KAMALIKA PIERIS

The LTTE was able to obtain the support of the Tamils living in the north through clever propaganda.   Kumaran Pathmanathan, (KP) said   he had got involved in politics in the 1970s at the early stages of the Tamil youth uprising in the Northern Province. At that time there was much unrest among the youth. Our political leaders were very keen on taking the advantage of the unrest and mobilizing youth. Politicians gave emotional speeches to us students. We attended their political meetings,

They spoke on ‘very emotional things.’ They would speak and elaborate about Tamil Eelam. By motivating the youth emotionally, those Tamil politicians gradually tapped the hearts and minds of the Northern youth and eventually motivated them to take part in the armed struggle.

As youth, we did not have the means to question the preaching by Tamil politicians. We blindly believed and trusted in them. When we were young, we thought it was possible to change things. As young people therefore, we joined the LTTE, thinking the cause was a possible one. They not only misled me, they misled the entire younger generation said KP.

K.C.Logeswaran said he saw, in 1983   or so, that the Tamil youth were getting brainwashed. Affection towards parents, respect toward teachers and attachment to one family were downgraded by the LTTE. Children were encouraged to spy on relatives and even their own parents.

Ben Bavinck recorded in 1991 that the whole community in Jaffna is being brainwashed. A strong nationalistic feeling of ‘We Tamils’ is being promoted, A section of Tamil youth is growing up with a very narrow vision shaped by Tamil chauvinism and are caught in a culture of violence, noted Bavinck. The community in Jaffna is increasingly turning upon itself, Bavinck continued.

A new generation is growing up which has no knowledge of Sri Lanka and the Sinhala people but are filled instead with a narrow Tamil chauvinism, said Bavinck., The ‘Tamil cause’ acquired an almost religious passion and was synonymous with the Jihad, said Logeswaran. LTTE released songs, one said this soil it our soil.” I could not   remember when my Sri Lanka ID and passport had got lost. I had not kept them safe as I never thought I would need to use them ever again, said Tamilini. 

LTTE wished to alienate the Tamil people from the Sri Lanka government. They brainwashed the Tamils that Sinhalese were very brutal and anti Tamil, said Arun Tambimuttu.  Bavinck was told in 1991 that   LTTE originate rumors of an army attack and spread it, and then they   go around and try to get recruits from every house, saying that when the army comes every young man will be victimized.

LTTE had an exhibition at Kaddaiveli in October 1993.There were paintings depicting the atrocities of the army. They were even more disgusting than the ones I had seen earlier in Jaffna, said Bavinck.

Murder at sea, rape, shooting of school children, burning on car tyres, bombing from the air, all carried out by Sri Lanka army soldiers with devilish grins on their faces. This whole propaganda exercise is accompanied by a video of the Kilali attack, speeches and Tiger songs on loudspeakers. This is clear propaganda. It is quite effective and youngsters are joining the LTTE, noted Bavinck.

LTTE fighters were given a grand image. Bavinck noted in 1990 that in Jaffna, at every junction there were six life size cutouts of fallen LTTE heroes. Many lanes and streets In Nallur were named after them. En route to Jaffna in November 1991 Bavinck saw roads decorated with palm leaf festoons and triumphal arches for Heroes Day.

LTTE had constructed several cemeteries dedicated to fallen cadres. they were found in Uduppidy, Eellankulam, Kodikamam, Kopay and Uduththurai in Jaffna,    Anadakulam and Eachchankulam in Vavuniya,  Adkadiveli and Pandivirichchan in Mannar, Konagapuram and Mulangovil in Kilinochchi, Wanni villankulam, Vishvamadu, Alampil, Mulleyaveli,   in Mullaitivu,

Alankulam, Ittikulam, Verugal and Upparu in Trincomalee, Thandiadi, Tharavakulam, Vakarai and Kandiladi in Batticaloa, Kanjikudichchiaru and Alankernikulam in Ampara. .

These cemeteries were beautifully constructed and landscaped. Candles and lamps were lit at these cemeteries on Heroes day in the presence of families of fallen comrades. Ceremonies were held. Families of LTTE heroes were shown special respect, said Amnesty International.

 In September 1992, on the day of Thileepan commemoration, everywhere, particularly in Madhu, we saw little shrines with his picture calling for an almost religious adoration, recorded Bavinck in his diary.  In Sept 1993 all along the road from Omanthai to Paranthan a distance of 80 kilometers, we could see little huts with a picture or Thileepan, flowers and an oil lamp. We were offered a glass of lemonade in honor of Thileepan.

LTTE carried out large scale propaganda. LTTE held meetings everywhere, Bavinck recorded in 1991 Attendance is compulsory. Questions are asked by those planted in the audience, the rest keep mum. The propaganda meetings of the LTTE resemble Christian revival meetings and their songs also have this almost religious charge,  observed Bavinck.

Young persons joined the movement in droves in the 1990s recalled Tamilini. The training grounds were filled to overflowing. Between 1989 and 1992 female fighters joined in thousands she said.  LTTE was growing at a rate.

LTTE wooed the younger generation too. LTTE regularly exposed Tamil children to special events honoring LTTE heroes, also parades of LTTE cadres. Children were drawn to the status and glamour of serving as LTTE cadres, reported Amnesty International. The younger ones who joined LTTE were given schooling in special LTTE schools where they are soundly brainwashed, noted Bavinck in 1993.

LTTE    visited schools and gave talks. Students were given tasks such as gathering dry rations, making floral garlands for the LTTE.  Tamilini recalled that her school band was taken to play funeral music at the memorials for dead LTTErs.

Thamizhini joined LTTE in 1991 straight from school. She was in the Advanced Level class. Thamizhini said she was influenced by the LTTE who came to her school to canvass.  Everyday different persons would come and address gatherings. They spoke with great anger and passion. There were heated debates. There was a LTTE student group in the school.  It met frequently. Many of the older students then kept disappearing. They had joined the LTTE.

Relatives lamented as though at a funeral when they left, said Tamilini,  but when the youth who had gone for training reappeared they would be complete altered in appearance; even the village leaders showed them respect. The younger ones hero worshiped them. The recruits said we are going to fight so that you can study well and advance in life. They referred to all as Amma, Appa, Thambi or Thangachchi.

I firmly believed that if we were to live peacefully, we had to fight a war said Thamizhini.  ‘We stuck to the dream that if we somehow liberated out motherland then we could raise our nation to the level of Singapore.” When the public grumbled, we said put up with this a little longer, we will soon win our homeland. We believed that our leader Prabhakaran would create a great future for us. There was blind faith and hero worship.

Around 1983 authorities in Jaffna became uneasy about the militant political activities taking place in Vanni. Several armed group were operating in the far flung villages of the Vanni and Tamil political leaders did not dare to oppose them. One NGO in particular (not named) was supportive of militant activities and had also assisted new settlers on state lands, said K.C.Logeswaran.  Agricultural farms with absentee landlords in the Nedunkeni and Cheddikulam areas were used for weapons training and other clandestine activities.

LTTE had political support right from the start. Everyone was aware of the close links between TULF and the LTTE, said Cyril Ranatunga .TULF supported the LTTE saying they are just young boys. . Tamil politicians gave refuge in their own homes to these boys using parliamentary privilege.

LTTE was also able to secure the support of the Christian church. The Anglican Bishops of Jaffna, Batticaloa, Mannar and Trincomalee as well as the Roman Catholic Church took up the cause of ‘our boys’ said Ranatunga. .

 Catholic Church gave a lot of support to the LTTE, said Bavinck. The Catholic Church showed a ‘remarkable sympathy’ for LTTE, so did the Protestant churches.  In 1983, Bavinck had run into a ceremony of mourning for two sea tigers whose bodies were displayed on a decorated open lorry, The Methodist pastor traveling with Ben went to pay his respects to the fallen LTTE.

When the movement started, the intellectuals, academics and professionals in Jaffna were sympathetic to the LTTE, and called them ‘our boys,”  said. Logeswaran. Lawyers appeared free for them. The public also accepted them. The people addressed LTTE as ‘Our boys’ affectionately and endearingly. They were proud of the heroic deeds of the Tigers, added Logeswaran.

LTTE successes were applauded. The destruction of the army camps at Kokavil and Mankulam in 1990 and taking of Jaffna fort created a great wave of support for the LTTE from the community, said Tamilini.

When Jaffna Fort was captured by the LTTE in 1990 everybody was on the streets celebrating and lighting crackers said Bavinck. The raising of the Tiger flag at the Jaffna fort brought a great wave of support for the LTTE from the public, said Tamilini.

A person who had come from Jaffna had described to Bavinck In August 1991, the great enthusiasm with which practically the entire Jaffna society had supported the attack on Elephant Pass, which was to be a decisive blow to the army.

The gut feeling of the people is to support the LTTE, said Bavinck. People identify themselves with the LTTE. The fact that the LTTE offered resistance to the government and the army was sufficient reason for support. We owe our lives to them.” Any movement against the LTTE is out of the question,     said Bavinck.

 There is irritation about the activities of the LTTE, Bavinck noted in 1991, but still if asked to choose between Sinhala army and LTTE they would choose LTTE. There was a total absence of moral judgment about the actions of the LTTE.  It was felt that we should not speak about the failings and misdeeds of the LTTE while the war was still on.

As events unfolded, the educated Tamils had their reservations about the LTTE but they kept quiet as they did not wish to be branded as traitors. If one opposes, one is immediately classified as a traitor.

In Jaffna there is ambiguous support for LTTE, Bavinck observed in 1990. Some are waiting with enthusiasm to the coming of Tigers others are apprehensive. People feel they should keep their mouths shut as the LTTE is coming in for a long period.

The Tamil community grapevine was full of stories of Tiger abductions but they were scared to come forward and say so openly. Fear of repercussions from the LTTE, fear  that the Tamil cause would be weakened by this,  also  that they were residing in   LTTE controlled areas, prevented people from speaking out, said DBS Jeyaraj. (Continued)