‘LTTE deprived us of everything in life’
by Dhaneshi YATAWARA
Tears rolled down Ishwari’s cheeks as she went on recalling the
horrible incidents that still haunt her memories. Being displaced from
her native place in Mannar, Ishwari was left with very few fortunes in
life. Undergoing severe malnourishment during this entire period, this
twenty year old looked extremely fragile and forced conscription by the
LTTE would be the last thing she can ever dream of. A life in which she
lost more than what she could gain. “I fell severely sick and was under
medication for several months. When the LTTE gang came my mother covered
me with a large cloth and hid me inside our tent. Yet the LTTE forcibly
entered the ‘house’ and tried to drag me away,” she said in her weak
frail voice.
To her mother’s tears and screams the LTTE had to leave her that day
but returned the next afternoon. Her poor mother could do nothing but
hide her inside the ‘kitchen’. “We can’t hide in the bunker since it is
easy for the LTTE to locate us,” Ishwari said. The LTTE gang, with
several well built men and women including the LTTE ‘Police’, dragged
her out of the house without letting her collect a dress or slip into
her rubber slippers. They dragged her on the severely heated up sand to
a cab while her mother came after her screaming, “please don’t take my
daughter away.” The mother and daughter, being frail, were completely
defenceless in front of these marauding Tigers.
“If you want your daughter, you’d better come to our leader and
discuss with him,” the LTTE gang had told Ishwari’s mother. Trying to
cling on to that tiny hope Ishwari’s mother got into the vehicle as
well. Half way, the mother was forced to get out of the cab and since
she refused she was beaten up and was thrown into the street in broad
daylight in front of a large crowd. They pushed Ishwari into another
truck loaded with 150 forcibly recruited teenagers and taken into a
jungle in Vellamullivaikkal. “We were given only kanji (porridge) for
breakfast around 10 a.m. and a little rice with dhal around 3 p.m. for
lunch. And around 10 in the night either ‘pittu’ or stringhoppers with
gravy,” Ishwari said.
This was just a single story of the few lucky ones who managed to
escape the iron grip of the ruthless Tigers. According to military
sources over 9000 LTTE cadres have surrendered, either self confessed or
identified, while fleeing for their lives with the other civilians and
most were teenagers.
“Did you try to escape?,” I asked Ishwari. “No!,” she said, “Its
horrific how the LTTE punish those who try to escape. I was really
scared. They would first shave the heads and sometimes they beat them or
torture them.”
The escape
During the last few days of the battle the LTTE leadership was
desperately trying to save their lives and escape hence less attention
was paid to pinning down their cadres. Thus, many lives of youth were
saved as they mingled with the civilians and escaped to the cleared
areas. The Sri Lanka Army 53 Division had 485 LTTE cadres surrendering
within three days. On May 15 a group of 241 LTTE cadres surrendered, on
May 16 the number was 165 and on May 17 another 79 surrendered. “ We
made announcements telling the LTTE cadres to surrender and be assured
their safety. And we did get a good response. I strongly believe they
were willing to trust the Army after seeing how humanely people were
treated by our soldiers,” Major General Kamal Gunaratne, General Officer
Commanding 53 Division said explaining their entire humanitarian mission
to save the truly innocent people.
“When we were collecting their data during the registration process
it was clear that they were all born and brought up during the LTTE
rule. It was obvious that they were brain washed and their exposure to
the rest of the country was negligible,” Maj. Gen. Gunaratne added.
Under his command and direct supervision the military officials of
the 53 Division took the responsibility of the welfare and protection of
these youth until they were handed over to the respective Government
Officials in charge of the rehabilitation process.
Breaking the backbone
Savithri was just seventeen and longed to see her G.C.E. Ordinary
Level examination results. This courageous little girl never wanted to
give up her education even under adverse conditions of her life. They
were chased away from their homes by the LTTE as the Sri Lanka Army was
advancing from Nedunkerni and Oddusudan towards the A35 road. Savithri,
her parents and her four younger brothers were pushed further away from
the cleared areas. Fascinated over ‘Bharatha Natyam’ Savithri’s
competitor at school was her aunt’s daughter. It gave her such joy to
remember those wonderful days. “When the LTTE came to take me we just
moved into Pachchapulmoddai being chased away from Irranappalai. I was
cleaning outside our tent,” she said.
By this time this little girl was given in marriage by her parents to
a distant relative simply because the LTTE would not take away married
girls. “I didn’t like him at all.
But, since it would save my life I agreed. But I stayed with my
parents I didn’t live with him,” Savithri said and paused for a while.
The dreadful past, missing the family and all those factors made her
weep. “ I just want to go on with my life. The Tigers made us lose all
our chances in life,” she said.
All these girls and boys had their own dreams in life and were forced
to believe that one man could make their dreams come true. It is only at
the end they realized that it was a mirage; an illusion.
The so called sole saviour of the Tamils, Prabhakaran, made his own
people lose their next generation and at the end lost his own.
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