http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2012/02/12/fea01.asp

Eyewitness accounts in DVD :

More LTTE atrocities come to light

By Shanika SRIYANANDA
The bus blown up by the LTTE with the injured
cadre,Kandhayya Ravi as seen in the DVD
St. Mary’s Church
Although one is severely wounded or completely paralysed, one has the right
to live until one breathes one’s last.
Unaware of the fate which would befall them within the next few minutes,
several dozens of wounded Tigers, including forcibly conscripted children,
brought from a makeshift medical facility in a Rosa bus, were helplessly gasping
for life. Another group of Tigers, who were guarding another bus load of wounded
youth a few metres away, was impatiently waiting for the final nod from their
superior, to finish off their task.Their intention was to get rid of the
‘burden’ and also not to leave any room for the wounded to be interrogated in
the event of their capture. While those who fought unwillingly to make the dream
of their megalomaniac leader a reality were struggling to breathe, the Tigers
hurriedly strapped explosives around the buses. In the next minute, everything
disappeared under heavy black smoke, triggered by the thundering explosion.
The two badly damaged buses lay between Vellamullivaikkal and Wadduvakkal, a
grim reminder of the gravity of the final battle fought against the LTTE in May
2009.
The new-found peace and fear-free environment that restored freedom of speech
in the North of the country enabled people who had been suppressed and oppressed
to come out with their views; and those who had been trampled under a
terror-filled era to reveal atrocities committed by the ruthless LTTE against
humanity.
True statements by ordinary Tamils in
‘Ruthless’ –Hulugalle
Director General of the Media Centre for
National Security (MCNS) Lakshman Hulugalle said the DVD titled ‘Ruthless’
contains true statements submitted by ordinary Tamils who suffered under the
LTTE control. He said this at the launch of the documentary last week.
He said though the documentary was not released
targeting any forum that accuses Sri Lanka of alleged war crimes, the main
intention of the video was to give a true picture of the LTTE’s atrocities
during the final days of the battle. “It contains eye-witness accounts of LTTE’s
child recruitment and its violence against Tamil civilians.” he said.
Hulugalle said unlike ‘documentaries’ such as
the Channel 4 video which aired without proper identities of the ‘victims’, the
video titled ‘Ruthless’ has authentic evidence coming from Tamil civilians who
had been at the receiving end.He said first-hand accounts of the incident at
Mullaivaikkal, where the injured and disabled LTTE cadre were blown up in a bus,
were also included in the documentary. “The Government aimed to counter false
allegations coming from unknown individuals about the final battle in May 2009”,
he said.
The Director General said if the media wanted to
interview the people quoted in the video, the MCNS could provide their
information. “Now the media is allowed to visit any place in the North and the
East. This is not like the propaganda work of Pro-LTTE groups where they hide
the true identities of the people who they interviewed”, he
said.
Thiruchelvam Vardarasa from Wattappalai was an eyewitness to a mass murder
that had been intended to remain hidden forever.“The LTTE brought a bus full of
a wounded boys, girls and elders who had been forcibly thrown into battlefronts.
Then the bus was exploded with the people inside under the instructions of
leader Nedumaran. I witnessed this with my own eyes”, Vardarasa, who was
temporally accommodated 200 metres away from the location, said.This was a
first-hand account of a civilian who narrated his agony two and a half years ago
in the latest video titled ‘Ruthless’ released by the Defence Ministry to show
the world just how ruthless the world’s most ruthless terrorists - the LTTE -
were.It is an account that provides concrete evidence about the LTTE’s
ruthlessness over their own people. It was on May 17, 2009, in the wee hours,
that the above described mass murder took place while the soldiers were
squeezing the terrorists into their last tiny patch of land in the edge of
Mullaitivu. Two days before the LTTE’s annihilation in the waters of the
Nandikadal lagoon, the LTTE leader instructed his subordinates to destroy their
battle casualties, who had been ill-trained and conscripted to fight the
advancing military might. The ruthless LTTE cadre loaded the disabled and
wounded cadre into a bus from the makeshift hospital and exploded the buses; not
leaving a trace of them.
Hostages
Kandhayya Ravi, a resident of Puthukuduirippu was herded with his family and
thousands of other families to Vellamullivaikkal by the LTTE, which kept them as
hostages.
“When we were rushing towards Mullivakkal, I saw my injured stepbrother in
the Rosa bus. I requested the person in-charge to release him as I could take
care of him. The LTTE cadre told us to be patient for two days as the injured
would be released to their relations. Not only me, others who had relations in
the bus requested their release, but the LTTE threatened us. Again, on May 16, I
pleaded with them to release my stepbrother, but they refused. The next morning
around 3.30 a.m. I heard a thundering blast. When I arrived at the site people
were running in all directions and some were screaming with wounds. The LTTE had
burnt the vehicles parked along the roads”, he said, recalling how he saw the
bus in which his brother lay semi-conscious, was in flames after the terrorists
had blasted it. “As the LTTE was chasing us, we had to leave in tears”, Ravi
said.
Rev. Fr. James
Paththinadan
Jesikumar, an ex-LTTE cadre who was snatched away while returning from school
in 2007, was also an eyewitness to the bomb blast in the bus, to destroy LTTE
casualties. “On May 17, we were fleeing as the soldiers were taking control of
the land. It was 4.00 a.m. and while we were running towards the bridge, an LTTE
cadre tried to prevent us going further as they were preparing to explode a bus,
containing injured LTTE cadres. A few minutes later, the bus went in flames”,
Jesikumar, who had sustained injuries while fighting in Pooneryn and Mannar,
said.Apart from eyewitness accounts on LTTE atrocities during the last days of
the battle against terrorism, victims - parents, a member of the clergy and
ex-LTTE cadre testified about their nightmare experiences on the LTTE’s forced
conscription of under-aged children. The video contains an account by a Catholic
priest of St. Mary’s Church at Valayamadam in the northern Mullaitivu district
about forced recruitment of under-aged children to fight. He revealed how the
LTTE stormed the church premises where displaced civilians and orphans had been
accommodated.
St. Mary’s Church in Valayamadam is in the north of Mullaitivu and in the No
Fire Zone. It was the last refuge for children brought in by their parents who
were terrified that the children would be forcibly taken by the LTTE to fight
the last battle.
Rev. Fr. James Paththinadan is the resident priest of the church who
witnessed the heinous crimes carried out by the LTTE. “I have been working
mostly in the Jaffna diocese, especially in the Wanni region. In December 2008,
we were dislocated from the Mullaitivu town and ended up in Valayamadam. It was
an intense situation where the Army was advancing and the Tigers were resisting.
The church was not meant to be a refuge for people to come and hide because it
was very small; 60 feet by 30 feet. However, not only children, but adults and
also Tiger deserters sought shelter in the church. We got information that
Tigers were going to raid the place to take the children. We requested the LTTE
to avoid stepping into the church as there would be violence. As I was in charge
of the church I made this request to the Tigers several times while making
announcements for the people to find safe places”.
Heavy weapons
Nimalan, Vignesh and Bala

Niruba in the DVD
“Despite our protests, the Tigers took over the church on March 21, 2009.
They installed heavy weapons within the premises and thousands of cadres moved
in. They took the people out and there were over 600 civilians at the time”, he
said, adding that there was nothing he could do to prevent the terrorists from
abducting the children and their parents.
Following are the testimonies of some of those who experienced LTTE terror
during their stay in the church. Velayudan, a labourer lived in Rektavaikkal. -
“I sent my child to the church in fear of the LTTE abducting her. One day the
LTTE came, indiscreminatly firing, and took away all the children in the church.
My daughter managed to hide in a neighbouring house. Later, I went to the church
and saw that they had taken all the children”.
His daughter Niruba (15) was sent to the church as they believed that the
LTTE would not conscript the children in the church but the terrorists who had
no regard for the clergy started abducting innocent children hiding in the
church. “One day, the LTTE surrounded the church and we ran to hide ourselves.
They closed the entrance and opened firing at the roof. We were threatened not
to run and told that we would be killed if we defied their orders. However, I
was able to run and hide myself in a neighbouring house. Except for myself, the
terrorists took away all the children in the church and they had beaten the
parents who had refused to allow them to take their children”, said Niruba, who
doesn’t want to experience the same agony in future.Niruba and thousands of
other children in the North want a violence-free secure future. “We hate
violence. No child willingly joined the LTTE; they always forcibly took us.
Angal Uyir Kadawulal Kappatrappattom (God has saved our lives)” the teenager
said.
Among the eyewitnesses to LTTE’s forced conscription is Madavaraja,
President, Vallipunam Regional Development Society who recalled an unforgettable
incident where the LTTE dragged underaged children who were crying and pleading
with helpless parents to save them from the terrorists.
“It was the morning of March 20. I heard the LTTE shooting inside the church
and dragging away the children. They were intimidating the priests and parents
who were desperately trying to stop them. All were beaten badly as we tried to
save the children from being abducted. During the final stages of battle, we
experienced immense hardships. Children were not spared and were abducted
continuously. There was a terrible struggle day and night to keep ourselves
awake as the LTTE made every attempt to snatch away our children. We didn’t have
anything to eat”, he said.
Much suffering
Sinnayya Sivaneshan said, “My mother brought me to the Church like many other
children. We were provided with meals from our households and stayed inside the
church throughout the day. There were hundreds of people and we suffered a lot.
We had only one well to get water to drink and bathe and one toilet closer to
the beach. The girls had a difficult time, going to the toilet far away, as they
were in fear of LTTE conscription during the daytime. One day, the LTTE cadre
stormed the church to abduct the children. There were a few ex-LTTE cadre with
us and they told us not be scared as they would protect us. They had their
weapons. When the LTTE stormed into the church, the ex-cadres started shooting
the LTTE, but they could not stop the LTTE from taking away the children and
assaulting the parents”.
“My little sister (14) was also shot at and dragged away by them. The Rev.
Father was beaten when he tried to stop the LTTE. The children also experienced
a similar fate. The LTTE opened indiscriminate fire at the roof. Subsequently,
the children were forcibly loaded into a vehicle. My elder brother sustained
serious head injuries. In sheer desperation, we broke some furniture to be used
as clubs to fight with the LTTE. Deserters who had weapons retaliated with
gunfire. Shovels were also used to fight with them. We fought desperately and
were able to drive them away, but the LTTE came again in the same evening and
tried to take the children away. Some of the children managed to escape, I also
escaped. Half of the abducted children abandoned the LTTE and returned to their
families, but we don’t know what happened to the rest. My sister, who was found
with injuries was admitted to the medical centre later.”
Shanthan from Valayamadam who ran a tea kiosk 50 metres away from St. Mary’s
Church, too witnessed the LTTE’s last attempts to snatch children who were
sheltering in the church. “One day the LTTE surrounded the church and opened
fire. They had cut off all escape routes and no one was allowed to go out. As I
came out of the bunker, another group of LTTEers came out and shot at me. My
right arm got injured, but the bullet is not yet removed”, he said.
Child conscription
Three victims of child conscription narrated the incident at the church where
the LTTE forcefully took them away. Nimalan: “ My parents used to hide me in a
bunker which was well concealed inside the house. Fearing my abduction, my
father sent me to the church and he said the LTTE would not abduct children from
the church. But I was there only a day, the LTTE stormed the place and abducted
the children. Girls and boys ran hither and thither inside the church while the
LTTE started shooting us. Pieces of roof fell on the ground. The LTTE left only
one door open and they pulled out the children - one by one. A woman was shot at
as she was obstructing the LTTE from taking her child away. I too was thrown
into the vehicle”.
Vignesh: “We went to the church that day but I could go only 50 metres and I
started running home as I heard the LTTE firing inside the church. I hid myself
and later heard that the LTTE had taken all the children away. When I went to
the church later, I only saw women crying and cursing the LTTE for abducting
their children”.
Bala was another child who was snatched away by the LTTE while he was at the
church along with many other children. “We were confident that the LTTE would
not enter the church and that they would listen to the priest. But it didn’t
quite happen that way. They abducted many children and I was among them. The
LTTE took me to Mullivaikkal to fight”.