Colourful brush strokes of ex-LTTE cadres:

A picture speaks a thousand words...

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words. Paintings reflect one's thoughts. What do we expect to see from paintings of a segment of youth who have suffered horrific experiences in a war situation?

Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe

Is it 'pain' 'violence' 'tears' or 'anger'? None... they all want life... smiles... unity...peace... and a better future for everyone.

Hands, which held deadly T-56 or grenades or exploded a suicide bomb, have now taken to pencils and brushes to paint the world! The gloomy past is fading away with their colourful brush strokes.Over 1,000 paintings of former LTTE cadres, who are undergoing rehabilitation, display their inborn talent.

This is vividly seen at the exhibition 'Reflections of Transformation through Art' held at the National Art Gallery, Colombo, last Monday.

Mariyastanli Kingsley, who is in the Vavuniya Rehabilitation Centre, has given a strong message to the Tamil Diaspora through his painting.

In his painting he tells how youth in the North will cut the tentacles of a dragon, which he says is the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora, if they attempt to destroy the peace and unity of the country after ending the conflict.

M. Sanjeevan at the Rehabilitation Centre in Vavuniya had written a message to President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his painting where a picture of the President was drawn.

He wrote:

" Gave a shelter

Gave Love

Gave spring times to our destroyed life

Showed an amazing position to people

Who thought that Sri Lanka will be destroyed

We did not treat others as our siblings

But you made us to think others as our siblings

You built a beautiful harbour

You'll build bridges to reach high hills

You have built a bridge between relatives that's enough for us".

Yogeshwaran Maduran (23) has drawn of the plight of a wife, whose husband is in the Rehabilitation Centre.

The LTTE had forcibly taken many married men during the final months of the last battle. Many perished in the battle as they were ill-trained.

Many did not want to fight or go against the Army but the LTTE forced them to fight by keeping their families in their custody", Maduran, who was a victim of forced conscription, said.

Though he is still a bachelor, his drawings depict what he heard from his married friends at the Centre. He did his Ordinary Level Examination at the Centre last year, and wants to continue drawing like his father to earn a living when he goes homes after rehabilitation.

He said, like him, many talented youth in the North, lost their future because of the LTTE. "I hate all the LTTE cadres as they had dragged me into the battlefront, while my parents were crying. I wanted to kill them once I go home but the lectures, meditation courses and advice made me to think positive and pardon to them", Maduran said the methods in the rehabilitation process helped him to become a non-violent today.

At the end of a 30-year war against terrorism in 2009, over 11,664 youth, whose lives were thrown asunder for an unworthy cause, surrendered to the government so that they could pick up their future.

Over 6,530 ex-LTTE cadres have been reunited with their families and have started living peacefully in their villages while over 4,343 are yet learning to face the future with confidence.

"These youth had gone through a horrific period in their lives and have lost the best days. It is a great task for us to convert their negative thoughts into positive thinking but we have achieved this through various methods", the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe said.

He said they were sheltered in 24 rehabilitation centres were given immense psychological treatment, meditation and some have been given leave to go home and come back to make their minds stable to undergo the rehabilitation process.

"The Bureau faced the challenge of developing a new foundation for these once mis-guided youth to start their lives once again. We introduced different therapies like meditation and yoga to change their mindsets which have been exposed to violence for years. The outcome was a success", he said.

According to Brig. Ranasinghe, the new methods being adopted in the rehabilitation process to give youth a novel experience and to make them interested to follow the process.

After giving the opportunity to them to display their handicraft talents using throw-away materials like used water bottles, coconut shells, the authorities asked them to draw what ever they wanted to.

"The results were amazing and majority of the youth have shown their inborn talent in these drawings. Then I thought of having an exhibition but couldn't find any popular artists, because whoever I invited wanted a payment for their service. But I did not have money to pay them and finally we thought of giving a free hand to do the paintings. I must thank the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) for providing them with paper, pencils and colouring materials", he said.

"These youth have transformed from radical and violence mindsets into a complete different set up today. We wanted to see what was going on in their minds. We gave them three themes peace buildings, my aspiration and my contribution towards peace and development. They were given three weeks to complete their work. We did not monitor them but gave them a free hand", Brig. Ranasinghe said.

According to Brig. Ranasinghe, though they were exposed to deadly violence, they were soft human beings inside. "Their paintings are proof of what they really are. They are talented and the weapons and war situation created by Prabhakaran has destroyed the mild human qualities in these people. We have brushed up their talents", he said.

He said each painting conveys strong messages. "I do not call them professional masterpieces or reflections of Leonardo da Vinci or Michael Angelo but they are the real reflections of misguided youth after transformation", he said.

He said still the public perception about rehabilitated ex-LTTE caders was not sound enough to welcome them back into society. "A majority of the people are not willing to accept them due to the situation created by the LTTE.

But we have conducted several meetings with religious leaders and community leaders to get their support to change this attitude among the people", he said adding that he is 99.9 percent confident that rehabilitated ex-LTTE cadres would not engage in any of the violence or illegal activity again.

They have been given training in masonry, carpentry, and glasswork, wiring and computing. Females were given training in textile, computing and handicrafts during the rehabilitation process to support them to earn a living once they are reintegrated into society.

The preparation for releasing these cadres back to their families takes time and has to follow a lengthy cross checking process to verify their correct identities.

Some of them will face a delay in reintegration as they had given only half of their addresses.

The Civil Affairs Officers appointed in each Army battalion has to verify the details, if the details are wrong, the parents of the youth will be requested to meet the authorities.Brig.

Ranasinghe refuted allegations that rehabilitated cadres had engaged in violence in some parts of the North. "There are LTTE remnants, who have not surrendered, among villagers.

Investigations revealed that they had instigated violence but the situation is now under control", he said.

The Bureau has decided to reintegrate married ex-LTTE cadres who had completed rehabilitation and over 400 of them were released last week.Another batch of will be released during the Buddha Jayanthi celebrations and expect to complete releasing them before the end of May.