At long last they are free!

Shanika SRIYANANDA

Both cruelty and brutality are coming to an end. Civilians, who were herded from one location to another and kept caged to get the cover up from the military push and also evoke international sympathy, have bravely crossed the lagoon amidst firing by the LTTE terrorists. The tiny strip of hell-hole is no more.

The terrorists, now trapped from South, North and West in a patch of land less than two square kilo metres, are madly trying to keep few hundreds of civilians in a desperate attempt to hold the ground.

After the mass hostage rescue operation where over 180,000 civilians fled the LTTE control, the remaining victims who were severely abused by the LTTE in their last domination, had started fleeing throughout the week. The soldiers who are at very close range from all the edges asked the civilians to cross the lagoon. A rope was tied to help them cross the lagoon.

They crossed the Nandi Kadal lagoon to safety just like a herd of `black cattle'. Starving for days and with empty hands they carried only the tales of brutality of Prabhakaran's regime.

Little Surya did not cry despite her wound - a gun shot injury that pierced her tiny hand. Luckily the three-year-old escaped death but the second bullet fired by the LTTE killed her brother. The young mother who was starving for days did not stop a second to see what happened to her son until she met the soldiers.

"Aiyo ennandaya Mahan Seththupochchuthu" (Oh... my son was killed) she could murmur only those few words. Dehydrated and suffering from fever and with bleeding wounds she fell unconscious. The little girl was given first aid by the Army medical team.

Living in a world of terror and being frequently exposed to thundering explosions, the little girl did not cry. She did bear up her pain but the tears gushing down the reddish eyes showed how she had suppressed her pain. Vellaiyan, another hostage had crossed the lagoon with his son's family. As a grandfather, he said he has now witnessed the world's worst cruelty! Vellaiyan while cursing the terrorists, mourned the deaths of his daughter-in-law and two little grandchildren.

The old man did not entertain hope for life but he was eager to see the day that his son's family begins to live a happy life. " First they kidnapped my son when his wife was pregnant. I had to live because of his family, I had to protect them", he cried.

Twice he tried to flee with them - once in a boat and later wading across the lagoon. Each time the terrorists threatened them. He saw himself how the terrorists killed those who dared to cross the lagoon. Vellaiyan who was determined to be free from LTTE clutches prayed the army would come to their rescue.

With the announcement by the soldiers that they were very close to free them, over hundreds of civilians flocked together to flee. " There were also LTTE cadres among us. They were not in fact real LTTE cadres because many youths were taken by the LTTE against their consent to fight the security forces. While we were crossing the lagoon, the terrorists started firing at us. Many died but those who were lucky could escape", he said.

But his son's family is no more! He knows that they were shot dead by the terrorists while they were running to escape the shooting.

Mothers whose young children were snatched away by the terrorists were cursing the megalomaniac leader Prabhakaran's son Charles Anthony who had expedited the recruitment drive by ordering the terrorists to abduct the youth. " I think my son is still there. I do not know whether he is still fighting or already dead. They took him away two months ago and this time they tried to take my second son as well" said Maryamma, who was tightly holding the hand of the twelve -year-old boy, Bala.

She claimed many died due to hunger as the LTTE did not distribute the food sent by the government. The LTTE had used the food to feed their own cadres and later on the terrorists too fought in hunger. According to Maryamma, despite the number of family members, each family was given a few handfuls of rice and they cooked kanji with salty water.

According to them, the LTTE had started burning the belongings of the escaped civilians. She said that many of the LTTE cadres, the young boys and girls, were crying when their parents were leaving them. " They wanted to come back but scared to leave due to fear that the terrorists will kill them", she said.

They came in numbers. Most of them were wounded and sick. Some were still bleeding. For a population which were herded like cattle for kilo meters, they had nowhere to run other than crossing the lagoon.

Over the years, they suffered in silence the abusive behaviour of the terrorists. The outrageous tactics of the LTTE leader to destroy whoever disrupts his path is nothing new. He used his deadly suicide bombers and agents of assassination - to kill his own people, government soldiers and innocent Sinhalese and thereby proved that he has no sympathy for any one who obstructs his dream of dividing Sri Lanka! Till the last minute he struggled to retain even an inch of Puthumathalan at the cost of his own people.

The last lot of hostages lived in the LTTE's hell-hole is proof of his war crimes - crimes that committed against Tamils by Tamils. Who can deny that the LTTE had kept thousands of civilians in a land where they cannot move about? Who can deny that the LTTE had left the innocent Tamils to fight and die? Who can deny that these are war crimes ?