A better future for their children

Shanika SRIYANANDA reporting from Batticaloa

The wounds of decades long war are getting healed slowly. Though the entire East is under the safe hands of the government, the tell tale signs of a deadly war is still evident in the once LTTE dominated Province.

Having witnessed only war and destruction for years, most of the people are now experiencing a gradual transformation which they thought a mirage. They never dreamt of a land where they can enjoy freedom and be secure. Shedding blood and living in constant fear in the grips of the LTTE, ‘what would have been their plight years ago in this highly volatile land’?

That was the very first question which sprang into my mind when I saw 35-year -old Kanagarani who was desperately trying to console her two month old son, Sirikanthan, who was crying in hunger. She could not appease his hunger pangs because the milk had all dried up. Already suffering from malnutrition the baby was crying not only because of his empty stomach but unable to bear the extreme heat.

No shade around to protect the baby from the strong ultra-heat penetrating through the Eastern sky, the mother, fanning him with a piece of cardboard.

“It’s misery, displacement and the fear that we won’t be freed from the clutches of the LTTE. My mother ran for life with us those days and then I too ran for life with my children when the war was getting worse. I do not want to see my children to undergo the same agony’’, Kanagarani answered my question.

Caught in the LTTE terror for years, she and her husband Thangathurai used several ‘tactics’ to save their eldest son Vijayakanthan, now 15, from being conscripted by the terrorists at his tender age. Once he was in hiding for months while they spread a rumour that he was suffering from epilepsy. However, today they are happy that their tactics worked well and Vijayakanthan is with them.

Living in Sampur in the clutches of the LTTE, the Thangathurai family ran from one place to another hiding in jungles and later escaped to government controlled areas when the humanitarian operation in the East escalated. Languishing in their final destination - the Kirimutti IDP camp -the family live together with 128 otherfamilies displaced due to the war.

The Kirimutti IDP camp, which lies in the Korkallimadu Village, is one kilometre away from the Kiran Junction. According to the officer-in-charge of the IDP camp, there are over 429 people, including 185 school-going children and 33 infants living in the camp.

The majority of the families (125) are from Trincomalee and only 12 from Batticaloa District. He said that these people will be resettled in batches soon.

Despite all difficulties, Thangathurai’s daughter Jendani (9) who is in grade 4 is attending the Korakallimadu School daily. Though she was willing to pursue education, she had to witness the war at an early age and ran from place to place with their parents. Though she is too young to express her bitter experience with no knowledge why people are fighting, Jendani said she did not want to see or hear shooting again.

“Now I can read my books and play with my sister Sumathi outside. Earlier my mother used to drag us inside whenever we played outside. But we want to go back to our house. Here it is so hot”, she complained.

Rice and a packet of milk are luxury food items for many of these displaced families. Even after a year of liberating the East from the grips of the LTTE, still they are lucky enough to survive on government rations. Each family get flour, dhal and other essential food items.

Youth in these camps have been left with no option other than waiting till development projects are launched so that they may get jobs. The majority, young and the old, are basically jobless as there are only a few job opportunities. But they have a sense of relief as they are not taxed for fishing, cutting firewood or cultivating.

Sivalingam said that he was sick of idling as he did not have a job and feels ashamed to depend on government rations for so long. Anticipating to go back to his village in Sampur, he said that he could engage in fishing and earn a living as they do not have to pay taxes to the LTTE.

The IDPs in the Kirimutti camp would have to seek shelter here for a few more months as their villages are not fully cleared of landmines.

The arduous task, according to officials, will take some time to be completed as they do not want to take a risk. The young father of two, Sivalingam works as a labourer. It is very hard to find a job as so many jobless people are already there in the camp.

“Mostly I work as a helper where new roads or roadblocks are constructed. I buy a packet of milk for my little son from that money”, he said.

Schooling is another problem for the majority of children as they do not possess birth certificates. These people are facing several other social setbacks. “The number of teenage mothers in the camp is high as their parents had given them in early marriage to escape from the LTTE recruitment.

Some parents still keep a watchful eye as they still think that the LTTE would come and abduct their children. Some parents are happy that their missing children who were in the Karuna faction could rejoin their families.

They said that they were proud of their children as they have given up militancy and are now helping people. “We do not want our children to join the LTTE again. We did not get anything other than war and destruction. We hope our children in the TMVP would bring prosperity to the province”, said 57-year-old Vadivel Sinnamuththu whose son was abducted by the LTTE at the age of 14 who later joined the Karuna group.

Thangamani Mariama (38) was busy making a ‘sambaru’ for her children returning from school. Though she was tight-lipped about the dark era as she still fears to talk about her experiences openly, Thangamani was happy that the family is free.

“If we refused their demands they abducted the children, she said, recalling how the LTTE armed cadres dragged her sister’s 12 year old son while the mother was pleading with them not to do so. Still they mourn for him as he is still missing.

There is no way for the LTTE to mingle with the IDPs any longer. The tough monitoring process, where all the IDPs are checked weekly, is being carried out by the security forces. Strengthening the security in the areas from Millambaweli to Ondachchimadam in Batticaloa, the Sri Lanka Army has set up the new 234 Brigade last July.

‘’There is no chance for the LTTE to infiltrate the East. The new Brigade will look after the security of these areas while supporting the STF and the Police in their day-to-day security operations. We have established Citizen’s Committees to keep a tight vigil on the LTTE’’, said Lt.Col. Jayampathy Thilakaratne, the Brigade Commander of the 234.

According to Col. Thilakaratne, the resettling of IDPs in Trincomalee would be delayed as their lands are located inside the High Security Zone and the Civil Affairs Officer of the Army is now having a dialogue with the relevant authorities about expediting the process.

He said that though all the measures to beef up security have been taken, the LTTE is still trying to create minor incidents with the help of some civilians. “But the soldiers are having more cordial relationship with the people and they do not want the LTTE to be present there.

Civilians are not helping the terrorists and it is very difficult to get their support.

People have more faith in the government and security forces, so they tip off whenever they encounter a suspicious movement”, he said.

Col. Thilakaratne said that the LTTE was trying to create minor incidents hoping that the military will divert soldiers from the Northern warfront. “But it would not happen and fighting in the North will continue as usual”, he stressed.

The Army is now carrying out security operations with the help of the Police, STF and the members of the Citizens’ Committees.

The latest addition to the 234 Brigade is the two-year-old Australian born ‘Marshal’ who is well trained to sniffout explosives. “Marshal will be employed at the main checkpoints to detect explosives”, said Col. Thilakaratne.

Rehabilitation Officer of the District Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Secretariat A.L.M. Sheriff said that the resettlement process was expedited but due to removal of landmines in some areas and the dispute over the HSZ in Trincomalee the programs were delayed.

“Now the de-mining process is going on in those areas and once the work is done we will be able to resettle half of those in the welfare camps. According to Sheriff, the IDPs from Trincomalee are living in welfare centres for the last one and half years and those from the Batticaloa District for a year. There are 18 welfare centres in the province sheltering over 17,455 displaced people.

What these people still know is the brutality of the war and not the true sense of liberation. But, surely they know they are free from the LTTE terrorism which dragged them too far below the poverty line keeping them suppressed denying their right to live.

Drowned in the brutality of terror, they, especially the young, know that war is harrowing and the LTTE is no longer patriotic.

Walking around the areas that were devastated by the war, one would see that despite all ills, they are trying to mend their lives and learning to live... live in a peaceful environment while trying to rise from the hell created by their own ‘sole representatives’.

They didn’t want to become child soldiers..but..

Nineteen-year-old Rohini was not well built for her age. Like some other girls, she too is a teenage mother who was given in marriage forcibly as her parents were in fear that she would become a child soldier.

Lots of underaged-girls and boys were abducted by the LTTE as the government troops were advancing into the LTTE controlled areas in Sampur. Only the sick, the married and the very old were left alone by the LTTE which was facing a severe dearth of manpower to fight back.

When the small children were abducted one by one, Rohini’s parents asked Sudaharan (22) to take care of Rohini. Living together posing as a newly married couple, they both escaped becoming members of the LTTE’s baby brigade.

“We were lucky. As many parents have given their teens in marriage to avoid them being conscripted by the LTTE.Later they abducted even married couples who did not have children”, said Rohini who was still yearning to go back to her school days.

She says that many of her friends ended up in forced marriages to escape forced recruitment by the LTTE. Their second child was born in the Kirimutti camp six months ago. “I liked to study but the environment destroyed our future. Now my only dream is to give my child a sound education”, Rohini said.

But her husband complained that as they were still languishing in the IDP camp they did not have any hope for a better future other than the feeling of freedom.

“We have been displaced many times. We wish that our children will not experience the agony we underwent”, the young couple said lamenting about the lack of employment opportunities for men. Sudaharan was sick of going from site to site in search of a job.