Herold Leelawardena

An identical article appeared in ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Khalije TimesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”India TodayƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. Later says the writer is a man named Priyamvatha. I do not know this Priyamvatha from Adam. But one thing I could say for sure form its contents is that, Priyamvatha is a part of rump LTTE or is hired by them.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Whatever it is, it is rather pity he hadnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t made his trip immediately after IPKF left Sri Lanka for he would have witnessed hundreds if not thousands of true accounts of atrocities committed by illiterate Indian javans and not pseudo ones as he presented in this write up here.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If civilians of the North live in fear, these writers must blame Tamil politicians first. I say that because leaders of TNA (the political party of Tamils, today) are the same people who led ITAK (another yesteryear political party of Tamils) or their progeny. And it is the founder ITAK, a self confessed but trousered Gandhian, S.J.V. Chelvanayagam who declared war on Sri Lankan government first:

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ On May 14th, 1976, Chelvanayagam and other members of his party had a mass public rally at Waddukkodai and passed a resolution that urged all Tamil youth to take up arms and never to lay them down until ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Tamil EelamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ was won.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A youth named Velupillai Piripaharan who was at that rally took it to the zenith in true sense and fashion. He made his outfit called LTTE, the most ruthless terrorist organisation in the world and demanded nothing but Eelam and had not lay down arms even at his last breath. Piripaharan used all cease-fires and peace-talk offers by the Sri Lankan government to buy timed and expand his hold to strengthen his outfit for another war.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ After Al Qaida terrorists attack on the US real estate on 9/11, neo-colonialists had put LTTE in their terrorists list but they allowed LTTE Diaspora leaders who garlanded suicide bombers with cyanide necklaces a safe-haven in their capitals to collect money and procure arms and smuggle them to Sri Lanka to continue their war. They assisted LTTE to blast Indian Prime Minister Rajive Gandhi to pieces. They helped LTTE to gun down many Tamils like ITAK leader and leader of opposition, Amirthalingam. They helped to kill tens of thousands Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and other nationals in Sri Lanka. If Tamil civilians hadnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t assisted LTTE they couldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t have continued those vile acts that killed so many people.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Likewise, LTTE waged a brutal war to have a separate country for three decades. RanilWƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s government offered a federal solution in 2001 on the advice of neo-colonialists. But Piripaharan would have none of that. On his own, he rejected RanilW and chose Rajapakse as his foe in 2006 without knowing he had selected his nemesis.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As the end neared, LTTE herded three hundred thousand people from place to place as their shield for over six months. But these writers do not write about harrowing accounts of such people. Instead, they selectively pick ex-LTTE cadres, disguise them as civilians and write their account as that of civilians.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pity this writer, Priyamvatha hadnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t interviewed people like Sathasivam Kanagaratnam, a former TNA Member of Parliament who represented the Vanni electoral district where LTTE ruled.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ MP Kanagaratnam says, he was with the people throughout the war in the Vanni and he has seen the horrors of the war and seen people (innocent Tamils), who were treated as stray dogs, shot and killed mercilessly by the LTTE gunmen. He says, not a single innocent civilian was killed by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

When Kanagaratnam was asked about the most hyped White Flag incident involving the LTTE leaders B. Nadesan, the political czar and Pulidevan, Director of the LTTE Political Office, Kanagaratnam said may be KP might have approached Sri Lankan Government through Western leaders to safeguard Nadesan, Pulidevan and few others. But, I was in touch with Nadesan right throughout, but Nadesan never openly displayed any sign of deserting Prabakaran and leaving to the government controlled area for his safety.

There are no such killings since end of war. Majority Sri Lankans are delighted, feel free and travel wherever they want day or night. Sight of security forces and their camps are a kind of a reassurance of their safety from rump LTTE. Diaspora Tamils are not happy with that situation for they are stuck with their roadmaps to Eelam. Their Buddies, neo colonialists are not happy too for they cannot poke their noses into affairs of Sri Lanka and be gurus and arbiters. So, they strive to investigate events at the end of the war and humiliate those who eradicated terrorism and brought peace to Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ True, real LTTE is no more; but we all know that rump LTTE is a true manifestation of that real LTTE. And they are very much alive and kicking in almost all western countries. Needless to say, rump LTTE should be held accountable for all afore said crimes. But westerners pretend to be blind they even exist. They never got their recipe right.

Herold Leelawardena