Blessed are the children, for they will not be snatched
Someone once proposed that when the first child smiled for the very
first time, the smile would have broken into a thousand pieces, gone
skipping along in a thousand different directions and that this was the
beginning of fairies. I am thinking today of a different ‘first child,’
a child whose first smile brought tears to the eyes of fond parents;
happy tears and terrified ones too. That was a smile, which in their
eyes, would soon break into a thousand pieces that would never be put
together again, a smile whose owner would be forced to carry gun and
grenade, ordered to maim and kill and open him/herself to the real
possibility of violent death.
There are all kinds of children. I know of 22 lucky children and two
lucky teachers. On December 18, 2006, LTTE cadres stormed into a tuition
class in Thirukkovil and took these lucky people away. They were lucky
because unlike the 23rd child, they were all released because the
child-snatchers had slipped up.
LTTE cadres
One of the teachers described the incident thus: ‘I was preparing
these children for the O/L examination, which they had to sit the
following day. Three LTTE cadres forced themselves into the class and
said they came for the children. When I objected, they slapped me in the
face, put a grenade in my mouth and assaulted me like an animal with a
club. My fellow teacher was similarly assaulted. We were all bundled
into a vehicle, the LTTE cadres beating the children, both boys and
girls.’
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Former LTTE
child soldiers. File photo |
They were tied in pairs and forced to march into the KanjikaidichiAru
jungle. They were lucky, because they were released. Except that
unfortunate Student No 23, to this day just a number with no name, like
thousands of other children that the LTTE forcibly conscripted.
That same day, though, the LTTE had accosted some 300 students in
Kawanchikudi and Kaludewala, who were returning home after the exam. It
was a ‘join us’ demand. They were warned that refusal would result in
reprisals. Many of the students had fled their homes in fear. They were
the lucky ones.
Thousands upon thousands were unlucky. They were snatched from their
adoring parents, trained to kill and expected to be killed. Some lived
long enough to reach 18 and official adulthood, many died without a
childhood.
Even in the last stages of the battle, the LTTE strapped explosives
to a child’s body and asked him to mingle with those who were fleeing
LTTE-controlled areas. He was tasked to explode himself when he reached
the Sri Lankan troops helping the fleeing civilians.
Child-snatching units
Exams didn’t stop the LTTE. Christmas was good for recruitment.
Pongal too. Children were kidnapped on the 1st of June every year, and
it does not matter whether or not the kidnappers knew it was
‘International Children’s Day’. They were abducted on the 20th of
November every year. Yes, it doesn’t matter whether or not the abductors
knew it was ‘Universal Children’s Day’, as proclaimed by the United
Nations General Assembly in 1954. Everyday was ‘children’s day’ as far
as the LTTE’s child-snatching units were concerned. Everyday was hell
for both child and parent.
As of January 31, 2006, the UNICEF recorded a total of 5,368 known
cases of under-age recruitment. In the first five years in which the
Ceasefire Agreement was ‘in operation’ alone there were over 5,000 such
cases reported, some even as young as seven years of age! It is known
that LTTE offices as well as the offices of the notorious TRO (Tamil
Rehabilitation Organization) were used as recruitment centres; the TRO
received a whopping US $ 6,850,000 to ‘rehabilitate child soldiers’. It
is known that only a fraction of the cases actually got reported. It is
known that refugee camps for the tsunami displaced were the happy
hunting grounds as far as the child-snatchers were concerned. When 300
LTTE combatants were found dead after the security forces overran the
LTTE in WeliOya, the vast majority were found to be children, mostly
girls.
Horror stories
Today children in the North and East of this country go to school.
They know they’ll go home after school and that their parents will be
there to welcome them. Their parents know that their sons and daughters
will be home for lunch. It’s ‘Universal Children’s Day’ in the formerly
LTTE-controlled areas. Everyday.
Two years have passed since the LTTE was vanquished. Had the outcome
been different what kind of expression would we find in child and parent
in these areas, have you wondered? What kind of tear or smile would
grace the countenance of a mother who has just given birth and upon a
man who has just become a father? Would smile and tear break into a
thousand pieces and if they do would they turn into fairies or
gargoyles, be lifted by angels or by thugs? What kind of cut-paste would
follow, have you asked yourself? A child then was potential gun-toting
killer, a cog in a military wheel, cannon fodder, and factored in the
mindless equations of the ‘liberator’ as disposable. A child today once
epitomizes innocence, vulnerability, hope and the future.
On February 22, 2007, the fifth anniversary of the CFA, I wrote,
‘(This) horror story demands closure; the monster that delivers
nightmares to innocent children has to be laid to rest’. There are
thousands of children who would not be going to school or indeed going
anywhere had a different outcome materialized. They would be dead, most
likely. Thousands more would be on virtual death row, courtesy the LTTE.
Some were unlucky.
Some are blessed and that’s cause for relief if not celebration.
Back then smiles broke into nightmares. Today, they can break into
thousands and thousands of flowers. Back then, smiles were not
associated with hope. Today they reflect a future.
I know that thousands of parents in the North and East sleep better
these days. I do too.
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