Shenali D Waduge

Is it not curious that the so-called youth promoting the Eelam ideology are all living overseas, holding foreign passports, studying in foreign schools or universities and probably cannot speak a word of Tamil or Tamil with heavy foreign accents. Why is it that you do not see Tamil youth/children in Sri Lanka voicing the same sentiments? This is because these youth know very well what their parents had to go through & in their hearts they do not wish to return to that era of murder & mayhem. It’s all well & fine to be delivering eloquent speeches, making maximum use of technology to drum up graphic presentations & use the power of social media to transcend a message across the world and it may reach out to many, but what good is a false version & who does it really serve?

How many of these foreign living Tamil youth are aware that till 1957 their own low caste Tamils could not even enter a school to gain education. Their caste denounced their own people to enter restaurants or even a kovil. Even to this day the upper castes will not share a tea cup with their fellow Tamil low castes. Take out the calculator and see how many Tamils are marginalized by their own before pointing fingers.

Why mention 1957 – well it was in 1957 that the then PM – SWRD Bandaranaike brought the Social Disabilities Act to enable low caste Tamils to enter schools. How did the Tamils react? Well the Tamil politicians who didn’t take to sea when the Official Language Act was passed in 1956, sailed all the way to UK to appeal to the UK Privy Council to annul the bill. Now, isn’t this a topic the Tamil teens to pluck out from the past? Tamil politicians actually sailed to the UK to ask the British not to allow low caste Tamils to enter schools. Doesn’t this qualify as discrimination?

Fast forward to the university entrance issue – here too, the high castes and classes of not only Tamils but Sinhalese were against the quota system because the quota they were enjoying exclusively was to be divided amongst the poorer and less privileged classes who would for the first time be able to enter university. So the youth plucking issues of the past & cosmetically attempting to fan racist sentiments need to first put facts in proper perspective.

There is much reference to Sri Lanka having a civil” war” – both words are unsuited for what took place. There was no war. There was an armed conflict which is classified as non-international between a non-state actor & the national army that was defending the nation. Tamils were not fighting the Sinhalese. The national army was not only Sinhalese. The LTTE were of course only Tamils but it did not mean all Tamils were LTTE. If these teens doing tiktoks were to take out the list of Tamils killed by LTTE, they would think twice about presenting notion that LTTE stood for Tamils.

Another factor that is oft left out of the discussion table is the type of cadres that made up the LTTE. Was there one single high caste Tamil politician or rich Tamil’s child fighting for the LTTE as a child soldier or a female/male suicide cadre? Nope. LTTE’s child soldiers were all from rural villages, from the poorest of poor Tamils & from low castes.

It is also interesting to return to the July 1983 riots. Unfortunately, this incident too has given injustice to the Sinhalese blaming them for an incident they did not do & not rectifying the truth that the Sinhalese gave shelter to the many Tamils who were attacked by UNP good squads. Ironically, Tamils have forgiven the UNP & do not hesitate to vote for UNP but Tamils do not want to correct the wrong notion that Sinhalese attacked them. Be that as it may, the incident is important because in most cases, it was not the people who were attacked who went to as refugees overseas but people who were well to do – middle class Tamils who made use of the opportunity to seek asylum overseas. Having seen the loopholes in the systems overseas, these avenues continue to be flogged to gain asylum annually & this is why the stories become juicier with each year.  So we are not surprised by genocide, mass murder or whatever other shocking terms that can be plucked out of the dictionary if it serves a purpose.

The Tamil teens on tiktok hesitate to question why LTTE chose to take 300,000 Tamils with them as they retreated. These Tamil teens are not bothered that the Tamils they took were to be used as hostages & human shields. To those overseas, these 300,000 Tamils were marketing tools. Together with the LTTE media unit – all types of lies were spread. Little was asked as to why LTTE did not release children, the elder, the feeble or the injured. No Tamil teen questioned the many incidents of poor Tamils who attempted to flee being shot & killed. These stories were quickly credited to the Sri Lankan army. No Tamil teen bothered to spare a minute for the pleading Tamils who were begging for food & water – because they were all low caste & poor Tamils. They were only good to be used for the bigger cause. No Tamil tiktok teen bothered to even question the injured LTTE cadres put inside several buses and blown up by the LTTE as they did not want to leave them behind & have them captured to be questioned. No Tamil tiktok teen want to cover stories of the rehabilitated former child soldiers who were given education they never had, who were given vocational training so they could start a livelihood of their own. We can go on about what these foreign living Tamil teens have overlooked.

But we can well understand – the LTTE kitty in its heyday was some $300m strong, without having to spend on LTTE troops & with the collections continuing as are the LTTE illegal and legal money generating channels, the LTTE families living overseas are living the high life. Understandably, they do not wish to give that up & they need to keep the LTTE separatist ideology alive as well as fine tune it to suit the modern needs and give it some face lift to make it internationally relevant. They are certainly doing a great job, but the Tamils back home are now more informed and having gone through a horrid past, they are enjoying a life while aware of the life they would have had to lead if LTTE remained ruling the areas that they can now roam freely. None of the tiktok Tamil teens can imagine the fear the families from whom LTTE took children suffered mentally & physically. Look at Northern Sri Lanka today & look at what the North looked under the LTTE. The Tamils overseas can never understand what Tamils in the North are feeling now & what they felt under the LTTE. Only the LTTE families thrived in the North – everyone against the LTTE suffered.

If Tamil teens overseas continue to claim ‘genocide’ – they must first present the names of the dead, they must also present the names of Tamils killed by LTTE when they attempted to flee. All the deaths cannot be credited to the army!

When two sides are engaged in hostilities – they are not exchanging roses, therefore there is casualties, but it was LTTE who kept Tamils with them & refused to release them. So it is totally the fault of the LTTE for keeping Tamils in harms way & firing at Tamils who attempted to flee. The suicide bombing in one of the reception centres kept ready for those who fled LTTE is a good example of the type of gruesome actions LTTE is capable of. When 12,000 LTTE all dressed in civilians were able to surrender and all of them are alive and underwent rehabilitation the made up figures and stories are unsuited for even the fiction corner.

These teens may need to swallow their pride & come to terms with the reality that the Sri Lankan army looked after the Tamil civilians who were threatened by the LTTE. What more when even Prabakaran’s parents had to seek the solace and safety of the armed forces when the Tamil people began to attack the two elderly couple after LTTE’s reign of terror ended.

Therefore, enough of the lies. The Tamil youth in Sri Lanka need time to get on with their lives. The Tamils overseas are not helping them by drilling their minds with lies and innuendos that cater to a narrative that is advantageous to the pro-LTTE Tamils overseas. The Tamils in Sri Lanka (sans those linked to LTTE or fanning separatist ideas) are getting on with their lives and should be left alone to do so. They have gone through enough and so have the rest of the country. None of these youth overseas can imagine what life was like to have LTTE despatching suicide bombers, carrying out bombings in public places and public transport or assassinating people.

Best not to throw stones from glass houses!

Shenali D Waduge