Christian pilgrims recount bitter experience:

'Our pilgrimage to Tamil Nadu ended in sadness'

By Manjula FERNANDO

Following the attack on a group of Sri Lankan pilgrims who went to attend the annual feast at the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni the Sunday Observer spoke to a cross section of those affected to take a look at this issue from their perspective and to find out how this incident will impact on relations with our close neighbour.

The President of the Chilaw fishermen's Association, W. Jesudasan, 43, who was one of the pilgrims caught up in the Tamil Nadu attack, recalled his ordeal. Speaking in fractured Sinhala, he explained the reason for his flawed proficiency in his mother tongue. "I was sent to a Tamil medium school in Chilaw by my parents. I cannot write Sinhala at all. Although I am a Sinhalese Christian I studied in the Tamil medium along with my siblings. But my three children, two daughters and a son, attend Sinhala schools and can converse in Sinhala well."

(His language proficiency is proof of how intertwined our two communities, the Tamils and Sinhalese are when it comes to ethnic relations. Many extremist south Indian politicians or Sri Lankan extremists for that matter, must acknowledge the fact even at this late stage.)

Jesudasan's first pilgrimage to South India was many years ago. His first born was just two years then. For him going to Velankanni is similar to a private meeting with the 'mother of God' herself. "It is a miracle, my son was born with crooked legs," he began and the boy could not walk properly. "We took him to many doctors but none gave us any hope. It was then that someone proposed that we should take him on a pilgrimage to Velankanni". This trip was the first of five trips he had made to the Church of miracles. It was on an arduous and expensive journey for an ordinary fisherman like him.

According to Jesudasan his son was carried to the Shrine of Our Lady of Velankanni because he could not walk. He then started taking his first steps within days of the visit to the Church. The family was awe-struck.

The Velankanni Basilica's foundation is attributed to three miracles. But it is said a permanent edifice was built at the premises due to a promise made by Portuguese sailors who miraculously survived a violent sea storm in the mid 16th century. The Chapel is famous for miraculous healing among Catholic devotees.

"This was my fifth trip. In the past I used to take my family but this time my wife suggested that I go alone. She was of the view that the whole family could go next year when the children are bigger and they could understand."

I had a stomach ailment that was giving me pain, that was one of the reasons for my visit this time around.

But his hopes along with 184 others, all friends and relatives of fisher families living in the Chilaw coast were not meant to be. Some of them, the elderly, had made this trip to South India, fulfilling a holy ritual, for over many decades. They have seen the hospitality of the natives in Velankanni who made them feel at home during previous trips. But last week, a mob of politically instigated goons led by pro-LTTE elements shattered their hopes.

The Lankan pilgrim group departed from the Katunayake Airport aboard a Sri Lankan flight on Monday morning. The destination was Trichy.

After a brief flight the group disembarked at the Tiruchirappalli airport and made their way to Poondi Matha Shrine, some 35 km off, for prayers and to spend the first night there.

Jesudasan had spent Rs. 22,000 for the air ticket and carried Rs. 80,000 in cash in his hand to finance the expected two-week stay.

"We went to the lodge in the evening and changed. While we were resting there, a commotion from the direction of the shrine gate caught our attention. We saw a mob of about over 50 men shouting in Tamil and waving their hands in an unruly manner. Many of us spoke Tamil.

They were shouting things like 'we don't want Sinhalese here', 'send them back'. Some of them used harsh language."

The men carried red flags with a tiger emblem and posters of Prabhakaran. According to Jesudasan there were motorbikes with number plates sporting Prabhakaran's face.

"I felt that they thought we were members of Sri Lankan military."

Outside the police fought with the mob to protect the Lankan pilgrims while Jesudasan and others stared through the windows in disbelief wondering if this unruly mob of men would harm them.

By this time the team leader had contacted the Sri Lankan mission in Chennai on his mobile phone. The Deputy High Commissioner immediately spoke to the Tamil Nadu State Police Commissioner. Within 20 minutes the state police reached Poondi Matha shrine. When the mob was hard to disperse, the police with the instructions from the Sri Lankan mission in Chennai made arrangements to send them back home, fearing that the mob may turn violent and attack the visiting pilgrims.

Jesudasan and his friends and relatives were bundled into seven buses by the police around 1 am the next morning.

At this point the pilgrims insisted that they wanted to go to Velankanni, so that they will not miss what they came for after, spending money. The buses took off towards Velankanni, which is a two to three hour drive.

Despite fears of another attack, the pilgrims were glad that they made it. After hurried prayers at the chapel they rushed back to the Trichy airport where the authorities thought that they will be safe. With several police jeeps guarding the buses from the rear and in front, they left Velankanni around 9.00am.

While nearing the Trichy Airport, the mob which had been discretely following the pilgrims right throughout, blocked the vehicle convoy. Adding insult to injury.... a bus suffered a tire puncture in the rush bringing the whole convoy to a standstill.

"I was in the second bus. The men started attacking the first bus. I thought they will kill us all. Some hid under the seats. Women and children could not hide." "I saw some of the men coming towards our bus.

They first pulled out the bus driver and assaulted him. Then they took the key. I thought that they were going to set fire to the vehicles."

"Then the police moved in. Seeing the policemen approaching, they threw the keys away and ran. After sometime the bus driver pulled himself up and drove the bus to the airport." The mob had attacked the first three buses in the convoy, some of the pilgrims including children suffered minor bruises due to pelting stones.

Jesudasan said he did not see the men carrying any weapons adding that there may have been serious damage if they did. "The men were so violent and were screaming 'kill them'."

While the political gangsters ran amok, the locals in the area tried to save the pilgrims. "Some of the people where the attack took place called us to their houses to hide.

But we were afraid to go anywhere. It was an unknown place and we could not trust strangers."

Jesudasan says his faith is boundless but such was his fearful experience in Tamil Nadu that it would take sometime to forget the night marish episode and make up his mind to undertake another pilgrim tour to Velankanni.