Civilians unfold their agony under terrorists
control
SHANIKA SRIYANANDA
They were forcibly taken to war by the LTTE.
Less they knew they were fighting a war that can never be won. Young men
and women in their teens in forward defence lines were left in the
lurch. But, freedom was closer than distant of Eelam. Day by day, they
realised the reality of the battle they waged against the powerful
Government troops. That made them feel that the day they would free
themselves from the handcuffs of Velupillai Prabhakaran was inches away.
“The war by Prabhakaran is meaningless and the LTTE cannot retain
their strongholds in Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu as people have no faith
in the LTTE.
People hate the LTTE now. But sometimes our parents are helpless as
the LTTE imposes rigid rules” said Kugatharshini Arumainathan, 28, who
was captured inside a bunker with two other teenaged cadres.
While the body of their platoon leader was blown to pieces before
them. They decided to save life and surrendered to the soldiers. As the
LTTE dominated areas were being lost, life in Kilinochchi and Mullathivu,
was a nightmare to the civilians who were barred from fleeing to the
liberated areas.
The situation worsened with the LTTE losing fighting capabilities as
more and more cadres got killed everyday.
Employing every possible tactic to prevent soldiers tapping at the
door, the LTTE leadership did not spare even the old and the sick. The
policy ‘one from a family’ to the LTTE to fight turned into ‘many
members’ from a family with the LTTE loosing ground. This ‘human tax’
was too expensive to these innocent civilians who prayed for an end to
the terror war.
“The young ones and the parents could not escape. If the parents were
not willing to give one child from the family, the LTTE took the parents
to the battlefront. As youth, the children could not let the LTTE take
their parents or younger sisters and brothers,” Kugatharshini, who
volunteered to save the lives of her brother and sister, said.
A native of Paranthan, a few kilometres away from the LTTE
administrative capital, which is fully under the control of the
military, said the villagers threw chilli powder or assault them, when
the LTTE came to snatch their children.
According to Kugatharshini, the parents who suffered under the
clutches of the LTTE did not want to see their young children breathing
their last on the fierce battlefield.
The anger against the LTTE was brewing within them but the helpless
souls were threatened at gun point. To their rescue, the military
stepped into the LTTE dominated territory defeating the LTTE. Worried
about her sister, Thatpara, who was not permitted entry from Kilinochchi
for studies decided to remain in the village to take care of her aging
parents, said Kugatharshini, adding she ran from pillar to post with her
parents as the troops advanced.
“We knew that Eelam would be a dream of Prabhakaran”, Kugatharshini
said adding that it was time for the LTTE to allow the people, who were
living under trees and huts, to reach the liberated areas.
An English teacher by profession, today she regrets that she was
compelled to join the LTTE, which destroyed the future of Tamils.
Apart from forceable recruitment of females, the LTTE is also
abducting children from the villages to meet the shortage of manpower.
Small children are in camps doing their studies.
Later they are sent to battlefront. Baskaran Subanjini, is the other
Prisoner of War (PoW) who threw away the deadly cyanide capsule for the
joy of living. She recalled the day the LTTE surrounded her small house
in Kilinochchi and snatched her away while her mother and siblings stood
crying and cursing.
She said she was left in the FDL with other teenaged girls who were
given combat training barely a month. “I am scared of fighting and never
wanted to join the LTTE.
If I did not join the LTTE my little brothers and sisters would die
in hunger. They were to stop food relief to my family”, the 18-year-old
Subanjini said adding when she was at the FDL amidst of deafening
explosions of mortars, she wanted to run to her parents or hide
somewhere.
“I cried and I know I am too small to fight”, she said. Skandaraja
Krishnakumar, the former LTTE cadre had no choice other than to shoot at
his leg to such become disabled to escape the LTTE. The youth who were
forcibly recruited to the LTTE and dropped at the Araviyanaru FDL
smelled death as the troops heavily attacked the areas.
The plans to flee the LTTE was a dream as he saw how they had treated
the cadres caught while trying to flee.
Those who went against the LTTE were dropped at the battlefront with
no weapons or left with no food until they died. Finally, they displayed
the dead bodies to prevent others from leaving the LTTE.
Skandaraja shot his leg and was brought to the LTTE base where they
treated the wounded. Many of them did the same tactic like Skandaraja to
escape. With heavy fighting and realising that they could not fight the
troops, the young cadres resorted to tactics to leave the LTTE. But
their attempts to save lives were not easy if the LTTE came to know the
truth. They would be ill-treated and left with no medicine to heal their
wounds until they died of infections.
Today being a refugee at the Manikfarm Welfare Centre in Vavuniya, he
lived to share the traumatic experiences under the clutches of the LTTE
thanks to his LTTE cadre friends who treated his wounds unaware of his
‘mission’ to flee.
Vegawannan Jaseelan is another refugee at the welfare centre who
spelt out his life in the hell-hole of the LTTE. He is a civilian who
was denied right to free medical treatment at the Kilinochchi hospital.
The LTTE had used half of the hospital to treat the LTTE wounded
cadres. He said a separate section with over 100 beds were left to the
LTTE and the area was restricted to civilians. Jaseelan was denied
treatment. However, his illness saved his life but the LTTE dragged his
16-year -old sister Amnesia.
Mahendrarasa Regan, 28, started his walk to ‘freedom’ with the
courage to face all odds. He joined a group of 35 civilians. But their
journey was disturbed at the Sambandankulam junction where the LTTE shot
at them to stop them fleeing. Some of them including children were shot
dead while others ran away.
Regan and few others did not abandon the mission and fled to the
Government controlled area after the LTTE cadres disappeared from the
scene.
Talk to Swendrini Dharmalingam or Mahendrarasa Pushparani or any
other person at the welfare centre. They all have similar tales to
unfold about LTTE atrocities in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. According to
these civilians, there are thousands of them waiting hopefully to see
the troops free them from the LTTE.
The fall of Kilinochchi is a victory for all peace loving people in
this country. It’s heavenly freedom for those who ran from pillar to
post to save their lives. |