Features | Sundayobserver.lk

For Muthurasa Sivanesarasa age is no barrier to catch up with him lost opportunities. At 25 he was studying in the Advanced Level class. He had to shift from his favourite field - medicine to agriculture.

As a youth he aspired to become a doctor but that dream could not be realised since the LTTE conscripted A/L students including Muthurasa who were studying medicine.

" The LTTE said that they also could give us the same education and we don't have to sacrifice our youth for five years. If we joined their medical unit we could become doctors sooner as they give us the same education", Muthurasa, the former LTTE cadre said.

The LTTE's assurance became a ruse just after six months of their training. The newly 'graduated' LTTE doctors had acquired some experience in dispensing drugs, cleaning wounds, putting dressing and other basic field first aid.

The new batch was asked to be on-call to go to Forward Defence Lines (FDLs). Muthurasa escaped the outfit and started attending classes to pursue his childhood dream. In 2002 he sat for the A/L and got one Credit pass for Bio-Science and three simple passes, which were not enough to enter the university.

Life for Muthurasa was not as easy as he thought as he lost his mother and sister during tsunami that stuck the Mullaithivu district. His father became disabled. Abandoning his plans for higher education, he did odd jobs to feed the family.

Step by step, the military push entered the door-step of the Mullaithivu district. They felt the gravity of a fierce battle and had to share the land with thousands of displaced civilians who had been herded by the LTTE. The LTTE started grabbing whoever could fight to strengthen its man-power but left trail of disaster for the breadwinners of displaced families. That brought luck for Muthurasa as he was the only soul left to feed the family. Muthurasa's brother-in-law, who was dragged by the LTTE to fight, was killed and later the LTTE Police seized his 15-year-old son. The following day the boy returned home and Muthurasa had to hide him in an under-ground bunker. The LTTE Police threatened to take Muthurasa to treat the wounded cadres at the FDLs if he did not return the boy.

Then he surrendered himself to the military with his disabled father, sister and the boy. His sister and father had gone back to their home after leaving the welfare centre. The boy later released after being rehabilitated.

Muthurasa now wants to study agriculture as he thinks he can get a good government job.

As lots of people in his areas depend on agriculture, he also wants to engage in paddy cultivation.

Muthurasa and his colleagues, the ex-LTTE cadres of the Rehabilitation Centre at Vavuniya Tamil Primary School, sat for the A\L Examination last week.

Students sat for the examination from all the streams - Art, Commerce, Bio and Mathematics. They were taught by the teachers of the Tamil Maha Vidyalaya, Vavuniya. Special Seminars were held at weekends to help them catch up with the missed lessons by the specialised teachers of the Department of Education.

During the closing months of the 30-year-old conflict nearly 12,000 LTTE cadres surrendered to the military. Majority of them were youth who had been abducted by the LTTE during the final months of the battle to strengthen its shrinking man-power against the military push.

Like Muthurasa, several LTTE cadres attempted to leave the outfit, but the LTTE still holding the civilians as a human shield to halt the advancing military operation, came hard on those cadres who tried to flee. The LTTE police was used to launch cordon and search operations to take back the cadres, who had escaped fighting.

According to Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe 355 ex-LTTE cadres including 114 females who sat for the A/L examination have been released yesterday.

"Over 500 ex-LTTE cadres have been re-integrated into the society after the completion of one year rehabilitation program. They are from Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu and Jaffna", he said.

Of the total number of surrendees, over 3,587 have been handed back to their parents or families. The child soldiers are now living with their parents and continuing their education. The remaining 7,400 ex-LTTE cadres who are undergoing rehabilitation and following vocational training courses will be re-integrated into the society.

"A bridal show was held to award certificates for females who had completed short-term courses on beauty culture and bridal dressing at Pampemadu and Poonthottam women rehabilitation centres. Another batch of 180 males who have completed vocational training were awarded certificates", he said.

Seventeen females who have their toddlers were also re-united with their families yesterday. Over 50 couples, who were living in the 'Peace village', where they got married in a mass wedding ceremony recently, have gone back home.

Brig. Ranasinghe said several new programs to provide recognized vocational training for the ex-LTTE cadres under rehabilitation are on the cards.

"A job fair will be held from September 28 to 30 at Vavuniya. Several leading private companies, representing IT, apparel and vocational training, have been invited to participate and some of them have already consented to take part in the fair. The main aim of the fair is to create more job opportunities for these youth", he said.He said that on instructions from President Mahinda Rajapaksa priority had been given in providing maximum opportunities for the ex-LTTE cadres who were misled.

"We want to re-integrate them into the society as those who can stand on their own feet. All of them are looking forward for a brighter future", he said.

Meanwhile, an internationally recognized company in the construction sector has come forward to conduct a three-month course for over 500 rehabilitatees.

"This will be a great opportunity for them and they will be awarded an internationally recognized certificate. They would get job opportunities in Middle Eastern countries", Brig. Ranasinghe said.

According to the ex-LTTE cadres undergoing rehabilitation, a large number of their colleagues were killed by the LTTE police. "They shot, those who tried to flee, in public as a deterrent punishment. Later, those who tried to escape were thrown to FDLs to fight. Many who became disabled were denied treatment as a punishment", they said.

V. Trasalingam was there to see his son - Pirabu (22) who was abducted by the LTTE in 2007 while returning from school. Displaced and now living in the welfare centre at Vavuniya, Trasalingam is waiting to go back home.

"I have four sons and two daughters. After the LTTE abducted Pirabu, he returned home and pleaded to hide him from the LTTE. While he was hiding with my relatives, the LTTE imprisoned me until my son was returned to them", he recalled.

Trasalingam was once beaten by the LTTE police as his son overstayed. At last Pirabu decided to return to the LTTE to save his father's life. He was later deployed at the FDL as a punishment.

The family was on the run after the military captured Visuwamadu. Trasalingam struggled to save his other two young sons from the LTTE police which conscripted under-aged children.

"In each temporary hut we dug a bunker and kept our children there. Day and night my wife and I guarded the bunker. When darkness fell my children crept out of the bunker. They were fed with few spoons of rice and a dhal curry which was cooked hurriedly ", he said. The day family together with hundreds of others surrendered to the soldiers turned a new life in their lives.

"Until we came to Vavuniya, we never thought we would be united again. All the time I prayed the God to keep my children together", Trasalingam said that he was happy as his sons, including Pirabu, who is undergoing rehabilitation, are studying and preparing for their examinations.Wimaladevi is also happy as her son was sitting for the A/L Examination. Her son Kumar too was abducted by the LTTE while he was studying at the A/L class in 2008.

"I never thought my son would ever sit for the A/L Examination. He is a studious child and never wanted to join the LTTE. He was always worried that the LTTE abducting his friends," she said.When Kumar refused to go with them, the LTTE police threatened to take his sister. It made him surrender and go with the cadres.Wimaladevi had come to see Kumar and give him some model test papers and lunch packet cooked by her.

Wijekumar Sellakumar who was studying at the Gamini Maha Vidyalaya, Watthegama came to see his sick grandmother at Kilinochchi in 2006. The LTTE suspected that Sellakumar was a spy and took him into custody.

After three -months training, he was posted to the LTTE's intelligence unit. Later he was deployed as a guard at the LTTE prison at the Vellimullivaikkal. Sellakumar escaped the LTTE several times, but the LTTE Police took him back into the custody. Many were posted to the FDLs as a punishment. "The LTTE could not keep its cadres with it during the final stages.

They knew the LTTE was fighting a loosing battle. People could not tolerate the LTTE as they started beating and shooting the people", Sellvakumar had surrendered to the military on May 16, 2009.

He said that though many cadres wanted to surrender to the military much earlier, the LTTE propaganda through street dramas, which showed the soldiers kill boys and rape girls who surrendered, had deterred them. Sellvakumar wanted to go back to his parents in Watthegama soon. He sat for A/L examination in the hope of pursing his higher education in computer science.

From Tiger jackboot to freedom