Mission abandoned:

Life is precious than death

By Shanika SRIYANANDA - reporting from Kilinochchi

Have you ever heard of a human being `tagged’ to die, brimming with hopes of living? Have you ever heard of a youth, who was to blow himself into pieces, smiling and talking very freely? `Suraj’, a human bomb, until a few days ago, has all the qualities of a disciplined youth. The fair skinned youth of 22-years, now loves his life more than anything else on this earth. He simply wants to live to see his `appa, amma and akka’.

“The LTTE kidnapped me on my way to the tuition class. Then I was ordered to attend a LTTE political meeting and taken away to Pawalan base in Kilinochchi while I was pleading to go home”, says Suraj who is prompt in relating about his former life - as a forcibly recruited schoolboy, a trained LTTE cadre, a Black Tiger and finally a suicide diver, who was assigned to a special mission by the LTTE Sea Tiger leader Soosai to stop the troops capturing the tiny wedge of land under LTTE domination.

Looking at Suraj and listening to him no one will believe that this charming youth was so lethal and had the courage to blow himself into pieces for an unworthy cause.

Born to a middle class family in Nallur, Jaffna, he was always well looked after by his father, a clerk. Suraj passed his O/L with two As, five Bs and three Cs. He dreamt of becoming a banker and had decided to study Commerce at Stanley College.

For the next six months, Suraj’s home was the LTTE camp in Irumbarei in Mullaitivu. Like Suraj, there were hundreds of girls and boys who were abducted by the LTTE. “There were underaged children and when they were crying and pleading to go, the senior LTTE cadres at the base assaulted them or punished them”, he recalls.

The best lot were selected to be Sea Tigers and given three-month training on military operations in the Sea. Suraj was also trained to swim long distances and also selected to the LTTE’s medical unit.

After a pin drop silence, the tall youth who is silent upto now, starts his story that made him a LTTE human bomb. If you see `Vimu’ you will blame those who call him a suicide cadre. The reality is that he does not look like a suicide cadre, that we pictured in our mind.

A timid and soft spoken youth, he is shy. “Why did you decide to kill yourself?” I ask. “Sapida” (to eat) he says and I repeat the question to clarify the answer that I heard. The reply again is the same. Tears stream down his face. Yes, the youth who is motivated to kill and blow himself, is crying.

Struggled

Being a fisherman, Vimu’s father struggled to feed the family of eight, and his meagre daily catch was not enough to feed all mouths at home. Boys and girls used to survive with a single meal. With the LTTE’s `human tax’, a member from each family, Vimu decided to join the outfit. I did not join to fight for a separate land for Tamils, but to ease the burden for my father. I thought I would not die of hunger”, he reveals.

The causes for Suraj and Vimu, the Sea Tigers to end their lives, are different. Suraj became a human bomb after seeing and hearing the false propaganda by the LTTE about bombings, killings and assaulting the Tamils by the Sri Lankan military.

But Vimu was motivated to become a human bomb the day he saw the dead body of his girl friend - a Sea Tiger, who was sent for an attack in Weli-Oya. “We thought we could take revenge by exploding ourselves by killing our enemies.”They say that from the day one of the training they were taught a single mantra - Sinhalese and Sinhala Army are enemies. We know nothing about the Sinhalese and Sinhala military, all those born after 1983 were brain-washed to kill Sinhalese.

Watching films and documentaries produced by the LTTE was part of their daily schedule and the two youth had sought permission from the LTTE leader Prabhakaran to become Black Tigers. The Black Tigers are treated as a special lot and are not allowed to have contacts with the family and society. After death, Black Tigers are venerated. They will be honoured within the outfit and also in the eyes of the public. The last resting place of the Black Tigers are granite tombstones and shrines built in their memory.

Not only the Black Tigers, but their families are venerated by the outfit and looked after well after their deaths. “I believed that the LTTE will look after my poor and old parents and also my sisters and brothers after my death. I do not think that I can give the things that the LTTE promised to give my family after my death. I thought my death will bring fortune to them”, says Vimu. His voice shivers.

The LTTE does not spare the orphaned and abandoned children and also the poor females who are sick and have faced tragedies. They are exploited to become human bombs and trained in jungle hideouts, which were heavily guarded and shut to the outside world. The inmates are only allowed to watch LTTE documentaries and films about combat operations where death was shown as a heroic act. Soosai has informed them that they had been selected to the Black Tiger squad, which is the suicide wing of the LTTE’s naval arm.

“In November 2008, we passed out as Black Tigers at a ceremony held at Iranapallei LTTE base in Puthukudyirruppu where Prabhakaran, Soosai, Banu, Lakshman, Charles Anthony, Madiwani, Prabhakaran’s daughter and the youngest son Balachandran participated to honour us. Public was not allowed to come in”, they, who were recently recruited as Black Tigers of the LTTE’s newly established unit - Gange Ameran Neeradi Neeruchchi Neechchalairrugu (Underwater explosion unit) named in honour of the former Sea Tiger leader Gange Ameran, say.

To sacrifice

They say that Prabhakaran had said that he did not want to use the Black Tigers much because their lives were so precious. “He instructed us to be ready to sacrifice our lives when all other tactics had failed, to defend their military missions”, they go on.

The LTTE Leader clad in LTTE uniforms had the last supper - string hoppers, mutton, brinjol and ice cream - with them. “We were checked thoroughly. The LTTE cadres checked even our belts, shoes and hair”, reveal Suraj and Vimu who were photographed with their leader, who always said that the LTTE was winning.

Last January 20 was their D-day, the day on which they started on their `long walk for freedom’. “We were taken to Vishuwamadu where Soosai and Prabhakaran’s son Charles Anthony, the Head of LTTE’s IT unit, explained how best they could explode the Iranamadu tank bund, which is the largest irrigational tank in Vanni. “They planned to place four 25kg weighing `limpet’ mines to blast the Sluice gates. The entire area would be under water for a week and it would kill over 5,000 soldiers. It was to stop the military operation to capture Vanni. Dinesh Master, who led the mission, said that once it was exploded 300 cadres and Sea Tiger boats would attack the troops”. The two Black Tigers were given necessary equipment including three magnetic sea mines (25 kilo of each).

On January 24, Suraj, Vimu and another Black Tiger crept through the FDLs in Visuwamadu, but they abandoned the mission as the troops of the 17 Gajaba Regiment, attached to the 57 Division attacked them. The two informed Soosai about the failure but he ordered them to carry out the mission.

Suraj, who was forcibly recruited and misled, planned to surrender but felt scared as he did not know the thoughts of his colleague. But as they were again ordered to expedite the attack and blow themselves they started the mission again. “We swam for over three kilometres, but the two military boats which were doing patrol around the tank, shot at us. I determined to surrender then”, Suraj said.

Both felt the need of living. But both were scared of each other to tell each other about their `mission to live’. Suraj talked to Vimu and both agreed to drop their mission to commit suicide, and to start a new journey to enjoy living. “I know if I abandoned the mission and went back, the LTTE will deploy me in the FDLs as a punishment. So I decided to surrender and told Vimu that there is no reason to die young. Surprisingly, he also felt the same and we both dumped the explosives and diving kits, and entered the A9 road to surrender to the Army”, recalls Suraj who was trained to swim over five kilometres without wearing diving kits, and also capable in diving 300 feet deep in the sea. Sitting next to these two human bombs, I feel scary as I know that their commitment is scary and they don’t have sympathy for anyone. They know only about their mission to kill as much as they can to take revenge by exploding themselves to maximize the damage to their targets.

Starting from so-called LTTE Captain Miller, who drove an explosives-laden truck the LTTE used hundreds of young boys and girls to blow their bodies into pieces. Suraj and Vimu say that the LTTE used poverty and anger to recruit more Black Tigers. Though there are no official figures about the total number of LTTE suicide cadres, Suraj and Vimu say that there are over 500 Black Tigers with the outfit. “I want to study banking”, says Suraj and Vimu wants to become a good fisherman to follow in his father’s footsteps. They also have hopes to go home soon and look after their old parents. The two youth, full of skills as fine divers, have new hopes other than their childhood dreams. That is to become good divers not to explode themselves to generate disaster or blood shed, but to excavate the hidden marine treasures around the country.

Suraj and Vimu finally say that they who were trained to see blood and motivated to take their own lives to kill as much as they can, are now learning the ABC of living’. Their only request to the LTTE human bombs who are still in line to activate to create a disaster, is to drop their missions and surrender to live long. “Eelam is only a dream. We know there is a world outside the LTTE,” they say in unison.