to light a new aspect of LTTE cruelty.

She had further stated that there are many people like her who have been forcibly recruited who are willing to surrender to the Sri Lankan Army. According to her many civilians are waiting for the security forces to liberate them from the grasp of terrorism.

It is tragic that this young girl has lost the beauty and happiness that other young girls and children in the country enjoy. How many more like her are out there, forcibly recruited and forced to work under inhuman conditions. The plight of innocent children and women in the hands of these barbaric terrorists are slowly coming to light, yet the NGOs who talk of human rights remain silent in these issues. The fate of this young girl is a tragedy. It is this same fate that awaits the other young people of the north in the grasp of the LTTE. The government is taking the necessary steps to stop the forcible recruitment of young people and make the country a safer place for them to live in.

Disclaimer: The comments contained within this website are personal reflection only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the LankaWeb. LankaWeb.com offers the contents of this website without charge, but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions expressed within. Neither the LankaWeb nor the individual authors of any material on this Web site accept responsibility for any loss or damage, however caused (including through negligence), which you may directly or indirectly suffer arising out of your use of or reliance on information contained on or accessed through this Web site.
All views and opinions presented in this article are solely those of the surfer and do not necessarily represent those of LankaWeb.com. .

BACK TO LATEST NEWS

DISCLAIMER