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5.1. The art of propaganda and the falsehood behind that.
REPORTS:
5.2. Further arrests of students at University of Jaffna:
5.5. The Bombing of the school in Pandivirichan in Mannar district.
5.6.The operation from the Palaly camp on 7th Dec 91:
5.7. Shell
attack on 10th Jan.92.
5.8. Arrest
of the three “Traitors”
5.9. Bomb blast in the Jaffna Hospital:
The situation in Jaffna began to deteriorate soon after
the Elephant Pass battle. After operation “Valampuri” the islands and the
Sangupitty ferry came under Sri Lankan army control.
The people who were travelling to the south of Jaffna
had only one route left. The lagoon behind the Elephant pass camp was the
only route, and due to rain people went through real hardship. Although the
Sri Lankan army warned people not to use that path they did not have any alternative.
The Army was demanding that the people should travel through the Elephant
pass camp, the LTTE did not want people to travel through that as they felt
it will open room for the army to use that path to enter easily. So people
were left with no option but to take the risk and travel through the lagoon,
which is called Kompadi.
Travelling on rafts and walking through mud for miles
has become an adventure. Once in a way they come across shell attack. Later
the army stopped attacking and allowed the passengers to travel although the
ban is still officially valid.
It is really to the Jaffna people’s credit that they
have managed to bear the pain and agony of travelling through Kompatti. Anybody
who watches the way traders still carry things and transport goods which they
have bought from Vavuniya is amazed!. Human capacity is very versatile and
can be stretched to an unbelievable extent.
Prices have become too exorbitantly high. The food situation
has become worse. The LTTE which was virtually controlling the food distribution,
found that the people were beginning to resent their predicament. In several
places the people felt that LTTE was replacing their old stocks with the new
ones and distributing the old stock to them through Co-operatives.
A year ago the LTTE was claiming that they could continue
the war and boasted that they had enough stocks of food supply. Now they turn
around and announce over their Radio that their role is to fight and it is
up to the people to feed them. People were bewildered by that pronouncement.
The LTTE orchestrated a campaign in front of the Kachcheri demanding
food from the Sri Lankan Government.
In January the situation started to ease after the traders
were allowed to take things from Jaffna. At present the prices have come down.
This has created some problem for the LTTE, which could not keep the prices
up by storing up the things and allowing them to be sold through selected
outlets. For one lorry load of goods to pass through the Kompaatti lagoon
they are charging Rs 30,000. Each day the LTTE collects nearly Rs. 450,000
from the traders passing through Kompatti. Earlier when the transport
was through Keratheevu ferry (in Sangupitty) the LTTE was charging only Rs15,000.
But now the prices of things are going down even though the transport cost
is very high, because both traders as well as the LTTE are in a hurry to sell
their goods before the army’s entry. They are not keen on storing them now.
Earlier prices were also kept artificially high partially due to the LTTE ‘s
policy.
The collection of gold sovereigns continues unabated.
Those who have not paid already are sometimes asked to pay double or treble
the amount. In many cases the householder was taken into custody and was only
released after the family made arrangements to pay up. The age group in between
10 -25 are not allowed to leave Jaffna. But the implementation of these rules
varies from area to area. Some people have managed to bring their children belonging to that age group by giving medical
reasons or by paying additional money and so on. But those who are unable
to pay and do not have proper contacts to do so don’t have any option. The
ban imposed on this group shows the whole motivation of the LTTE. By trapping them they feel confident that they
can use them when the time comes. It is some times funny that the pro LTTE
papers abroad deny these things without even trying to find out what is happening.
[Top]
Recently a news item regarding the Jaffna Medical faculty
created a lot of ripples among the Tamil community here and abroad. We bring
out the salient features which might throw some light on the hypocritical attitude taken by various
actors. These facts may hurt some people but truth should be faced squarely
if we really care for the future generations and want to create a new value
system as today’s politics represents only the bankruptcy of the present value
system.
Jaffna Medical faculty in its early days was almost fully
staffed with highly motivated people. The situation began to deteriorate due
to the Sri Lankan army’s suppression of the militant movements
and the escalation of the armed struggle leading to an exodus. The internal
unhealthy attitudes in the administrative sector also frustrated many individuals
who wanted to contribute to this community. After ‘86 the Faculty was functioning
with a skeleton staff. In the early part of‘88, the
faculty was even closed for a few months due to lack of staff. There were
attempts made by high officials in the faculty to bring academic staff from
India and the Indian High commission was also approached.
There was a committee appointed to study the feasibility
of running the faculty. Students formed action committees to save the Medical
faculty. They wrote letters to the doctors in the expatriate community to
come and serve at least on a contract basis. They were asked not to abandon
their present positions but to come and spend some time here and by doing
so to arrest the exodus and slowly turn the trend. But all in vain. Those
doctors who talk a lot about our Nation and Motherland felt that by sending
some money and going for meetings they had done enough.
The one who had declined to run his department due to
lack of staff earlier, got the faculty reopened with some minor changes when
he was elected as the overall head of the administrative unit. This shows
how the interests of the institutions are subjected to that of individuals.
It is important to note that the late Dr.Rajani Thiranagama,
who was the Head of the Anatomy department, committed herself to run the department
alone with some dedicated Demonstrators. When she assured
the authorities that she would run the department, the
above mentioned committee had asked whether she could give a written
assurance saying that she can do that, as the concerned Professor who was
heading the committee felt it was a very heavy load and she may not be able
to cope with it later. Dr.Rajani Thiranagama was killed in September 1989
by some unknown “patriotic gun men”.
Certain administrators were keen to show certain forces
in the community that her loss had not affected the faculty. And thus, to
the dismay of the students, some temporary arrangements were made which were
unsatisfactory for the students. When the students were trying to commemorate
their dedicated teacher and proposed the newly constructed auditorium to be
named after her, some senior group of academics thwarted that attempt by suddenly
proposing the name of one of the former Deans who had passed away a few years
before. When his name was proposed for a honorary degree earlier on in a senate
meeting, it had got very negative reactions from the Medical staff themselves.
But the eagerness to suppress Dr. Rajani Thiranagama’s memory at least brought out the memory of the
former dean, which is an apt thing, as she was crying for the forgotten victims
whose voices have never been heard but whose numbers were used to keep up
the stranglehold of the present politics.
After the June war started a large number of staff have
left, and the faculty has come to a standstill. The faculty is being run in
name only, with a few staff members. The students feel that they are being
let down. Large number of students, nearly 350, applied for transfer to the
South. But the Faculty administration has advised the University not to give
any transfers. There is a general feeling that the students have applied because
they prefer to get degrees in the South which are recognised abroad and that
these students are very selfish. There may be some truth in this. Even the
staff who have left are accused of this crime. But the issue is not so simple
as that. If there is a healthy environment, even if the war goes on, there
will be many dedicated staff who would
like to serve in Jaffna. But many feel that apart from the hardship they face
because of the war, the poisonous environment in which there is no respect
for human dignity and dedication is even worse. They can’t air any
opinion apart from nodding their heads in approval to certain quarters and
have to live like zombies. All these makes them leave.
Then the situation of the students is also a very complex
one. Of course there is an inducement that they can get a recognised degree
by finishing in the South. But there are students who are even prepared to
do some other degree in the south rather than go to Jaffna. They feel that
they are being cheated by running the faculty for the sake of running it;
a dead institution in every aspect and unable to provide even the minimum
academic training for their professional course. It is the responsibility
of the institution to provide and consider all the avenues to make sure that
the students feel that their interests
are being taken into consideration. The students feel cynical about all what
is happening around them and the double standards of some of the individuals,
whose main concern is to pleas the forces who are holding the power at the
moment.It is unfair to criticise the students alone at this juncture.
Those students who stayed in Colombo for various reasons,
including the Muslims students who were chased out of Jaffna, have not been
fully accommodated in the southern universities. The reaction from the academics
from various universities shows their pettiness and the inability to see things
beyond their narrow horizon. Of course there are real problems in taking in additional students
from another university when they are also facing shortages of staff. But
the attitude taken by several senior academics stems rather from sheer prejudice
and chauvinism. Some Senior Professor is supposed to have told his colleagues
“let the Jaffna students come here, I’ll fail them all”. Because of the vocal
opposition from these types of elements even others who have more enlightened
views also have kept quiet. Only a few were arguing for a serious discussion
in this matter. It is a very sad fact that most of the ordinary people have
more enlightened views than most of the academics in the universities whether
it is in the South or in the North.
One senior academic was quoted as saying that he was
disgusted with the way this issue was handled at the faculty meetings. He
further said that Minister Hameed was keen on finding a solution for the displaced
Muslim students because they are Muslims. They were chased out of Jaffna because
they are Muslims. The Faculty members in the South are also reluctant to take
them because they are Muslims. Nobody wants to see them as students and they
don’t realise that justice has to be done and that it is a responsibility
of every one of us.
Against the above background only, the recent rumour
of the closure of the Jaffna Medical Faculty created such varied responses
from different quarters. After realising the difficulties the students and
the staff are facing, the Chairman of the University Grants Commission wrote
a letter to the Dean of the Medical Faculty, Jaffna, stating that if the faculty
feels that they have difficulty in running it, the UGC is prepared to assist
them in making some temporary arrangements in the South to run the faculty,
as there may be more staff even on temporary arrangement. This was basically
a goodwill offer and the decision was left to the faculty. These requests
were made by several students earlier on an individual basis. Whether it is
feasible is another problem. But the faculty could have used this opportunity
to explore the possibilities of proper training for one or two senior batches
if they felt it was worth while.
What really has happened is that a news item was splashed
in the LTTE controlled papers saying that the faculty is going to be closed
and moved to the South. This did not create much stir among the students as
they were aware of the situation. But since they needed to satisfy some quarters,
they just submitted a memo and left it at that. In Colombo the Tamil papers
expressed their genuine concern over this by writing editorials raising some
issues regarding this. Then the Chairman of the UGC clarified these matters
and the whole affair died down after that. But among the expatriate community
this was used to the maximum by the LTTE for propaganda. For instance in Amsterdam,
there was a march organised by the
LTTE supporters condemning the Government
for its well planned move to deny the Tamils to have a Medical Faculty and
to reduce the number of medical doctors in the Tamil community and so on.
This was portrayed as part of the major genocide programme of the Sinhala
Chauvinist Government!.
When there are genuine issues which need to be campaigned
about and lot of things can be done for the betterment of the community, this
type of false propaganda campaigns really weaken the whole cause. These types
of campaigns show that a section of the community which has gone abroad permanently has
some vested interests in the continuation of the war as well as in showing
a black-and-white picture about the real complex reality.
It is ironical that most of the medical faculty students
from Jaffna apply to the South or areas other than Jaffna for their placement
after they pass out. Because of a dedicated few in the medical staff, Jaffna
Hospital is functioning. It would have been worth while if the expatriate
community organised some doctors to
come to Jaffna on a voluntary basis to teach in Jaffna for the benefit of
the students. [Top]
On the 26th of August 1991, students Manohar and Chelvi were arrested by the LTTE. A former student Thillainathan, who is a teacher was also
arrested on the previous day. Manohar is a third year student who is an active
member of Pax Christi and a pacifist who has shown his opposition to the arrests
of other students. The two students Govintharajan and Srinivasan who were taken earlier on allegations
that they had contacts with a group “Theepori”
have been released recently. But the other members from the same organisation
have not been released yet.
Manohar who
despised the rampant violence which had enveloped our community, was angry
about the role played by the intellectuals in the University and expressed
his opinions very openly. He was very much involved in all the activities
of the University students and tried his best to keep his independence. This
was too much for the LTTE “Policemen” in the University to bear. During the
Elephant Pass battle he was there in the hospital donating blood and giving
all the assistance to the victims. He cried for the plight of those young
boys who were brought to the hospital without limbs.
It is a crime in our society to feel for other people and their well being. People must be
treated as dispensable matter, and if we are touching the emotion of the people
about the deaths of others, it is only to reinforce our politics and not to
question it. Yes, Manohar committed
the crime of being concerned about the people and their tragedy, actively
involving himself in whatever way he could to alleviate the pain of the suffering
masses, and trying to be honest to his conscience. Still the LTTE has not
openly given their reasons for the arrests. But as usual they deliberately
let it out to certain sources that his crime was that he has been sending
information to the UTHR(J). It is well known that UTHR(J) brings out information
regarding the university which are publicly known among the university community.
Chelvi is another
student who was involved in women’s issues and acted in dramas. She was once
involved in the Women‘s section of the PLOTE, and when that organisation degenerated
to the level of torturing and killing
a large number of its cadres, she became disillusioned and left the organisation.
She came back and joined the University to do her degree. she was very much
involved in various social activities, including being a member of the University
Women’s organisation, and very much concerned about the direction in which
our struggle is going. The LTTE has not given any reason for her arrest also.
But she was arrested the day before the public staging
of a drama in which she was acting. Since all cultural activity is controlled
by the LTTE, when the English society wanted to put on a drama their scripts were passed by the “censors”.
The drama was basically about a Palestinian prisoner who was tortured by the
Israelis, and the defiance of the prisoner who vowed to fight for his mother
land. Nobody thought it would offend the LTTE. It occurred to people only
much later that torture and mistreatment of prisoners by state powers had
been experienced by many Tamils. But this experience was alien to the LTTE.
Its cadres had been ordered to take cyanide as a means of evading capture.
Those imprisoned and later released were ostracised. To the LTTE, torture
and brutality towards prisoners were not things experienced by them but only
what they have meted out to the others. And worse, a member of the Jaffna
literary scene now working for the LTTE, had commented that the heroine in
the play was strongly reminiscent of the late Dr.Rajani Thiranagama.
Thillainathan, a teacher
who was a former student was also arrested during that period. [Top]
During the latter part of October 1991,a number of people
were publicly executed and several of their names were published in the LTTE
controlled papers. Apart from these, there were also killings outside the
peninsula which were not reported in the papers. General allegations against
them varied from that of being informants to the IPKF to being involved in
minor thefts. Most of the executions happened during the short period after
the operation at Sangupitty,when the LTTE as well as the people were expecting
the army to enter into the peninsula. The executions happened in such a way
as to warn the people of the dire consequences they have to face if they tried
to be too smart. People who have witnessed certain executions felt that they
could not even identify the victims and only a few minutes were given for
them to “confess”. Since the victims are invariably from another area, people
have doubts about the identity of those victims and feel that the LTTE must
be bringing some of their prisoners and getting rid of them as well as use
them to frighten the people. [Top]
We have mentioned earlier the fate of the prisoners in
the LTTE prisons. On and off they also release prisoners who have been involved
in “minor” offences. Those who have been released are continuously monitored
and warned that they should not utter a word to anybody about what happened
to them during the interrogation. Since the threat is against the family members,
even those who have gone to Colombo are scared to talk about it. More than
that, if they take somebody they give an impression that they will release
that person after the interrogation provided that the immediate family members
keep quiet. Since the lives of the victim and the family are in the LTTE’s
hand they hope for the best and keep silent. The first few months the LTTE
will give an impression that they are approachable and send the relatives
from camp to camp by giving them hope that if they meet such and such a person
they can get some information. After some time they will inform them that
there is no need to come every day to the camp and that they will inform them
if and when they want to release the prisoners. Relatives unable to do any
thing else wait for the release. They feel so powerless about their plight.
The ICRC is unable to put pressure on the LTTE either. [Top]
On the 9th of December, when the G.C.E (O\L)
exams were on, the Sri Lankan Air force dropped bombs near the Government
Tamil School. In that attack a few teachers, the Principal and some students were
injured. There was a lot of damage to the exam hall and to the school building.
G.C.E (O/L) exams were held by the government and the air force knew that
exams were going on in the schools. It was very lucky that nobody got killed.
Government has not taken any action for this type of
unprovoked attacks on civilian targets. These type of actions shows the callousness
and the disregard the security forces have behind their sweet talk about winning
the hearts and minds of the people.
On the 18th of December the students from
the university of Jaffna went on a march protesting against the bombing. Students were informed about the march only
in the morning. About 250 students participated in the march and handed over
a petition to the Government agent. [Top]
On the 7th of Dec 91, early in the morning
the army from the Palaly camp began to move in the North-East direction from
the camp towards the villages Iddaikaddu, Paththameni and Kathirippai.
Shelling started in the morning at 5’clock. According to some sources, only
a limited number of shells caused
damage and most of the shells were
plastic shells fired to force the people to move away. From the morning nearly
12,000 people began to leave further down towards
Avarangal, Puththoor and Neerveli. People from certain areas from Atchuveli
also left their homes and moved to adjacent villages.
At about 8.30 am bombers began their activity for a short
spell.In Idaikaddu few houses were
damaged due to the bombing. Three were killed on the spot.
The villages adjacent to Atchuveli are primarily involved
in agricultural cultivation such as chilies, onions and vegetables.
The people transported their products and other belongings in tractors and
bullockcarts. The hiring charges for the tractor cost RS. 10,000 and for the bullockcarts cost nearly Rs 500
to transport the things only within a few miles.
The Army has moved into Valalai area,Idaikadu,
a village between Atchuveli and
Valalai is a no man’s land. People from
there visit their homes in the day time and return to the refugee camps in
the night. They expect the army to move in any time.
Refugees are staying in Atchuveli St.Joseph College,
Christian College, St. Antonys Church, Avarangal Sivan temple and schools
in Neerveli. [Top]
On the 10th of January shells were fired from
Mandatheevu Island towards the costal areas of Jaffna town. Manuel Ratnam (age 56) from Gurunagar
was seriously injured and later died in the hospital. Winchalos (age 30), P.Vanathy (age 17) and P.Ravikumar (age 8) were
injured due to the shelling. Ravikumar’s
leg has been amputated. He was playing
near the church near Gurunagar sea street. People have moved to the O.L.R
church and other camps in to the town. A few houses and shops were damaged.
[Top]
On 10th January ‘92, the “Voice of Tigers”
the LTTE radio news announced that three people who had contacts with traitors such as Alfred Thuraiappah and Inspector Bastiampillai, in the late 70’s, had
been arrested. The three are Parinpanayakam from Urumpirai, former C.I.D Inspector
Thamotharampillai and one Mr.Chelliah
from Madduvil. Alfred Thuraiappah was a former Mayor of Jaffna and was a SLFP
supporter. His killing was the first political killing which started
a new ugly chapter in our history. Inspector Bastiampillai was involved in
hunting down the militants in the early stages of the struggle. He was famous
for his ruthlesness and was very much despised by the people. He also was
killed by the Tigers in an ambush.
The radio
also alleged that “from the beginning of the Tamil Eelam struggle traitors
to the race and renegades have been weakening the struggle. Our leader V.Praphahkaran
identified these people and meted out death sentences, as punishment for those
treacherous acts. Continuing the tradition of pronouncing death sentences
on these type of people, has fallen on the LTTE leadership as a historical duty”.
Mr. Perinpanayagam was a close friend of late Alfred
Thuraiappah. All three of them were arrested three months ago. Only on the
10th of January ‘92 the LTTE announced on the radio that three
of them have been arrested. But they informed the family that Mr.Perinpanayagam
was killed. [Top]
On the 10th of February at 5.30pm a bomb exploded
in the old O.P.D block but fortunately nobody got killed. The Jaffna Hospital
is under the supervision of ICRC and it is inside the protection zone declared by the ICRC. Immediately
after the incident there were rumours regarding the reason for the explosion,
saying that it was either a result of Army‘ shelling
or internal group fighting among the LTTE. According to the ICRC press release, the ICRC has categorically
denied involvement of the security forces.
According to sources from Jaffna the fingers point to
the Tigers but they could not give any clear reasons for the explosion. It
has created panic among the hospital staff. People are giving different interpretation
for the motivation. There are people who believe that it might have been caused
by the infiltrators from other groups, but people who know the ground situation
are sceptical about the claim. As usual the people in Jaffna, who do not want
to discuss these things in public do create their own theories according to
their whims and fancy. [Top]
The LTTE had recently ordered all the post offices in
the Peninsula not to dispatch any letters without its permission. Every day
the people who are assigned to go through the letters by the LTTE painstakingly
do their job by opening the letters with the help of steam. In the process
most of the letters get torn and don’t reach the people to whom the letters
are written. But fortunately the people rarely send letters through the post.
[Top]
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