Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada

12 December 2012

The Editor

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ FRONTLINE, IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s International Magazine from the publishers of THE HINDU

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 859-860 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, India

Sir:

I read K.SATCHIDANANDANƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s column in your Volume 29-Issue 25: Dec. 15-28, 2012, which had this introduction: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Sri Lankan Tamil writers tried to capture the trauma of the violence that gripped the country from 1983. The songs of the vanquished show how poetry can be a way of coming to terms with the despair of defeat.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢

Then you had a portrait of Rudramoorthy Cheran labeling it with the words ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-perhaps the most clairvoyant among the poets of the Eelam movement.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  And then you continuedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  by saying: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-There can be two opinions about the politics and the tactics of the Eelam movement in Sri Lanka, but there cannot be two about the brutal massacre of Sri Lankan Tamils at Mullivaikkal which was the culmination of a series of smaller, indiscriminate attacks on the Tamils ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” including women and children ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” that had gone on for years since the beginning of the movement and had taken a bloodier course from the latter half of 2008 to May 18, 2009, when it was officially announced that the war on Eelam Tamils had finally been concluded.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

What you said was repugnant and wrong, as that bloody war was originated by the most ruthless terrorists in the world as told us by the United Nations.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  And they happened to be Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Tamils from Rudramoorthy CheranƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s clan, who were foolish enough not to see that, if you live by the gunƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  that you sure will die by the gun.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  And that is what happened at the conclusion of this Eelam war.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The Tamil Tigers died in a hail of gunfire.

You paint the picture of the Tamils who were carrying their blood soaked red flags with the head of a roaring Tiger festooned with a circle of bullets and propped up by the crook of two crossed Kalashnikovs, as a bunch of Babes in the Woods, who couldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t fight back even with bamboo sticks and catapults and stones.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  What nonsense, these were a bunch of serial killers who massacred innocent Sinhalese and MuslimsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  in droves wanting to carve out the northern-third of the island to create their mono-ethnic separate Tamil state, Eelam. You didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t tell your readers that did you?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  I am disappointed as you forget that you need two to Tango, and nor can you clap with one palm.

It were not only the Tamil poets who captured the trauma of the violence that gripped the country from 1983.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  And here are some of my (a Sinhalese) poetry doing the same as the Tamil poets did capturing the trauma of my Sinhalese people when they were massacred by these Tamil TigersƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  from poet Rudramoorthy CheranƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s clan.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Here areƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ two from the award winning collection of my poetry – Tears for my Roots.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  They were therapeutic at the time and I shed tears not only for the Sinhalese who were massacred by the Tamils but also for the Tamil woman who was tied to a lamppost and shot dead by her own people as she was a suspect to be an informer for the Government armed forces.

These poems will tell your readers of the flip side of the massacres.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  How the Tamil terrorists massacred innocent Sinhalese civilians too.

SINHA

If I have taken the passion of aƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  lion
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  into my heart with pithy anger,
it is because your grenade clutching fingers
are entangled in my beardƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  hurting me
with the poison darts of half-truths and lies
published in foreign newspapers.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
And when the ketchup blood gushes outƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
from the thumb-print on her forehead
rsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  a jungle war cry propping a lifeless torso
strung onto a Jaffna lamppost.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

LANKAƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  (for the Sinhalese children massacred atƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Dutuwewa, February 11, 1989)

There was much I resented
having sold our dignity
to preserve your life,
yet,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  how could I haveƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
forgotten my native land?
When I had criedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
for the VietnameseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ children
hugged Mai Lai stretched on my pillow
while bullets penetrated myƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ eardrums.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
I couldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t have been silenced,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
as you were lullaby childrenƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
sleeping waiting to rise
with the morning sun
when Tamil killers crept in the dark
to slaughter your lives.
To your sad people
of those tender children I sang
with my craft, as it was blood
that oozed from my pen and not ink.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
Yesterday, I had love for the discontented,
and when their killer masks came offƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
I cursed their Tamil cowardlyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  running shadows
which looked revolting across dryingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
Sinhala innocents blood over your soil.

And there were poems, Summer 1987, Ethnic politics (July 1983), Refugee, Dunagalpitiya Fisherfolk,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  4 June 1987, Requiem for Rajani Rajasingham Thiranagama, Child Soldiers, Assassination, Intimidation and The New Canadians among several others in Tears for my Roots.

And I had prefaced Tears for my Roots with the saying by Martin Luther King ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-We shall have to repent in this generation not so much for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  So I, a Sinhalese, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ let the world know of these wicked and ruthless Tamil Tiger serial killers through my poetry who massacred my innocent Sinhalese people for 30 long years.

Sincerely,

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚