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UNIVERSITY TEACHERS FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS
(JAFFNA)
SRI LANKA.
Special Report
No: 11.
Date of release:
15th September, 1998.
A TAMIL HEROINE UNMOURNED & THE SOCIOLOGY OF OBFUSCATION
05. THE MURDER OF S.NAMASIVAYAM,
06.THE POLITICS & RATIONALISATIONS OF WONDERLAND
07.THE BEGINNINGS & OVERSEAS CONNECTIONS
A TAMIL HEROINE UNMOURNED &
THE SOCIOLOGY OF OBFUSCATION
“
I cannot bring myself to condemn these young men who murder. They themselves
are victims, puppets used by their leaders. The real culprits are those who
work behind the scene, from their nice hide-outs abroad, in countries like
France, Germany and the United States. They are the ones who pull the strings.
“
They brainwash the poor boys, and often they use drugs to make them ready
to obey orders without asking questions. They use poverty and unemployment
afflicting Algeria as their wedge to get at these boys. We have to get to
the root of these problems.
“ Women have a very important role to play. They
educate the children and turn them into men. A good part of the future of
any society depends directly on women. Convincing women that they should strive
for a better future means laying the foundations for a better society in the
future.....
“ I think the extremists are enraged at Algerian
women because we are courageous, because we are the source of life... They
attack women because a woman is a symbol of life, which is why women fight
against terrorism, which is death. By killing women the extremists want to
strike at the whole future of our society.....”
-Saida Benhabiles, 50, Head of the
Parliamentary Commission on Social Affairs in Algeria, who has a death sentence
passed on her by religious extremists. [Interview with Patrica Unzain, Island
18th October 1997]
11th
SEPTEMBER 1998
We announced in our Bulletin No.17 last May that we would come out
with a publication bearing the title ‘The Murder of Mrs.Sarojini Yogeswaran,
Mayoress of Jaffna & the Anatomy of Fascist control’. In making inquiries
about the emergence of fascism in Tamil society, as the document progressed,
we found that it is best divided into two parts. The present report is the
first part dealing with the ramifications of Mrs.Yogeswaran’s murder. The
second part which requires further cross-checking will appear in the next
few months.
As we were finalising this document, news came of the
bomb explosion in the ceremonial hall adjoining Nallur Kanthasamy Kovil in
Jaffna which killed the new Mayor of Jaffna, almost the entire security forces
hierarchy in the City of Jaffna, along with several other civilians. Apart
from Pon Sivapalan, Legal Secretary TULF, and Sarojini’s successor as Mayor
of Jaffna, the bomb explosion on 11th September killed Brigadier Susantha
Mendis, Jaffna’s Town Commandant, Captain Ramanayake, Jaffna SSP Chandra Perera,
ASPs Chandramohan and Sarath Fernando, Jaffna OIC Chief Inspector Mohandas
and PC Gerard. Among the civilians killed were Assistant Municipal Commissioner
Pathmanathan, Municipal Engineers Easwaran and Pathmarajah, a Municipal typist
and Mrs.Mallika Rasaratnam, Architect in the Urban Development Authority -
bringing the number to at least 13 dead.
The first thing the incident once again demonstrates
is the LTTE’s absence of any concern for its own civilians. In July last year
the LTTE attacked Thangathurai, MP Trincomalee, at a school function. It killed
a lady school principal Rajeswari Thanabalasingham and educational works engineer
Ratnarajah, along with four other civilians. These further demonstrate the
insensitive and diabolical nature of the overseas Tamil lobby that supports
the LTTE. Rajeswari Thanabalasingham, Ratnarajah, Pathmanathan, Easwaran,
Pathmarajah and Mallika Rasaratnam were professionals who remained in the
North-East because they believed in their people and were committed to them.
It would have been easy enough for them to go abroad legally as privileged
emigrants.
What is even worse, many of those who worship and sustain
the organisation that killed them are almost certainly people who were in
school and university with them and are now living abroad. When the LTTE controlled
Jaffna a great deal of fuss was made by LTTE lobbies, medical conferences
were held, and the US State Department lobbied, to highlight the deprived
conditions of people in the North - East. After the people of Jaffna defied
the LTTE’s attempts to drive them into the Vanni, and returned to their homes
under Army control, their eloquent concern for them vanished. It was as though
the people - their own people - no longer needed to eat, work, receive medical
attention and go to school. Now it was as though any human existence for the
people had to be terminated and the handful of dedicated professionals who
made such an existence possible, killed, to prove their perverted point. This
is the evil that the Tamil people are up against. There is no balanced way
of writing about the diseased wider social phenomenon comprising the LTTE.
Since we have always tried to address issues from the
perspective of the ordinary people, we will say something about the lady who
occurred as a mere name with a title towards the end of the list of the dead.
It is also the reflection in the life of a family of the tragic misdirection
of the Tamil struggle. Mallika Rasaratnam obtained her degree in architecture
from the University of Moratuwa in 1976. She and her family later moved to
Jaffna. Since then she had been doing private work in Jaffna. She believed
in the Tamil cause, had a concern for the people and had remained in Jaffna
through thick and thin.
During the forced exodus of 1995 she had a difficult
choice. She had an ailing husband, an old father and two daughters. Leaving
her father with Roman Catholic nuns and clergy who remained in the city, the
rest of the family went to Karaveddy, Vadamaratchy. The LTTE tried to use
the helplessness contrived by them to recruit her. She told the representative
of the ROOTE indignantly that she would stay where she was and if unable to
return to Jaffna, leave for Colombo when her savings were exhausted. To further
rub in her helplessness she was told that if she were leaving, she would have
to leave a member of the family behind. She responded that if they would bring
her down to that level, she would have to treat one child as lost and save the rest of the family.
She moved back to Jaffna in April 1996 after the Army
took control, and being the only professional architect in Jaffna, there was
a heavy demand for her services. The Municipality wanted her in the UDA and
the University of Jaffna wanted her to lecture in aesthetics. She also did
the designing to rebuild old St.Peter’s Methodist Church which was devastated
by the war. The work was to be under her supervision. She lost her father
last year, and her ailing husband who looked after their children’s studies,
earlier this year. Mallika exuded beauty in everything she did, from her designs,
to her articles in the old Saturday Review, to her correspondence on professional
matters. Though herself a Hindu, the Church of St.Peter when rebuilt, will
remain a fitting memorial to her faith in the future of Jaffna and her commitment
to its people. The manner of her death is the strongest indictment of those
who sustain her killers.
Mayor Sivapalan, who had his education at Victoria College,
Chullipuram - at the same school as the late TULF leader A.Amirthalingam -
also became a lawyer by profession. After Mrs.Yogeswaran’s murder, he out
of a sense of duty accepted the job of mayor. The former deputy mayor had
resigned and started making statements in favour of the LTTE. Sivapalan began
by making statements to the effect that the LTTE could not have killed his
predecessor and pretending in word that they were not in town. At his first
council meeting he wanted to pass a resolution calling upon the Government
to stop the war and talk to the LTTE, which he withdrew when some others objected.
As a person he was a good man and innocent, and like
most civilians, incapable of the kind of security precautions needed to function
in the face of the LTTE. He had been warned several times by younger ex-militant
councillors not to operate from the Kalyana Mandapam (Ceremonial Hall), but
to use the TULF Stanley Road office. He had even been warned about individuals
in the Municipal Council who were very likely to be compromised with the LTTE.
This does not mean they were hard-core members, but rather people who had
got favours from the LTTE or were compromised in some corrupt activity and
cannot therefore turn down an instruction from the LTTE. Sivapalan was beginning
to take notice of the threat, but typically, had only recently attended an
opening function in Ariyalai for which invitation cards had been printed a
week in advance.
It is believed that the bomb was concealed in the roof
of the Hall when some work was done on it some months ago - when Mrs.Yogeswaran
was Mayor. The possibility that it had been targeted for the fatal meeting
has not been ruled out. The meeting concerned was about regulating traffic
in the City and about road arrangements. It was Sivapalan’s and Brigadier
Mendis’ wish that meetings regarding civil matters should be held in the premises
of the civil authority concerned. He was not dealing with an ‘army of occupation’.
In fact the military authorities had been very respectful to him. It is simply
that the LTTE’s terror had reduced the people to a position where nothing
can move in Jaffna unless the Army takes the initiative. It may sound like
wisdom of the grave, but why did the security authorities tasked to protect
the Mayor overlook some basic things?
The main failure of the TULF is that it does not touch
the destructiveness of the LTTE's brand of chauvinism. It means opening wounds
in an awkward common history. Its politicians having to function in the North-East
know that the LTTE will sooner or later target them. In this situation they
hope against hope that it will spare them if they regularly make pro-LTTE
statements. The LTTE in turn watches them and sends them messages lulling
them into complacency. Sivapalan had been told that complacency would only
help the LTTE to deliver a blow demoralising the people further. When Sivapalan’s
name had been suggested for Mayor, the expatriate-based IBC Radio tauntingly
suggested that the TULF is preparing another sacrificial lamb - as though
democracy for Tamils here did not matter!
A poignant note on Sivapalan’s death is that he had
told his wife in advance that should he be killed, he should be interred in
Jaffna - the land of his birth. Once more a son of the soil who strongly identified
with its people had to be killed by self-styled liberators. Sivapalan’s colleagues and the people of Jaffna
valued him as one who had come forward bravely to perform the onerous task
of reviving civil life in the face of terror. His own complacency and failure
to face up to the threat to his life which had been at the back of his mind,
resulted from his party’s misguided approach of appeasing the LTTE. This was
the tragedy of a brave man who set out to do good.
Brigadier Susantha Mendis who was earlier in Kayts earned
a reputation for being responsive to public feelings. He took on the onerous
task of restoring civil administration in Jaffna, where Brigadier Hamangoda,
the first town commandant, had been killed. Mendis moved at the popular level
and tried to feel the pulse of the people. He involved himself in sports meets,
public functions, and played an active role in reviving the Nallur Temple
festival. Credit should also go to him for the successful conduct of local
elections and for encouraging people to vote. He personally went around making
people feel that civil administration was coming back. Everytime there was
misconduct on the part of the Army, he went personally and took responsibility.
He once escaped a mine attack. On another occasion when he was at a meeting
at the University of Jaffna, a civilian sent him a note warning him that LTTE
agents were present. He showed the note to the Vice Chancellor, but remained
alert without creating alarm.
One of the thorny problems faced by Mendis was that
the LTTE indirectly controlled Jaffna’s only newspaper. This he tackled tactfully
without resorting to censorship.
When Sarojini Yogeswaran arrived to start her belated
election campaign, he encouraged her, telling her, “Don’t worry madam, the
people will choose you.” When Sarojini won, Mendis led her in to hand over
the civil administration to her, telling her, “Madam, you are the boss now,
I will not interfere. But if you have any problem, please call me, I will
attend to it.” He maintained the same approach to her successor Mr.Sivapalan.
As the first citizen, soldiers greeted him with a salute. Both Mendis and
Sivapalan agreed that in all meetings dealing with civil affairs, the security
officials should come to the Mayor’s office at his invitation. It was this
good intention that gave the LTTE its opportunity. For one thing, intelligence
of meetings was available to several persons. Moreover, whenever the Army
took over a school or public place for a meeting, a tooth-comb of the premises
was conducted a day earlier, and a sentry was placed during the night. This
was not feasible when security officials were guests of the Mayor.
This should also remove any misunderstandings about
the role of the Army. Brigadier Mendis had been trying to return authority
to the people and helping them to manage their own affairs against the LTTE’s
persistent attempts to do the opposite, and confine them in a prison all-the-more
insidious for not having bars.
Again the Tamil press tried to play down the public
response to this enormous outrage, even as no condemnation was forthcoming
from the leaders of civil society - particularly the churches and University.
The EPRLF was the first to issue a condemnation naming the LTTE. Make no mistake,
no other force in Jaffna has the ability to penetrate a public institution
where hundreds come and go, plant a bomb in advance, and enjoin those who
necessarily know to complete silence. The callousness too is hard to find
elsewhere. Had not most of the employees left for a religious ceremony at
the nearby temple at the time of the meeting, there would have been many more
casualties.
Despite the social
leadership remaining unseen and unheard, the people expressed their protest
by attending the funerals in large numbers. With Mallika’s children orphaned
by the successive deaths of their father and mother, the neighbours came forward
to do the needful. Huge crowds came to her place. Pathmanathan’s funeral had
to await the arrival of his children from Canada.
When Sivapalan’s body was taken to his village of Sittankerni,
such was the press of the crowd of mourners that it was with much difficulty
that his body was removed from the hearse. In part it is the difference between
village and town. The LTTE networks would no doubt try to make out that the
people were unconcerned.
A huge word of credit must also be given to the Army
in Jaffna for acting with correctness and enabling the occasion to have the
dignity and gravity as befitted it. With almost the entire security forces
hierarchy in the city wiped out, the
LTTE would no doubt have hoped for huge reprisals, destabilising Jaffna beyond
repair. The correct thing was done in rushing the injured Mayor to the hospital
in an attempt to save his life. There was no indecent panic among the people
as some reports suggested. There was no undue disruption. A large crowd concerned
about the Mayor’s fate had gathered outside the Teaching Hospital. The incident
had taken place at 11.00AM. The town was so normal in the afternoon that there
was even the unusual instance of a caller at the Brigadier's office at 2.30PM
receiving news of the tragedy from the sentry.
It was also refreshing in the night to hear the voices
of Generals Balagalle and Munasinghe from Jaffna, saying correctly and clinically
what needed to be said. Both Balagalle and President Kumaratunge gave first
importance to the murder of the Mayor. The Sri Lankan Army had come a long
way from July 1983 towards one sensitive to functioning in a democratic environment.
While on this subject, we wish to clarify some issues
in the last bulletin No.18. We reported
and commented on some remarks made by Colonel Sanath Karunaratne, the Brigade
Commander, Pt Pedro, and successor to Larry Wijeratne. Following the murders
of Brigadier Wijeratne and Mrs.Yogeswaran last May, there were widely shared
apprehensions of a deteriorating situation in Jaffna. Karunaratne had a problem
in that he was bound to be looked at too critically after the exemplary record
of Wijeratne. It is also true that some of his remarks led to a widely shared
perception that the Army had adopted a policy of reprisals. We had several
anguished reports coming from persons who clearly understood the destructiveness
of the LTTE, and were anxious that the Army should be highly disciplined and
accountable.
These same concerns were voiced at a commemoration meeting
for the late Brigadier Wijeratne in Colombo, where the Army Commander was
present. The latter called for an inquiry into the matter, and this is commendable.
We also reported an incident on 30th May where a 19-year-old girl was killed
by soldiers at a sentry point after an incident where two soldiers were killed.
We do not know if a fresh inquiry was ordered into this.
On the matter of Karunaratne’s remarks, we have ourselves
had further representations from people in Vadamaratchy to the effect that
we had been too hard on him. It was put to us that some of the remarks attributed
to Karunaratne had been pulled out of the original context and the meaning
was distorted. The real test of the man, it was pointed out, was what he had
achieved : He had performed the difficult task of maintaining order soon after
Larry Wijeratne was killed, so-much-so that the fears of the people proved
unfounded. He has acted firmly on every act of indiscipline reported to him.
There had been one incident in July of a psychiatric patient being beaten
to death by soldiers, where the culprits were submitted to the normal process
of the law. LTTE activity in the area had been competently kept in check.
The situation, after the shock of Wijeratne’s death, quickly returned to the
normality which had earlier obtained. Huge crowds came into Vadamaratchy for
the Chellachannithy temple festival signalling a further return to normality.
One of those who raised the matter told us, “Larry Wijeratne
became what he was partly because of the manner of his interaction with the
people. Karunaratne has on the whole done a good job, and he could become
another Wijeratne. When you raise issues you should be careful not to alienate
him and push him to an extreme where he loses all empathy for the people.”
We brought the matter up here for two reasons. One is
to remove any misapprehensions arising from what we had said. The other is that where the people of Jaffna
look to with hope, it is not to the LTTE. Far from it. What their hope rests
on today is in seeing a more disciplined and professional Army that will be
sensitive to human rights, backed up by political action giving the Tamils
control over their affairs.
We had been a bit alarmist in fearing a deterioration
of the situation in Jaffna. The incident of 30th May where Subajini (19) was
killed had been about the only incident where the Army got out of control.
On the night of 25th July, LTTE cadre who came into Gurunagar by sea attacked
the Army post at the temporary prison in Main Street. Most of the soldiers
are said to have withdrawn from the area. Two who were caught by the LTTE
are said to have been cut to death. However firing was heard and at least
seven LTTEers were killed. According to one version the LTTE fired at their
own side.
The Army fired shells into the lagoon from Palaly, apparently
to prevent LTTE reinforcements from coming in. People were glad that the Army
did not put up an all-out fire fight in that crowded residential area. The
main tragedy however took place the following day. The normal routine for
people returning from the Vanni is for the boats bringing them to drop them
in the sea at a shallow spot off Gurunagar and return. The civilians cannot
walk ashore because of a deep channel. Hence Army boats would go out and pick
them up. On the day after the attack, seven civilians were so dropped. The
Army did not go and pick them up. The refugees stood there for a long time.
The people on the shore contacted the ICRC. An ICRC officer in his last week
of service in Jaffna rushed to the military authorities, who in turn ordered
the refugees to be picked up. The civilians on the shore shouted at the refugees
to wait, but their voices would not carry because of the South-West monsoon
blowing. Despairing of getting help the refugees began walking away towards
Pooneryn, southwards. The lagoon was rough and the refugees disappeared from
view. By the time the boat got there, only one refugee, a woman, was saved.
The incident illustrates a gulf and a communication
gap that exists between the Army and the ordinary people. It took the ICRC’s
intervention to get the authorities to do the decent thing. This gulf needs
to be addressed. There are also continuing cases of harassment which do not
seem to reach the ears of the authorities. For example, a woman was checked
recently at the Kondavil check-point, and because the barbed wire corridor
was crowded, she crept through the wire and attempted to proceed. A woman
security officer called her, was rude to her, threw her identity card, and
made her stand in the sun for an hour. The woman whose family had suffered
badly from the LTTE said later, “Because it is us and we understand, we are
putting up with it. But you cannot blame an ordinary girl for wanting to join
the LTTE after such treatment.”
The subject of Chemmani graves, where a large number
of detainees killed by the Army during 1996 are believed to be buried, has
been a hot topic for several months, especially in Jaffna. Hopes had been
continually raised in the press that there will be a thorough inquiry and
justice will be done. The sources quoted have been judicial officials and
officials in the Human Rights Commission. Yet nothing concrete has happened.
No professional help has been sought to secure the area, and nothing is bound
to happen this year once the rains start. In the meantime the soldier who
testified to the presence of corpses in Chemmani had been assaulted by prison
staff. The procrastination raises concern that there is an attempt at a cover
up, in a matter in which two major-generals and several brigadiers are likely
to be compromised.
If the Government is to win the confidence of the Tamil
people, it must ignore short term considerations and move decisively in the
matter. A number of concrete instances suggest that Tamil youth arrested on
suspicion in Colombo and denied access to relatives are being badly assaulted
(cases with swollen faces have been known) and made to sign confessions.
The common perception in Jaffna however, is that the
Army is doing a difficult job reasonably well and that things have not deteriorated
as feared. Some reliable standards are also being established.
Once again the message the TULF and the UNP are drawing
from the recent outrage is to urge the Government to talk to the LTTE without
conditions. From the TULF’s standpoint it is even more ridiculous. They know
the LTTE. Is it a measure of their political wisdom that they had to come
to this conclusion after sending Sarojini and Sivapalan to Jaffna? It is irresponsible
because they know that talking to the LTTE can be no more than a short-lived
distraction condemning the country to more tragedy. This confused approach
has condemned several well-meaning TULF members to go to the grave, each saying
it was not the LTTE that killed the last victim.
The main lesson for them is that one cannot afford to
be unclear about the LTTE and play with them like with pussycats. Those who
do it carry a time fuse on them and the LTTE decides the time. Whoever touches
the LTTE would be used, sucked dry and then destroyed. From Mahattaya and
Kittu in the LTTE hierarchy, it has been the fate of many other hopefuls.
The TULF Secretary Mr.Anandasangary is perhaps the boldest and sturdiest in
the TULF leadership who is in touch with the people and has no illusions about
the LTTE. His presence in Jaffna after the blast was no doubt of great help.
It was pitiful to see him on television with a pained face, toeing perhaps
the party line in not naming the LTTE. He is no doubt a prime target. To be
in politics now in the North-East and to do good, complete professional security
with no illusions is essential, and there is no shame in it. The Government
is duty-bound to provide it. It is incalculably damaging and demoralising
to the people when a public figure is killed because of unwarranted complacency.
Anandasangary has stated in Jaffna that the TULF will
appoint a new mayor for Jaffna, that they will not be intimidated by violence
and that he would come forward himself if necessary. Many despairing of a
total descent of Jaffna into anarchy and a painful death have no doubt appealed
to him that the TULF must not give up. It is also remarkable that in the face
of total silence from leaders of civil society, an elderly civilian, Mr.Sinnathurai
from Avarangal, a former TULF stalwart, was moved to make a bold personal
statement over BBC (TS). He said, "If anyone thinks they could use murder
to make political gains, the people will rise up and teach them that they
are mistaken. We will continue to honour the democratic mandate given to us
by the people".
The current tragedy again points to the big difference
between Northern Ireland and Jaffna. Whenever an outrage similar to what happened
in Jaffna took place in Northern Ireland, the Roman Catholic Church, the SLDP
and civil society among the Catholics did not hesitate, even though there
was a threat, to condemn the IRA. In Tamil society here, there is not one
pillar of it that the LTTE phenomenon has failed to level down into becoming
an abject and servile ally of fascism. The silence in Jaffna speaks for itself.
One has instead the elite and the press playing their cowardly games. In public
they convey the impression that they are with the LTTE and drive the
fear of the LTTE into people. The Uthayan predictably took issue with
a visiting Hindu swamy who said that things are normal in Jaffna except for
disturbances created by the LTTE. But then these same persons go to the Army
top brass and pour their hearts out, explaining why they have to play these
games. It is touchingly ironical when army officers sympathetically explain
their behaviour to visitors. One needs to understand the character of a force
that constantly resorts to indiscriminate terror to keep its people in this
state of fear and suffocation. Being a phenomenon whose rise was not just
linked to, but indeed necessitated, the total destruction of civil society,
makes the LTTE vastly different from others like the IRA.
The LTTE had crossed a threshold entailing a drastic qualitative change
which made it altogether a new organism. The similarities to IRA, however
striking, are superficial. Top
Mrs.Sarojinidevi Yogeswaran, 65 year old
widow and mayoress of the City of Jaffna, was shot dead on 17th May 1998 by
two assassins who called at her home during the morning. To dismiss it as
just another of those political killings within Tamil society, to be mourned
and forgotten, is to miss the point. Indeed this is how a very influential
section of Tamil society treated it. Running against many obstacles and ridicule
from these same quarters, she was elected Mayoress of Jaffna on 29th January
1998 to the general relief of the populace. She came to be a mother-figure
whose sentiments about restoring normal life in Jaffna and seeing an end to
‘gun culture’ found a resonance in the deepest longings of the people. There
was a growing thaw in the political atmosphere and functions of the Jaffna
Municipal Council were becoming a focus for revival of democratic activity.
This much would have made her a major
figure in Tamil political life in the context of total paralysis brought about
by 20 years of internal and external terror. The task called for enormous
courage and determination that is today extremely rare in Tamil society. Her
significance goes much further.
There is hardly any room to doubt that
the tone and character of Tamil political life today is determined by the
LTTE. From 1986 it has been trying to ensure that all Tamils who are allowed
to function in public life, whether as politicians or as leaders of civil
society, could only do so as its cohorts. Terror was the primary means of
bringing this about, and its ultimate goal was the creation of a totalitarian
fascist polity. To this end anyone who did not fall into line or was involved
in any activity, however innocuous, that had the potential to develop into
a healthier alternative for the people, was likely to be eliminated.
Many who found it uncomfortable to function
under these constraints, found a ready refuge in Tamil nationalism as a means
of overcoming their reservations and excusing their cowardice. Where one avoided
looking at the long-term consequences, violations by the State provided some
justification for this position. Toeing the LTTE’s line need not always involve
action. Most of the time it could merely involve being silent in the face
of something totally inhuman and unacceptable as will be seen below. The end
result provides substance to the contention that fascism is in essence the
culture of mediocrity. Mediocrity results from narrowing one’s mind and conscience
to conform to the dictates of a fascist polity. In most individuals such conformity
leads to a loss of self-esteem requiring an outlet, producing a diseased personality.
This is the key to understanding individuals who provide a variety of services
for the LTTE.
The LTTE in July 1989 murdered TULF leader
A.Amirthalingam and V.Yogeswaran, former MP for Jaffna and Sarojini’s husband.
The trauma Sarojini experienced from seeing her husband killed before her
own eyes, led her to strong aversion for ‘gun culture’ and her courageous
stand 8 1/2 years later, resulting in her own tragic death. At the time of
their murder, the two leaders were working for a constitutional solution under
the Indo-Lanka Accord. From the early 1990s the LTTE has been working on turning
the TULF into a party, effectively of its spokesmen, resorting to culling
by murder when individuals were seen to fall out of line. Such was the murder
of A.Thangathurai, whose work in the rehabilitation of displaced Tamils in
the Trincomalee District was a threat to the LTTE, whose appeal depended on
the continued alienation of Tamils.
Sarojini Yogeswaran had come to pose an
even greater threat without being very conscious of it. Moreover she was careful
not to criticise the LTTE in her public statements. But unlike Trincomalee,
Jaffna had been crucial for the LTTE’s international public relations. Events
in Jaffna after the October 1995 Exodus and the takeover by the Sri Lankan
Army had been very damaging to the LTTE. Under the LTTE Tamil elite spokesmen
who undertook public relations for the LTTE had succeeded in putting it about
that the people were solidly behind the LTTE. But after 1995 when people could
communicate more openly and even write to the press, it became clear that
among a substantial section of the populace there was long accumulated, deep
seated anger against the LTTE.
This threatened the huge publicity edifice
the LTTE had painstakingly constructed beginning with servile members of the
intelligentsia in Jaffna, extending through Colombo and having a global reach.
The task of this network was to sell the
LTTE as a liberation group accepted by all Tamils as their sole legitimate
representatives, with the exception of a few ‘traitors’ or ‘misguided persons’.
What became very clear from 1996 was that the Tamils wanted a healthier and
saner alternative to constraining their children to carry arms, and wanted
moreover a life free of terror and ‘gun culture’.
Thus following the Exodus the credibility
of the LTTE’s network was placed under severe strain. Their role in grossly
misrepresenting the people could not continue without exposing themselves
as contemptible liars. In Jaffna itself the pro-LTTE elements were constrained
into a resentful silence by public opinion that was very much in the air.
Mrs.Yogeswaran’s role threatened to continue these developments much further
by providing a democratic forum for the people’s wishes.
Another individual who did a great deal
to discredit the LTTE’s claims to represent the Tamil people was Brigadier
Larry Wijeratne. He came to be loved by the people (a rare distinction in
Tamil public life) to such an extent that many unhesitatingly referred to
him as ‘our god’. By maintaining strict discipline on the Army and going among
the people he created a fresh atmosphere and organised activities where the
youth of Vadamaratchy - supposedly the home base of the LTTE - had regular
interaction with youth in the South. The LTTE had to resort to the cowardly
and reprehensible act of using a suicide bomber to kill him on 14th May, during
ceremonies spontaneously organised by the people to bid him farewell.
Both these murders must therefore be seen
as part of the cruel conspiracy to misrepresent the Tamil people as sub-human,
who in the face of healthier alternatives in the present world, support a
monstrosity that compels mass suicide on their children. The logical step
following the murders was to make the events seem trivial by character assassinating
the dead, spreading confusion about the murders and greatly diminishing the
significance of the persons and their loss.
The absence of any firm cue from the TULF
provided the opportunity for the Tamil press, through inclination or otherwise,
to play the LTTE’s game and deepen the confusion. The ‘Uthayan’, the Tamil
daily published in Jaffna, had the merit that a reasonably perceptive reader
would not have been left in any doubt as to who killed Sarojini and Thagathurai.
In Jaffna itself Mrs.Yogeswaran’s murder
was greeted with a haunting silence, not just from individuals, but from practically
all civil institutions, including the university and all religious bodies
- not even a timely word condemning the cruel and cowardly murder of a well-meaning
widow past three score years.
In the case of Mrs.Yogeswaran
and Mr.Thangathurai, division, confusion and fear within the TULF played into
the LTTE’s hands. The TULF failed to name the LTTE as the killers as was amply
evident, and place in stark terms before the people why the two were killed.
While one section of the TULF remained silent, another section actively tried
to shift the blame onto other Tamil groups, thus trivialising the deaths and
the enormous significance of their sacrifice.
Following Mrs.Yogeswaran’s murder, only
the local trader’s association closed shops in protest. The leader of this
association too was later killed. It must therefore be kept in mind that we
are here talking about a very abnormal society, and this calls for much circumspection
in gauging the opinions of the people.
In such a society silence makes one an
ally of oppression. This can be seen in some of the propaganda gains made
by the LTTE after the murder of Mrs.Yogeswaran. A few weeks later a group
from Tamil Nadu including 24 MPs signed a memorandum calling upon the Indian
prime minister to prevail upon the Sri Lankan government to stop the war and
withdraw its troops from the North-East. Making allowance for the foibles
of politicians, would this memorandum have been possible at all, had it been
clear to the people of Tamil Nadu, that in the Tamil society of this country,
among whom finding courage and heroism is like looking for a needle in a haystack,
the LTTE not only killed a courageous woman, but also a widow, to whom every
civilised society owes a special courtesy?
The LTTE’s claim to be the sole representatives
of the Tamil people must therefore be judged in the abnormal context that
it relies compulsively on total silence on the part of the very people it
is meant to liberate. This silence has been brought about by terror. Terror
works by creating a diseased society where individuals are denied healthy
and humane options. For the LTTE’s image it has worked wonders. Confusion
about its nature has led well-meaning outsiders to draw parallels between
the ethnic question in this country and the problems in South Africa and Northern
Ireland which have been amenable to constitutional settlements. The key difference
is the role of terror. In the latter
societies pluralism was never in question and the use of terror by certain
groups never succeeded in reducing other sections of society to total subservience,
or in silencing the voicing of other options and alternative visions for the
future. The case of Tamils is so pathological that the totalitarian claims in which the LTTE
has trapped itself cannot be met in a constitutional settlement compatible
with basic human and democratic rights.
Also little understood is the vast gulf
that exists between the pro-LTTE elites widely accredited as purveyors of
Tamil opinion and the people on the ground. When Mrs.Yogeswaran was killed,
the people were silenced but at the same time greatly disturbed. A very representative
comment coming from Jaffna was, “The Tigers are all out to plant their flag
on a mound of ashes”. When Brigadier Larry Wijeratne was fatally struck by
an LTTE assasin, a large number of civilians so lost themselves in sorrow
that they rushed into the Pt. Pedro Army Camp - something totally unprecedented.
The nature of, and events surrounding,
the murder of Mrs.Yogeswaran provide us with a context to probe the pathological
state of affairs governing the destiny of Sri Lanka and of the Tamil people
in particular. In addition to elaborating and clarifying comments made in
this chapter, we will explore the social mechanisms, both local and overseas,
by means of which a detestable regime of falsehood and oppression is sustained.
Top
A strange event of June 1997 provides
an interesting backdrop to contrast reactions to Sarojini’s murder. For nearly
a year there had been widespread complaints of corruption against a key government
official in Jaffna at a time when shortages were felt acutely. Following a
high level investigation it was rumoured that the official, who was good at
keeping the right people happy, was to be removed. A very unusual felicitation
was organised for his benefit where his services, abilities and dedication
were extolled (Uthayan 4.6.97). All leading sections and institutions in Jaffna
society were represented. The Roman Catholic bishop was represented by his
vicar general. The two leading Hindu religious dignitaries in Jaffna spoke.
There were school principals and administrators. The University of Jaffna
was represented by a senior academic and the vice chancellor. The latter presented
the administrator with a ‘Ponnadai’ (gold embroidered shawl) conferring a
mark of distinction. Hardly a more distinguished gathering could have been
put together to conduct this festival of flattery - a seedy affair that did
little to improve the reputation of the participants. Notwithstanding the
high praise, the beneficiary was removed from office.
In contrast when Mrs.Yogeswaran, a lady
who sacrificed her life and was worthy of the highest praise was killed, there
was not a hum of protest or condemnation, individually or collectively, from
these persons or the institutions they represented. She was after all a prominent
public figure and it is these institutions that owed it to the people to condemn
the murder and give a lead to the public in demonstrating their sorrow and
contempt for the act. It was moreover these institutions that could have done
it with the least risk, and there was no need then to name the perpetrator.
Their silence was not because they thought of Mrs.Yogeswaran as some kind
of an undesirable woman who deserved to go unmourned.
Here we encounter the triviality, silliness
and craven opportunism of public life under fascism. Even the leaders of civil
society are constrained by terror from discussing matters crucial to the life
of the community - not even in closed circles such as the University and the
churches. To compensate their loss of self-esteem they are provided with enough
platforms for mutual flattery. Nothing serious is ever said in public.
The ordinary people felt very angry about
the murder, but in the absence of leadership, were gripped with fear. The
stony silence of the leaders of society was itself a strong indication to
them that the LTTE were the killers. Hardly anyone dared to go to Mrs.Yogeswaran’s
house on the first day. On this day it was only the EPRLF that condemned the
murder in Jaffna and named the LTTE as the killer. The PLOTE followed suit
the following day. The EPDP condemned the killing but did not name the LTTE.
It was the EPRLF and PLOTE who put up banners of mourning and helped with
transporting the body. On the third day the body was kept in the Municipal
Council. It was then that following council employees, crowds started going
there in increasing numbers to pay their last respects before the body was
flown to Colombo for cremation. One of the speakers at the Municipal Council
was TULF secretary Mr.Anandasangari who had come from Colombo. Another was
S.Namasivayam,(57), vice president of the TULF branch in Jaffna and secretary
of the Jaffna Traders’ Association. He was about the only local person to
play a prominent role at that time. Through his initiative Jaffna traders
closed their shops - the only public protest to mark the occasion.
Namasivayam resigned as secretary to the
Traders’ Association at the end of May. While cycling home to lunch on 5th
June, he was cut to death. Whoever had killed him, it is certain that the
silence of others better placed than he was, had left him isolated and vulnerable.
We learn that there was a condemnation of the murder of Sarojini by the Peace
Committee of which the Roman Catholic Bishop is chairman, and includes several
religious leaders. But hardly anyone from Jaffna is aware of it and it certainly
did not reach the press when it was meaningful. Moreover, no one of any standing
from the body participated in the public condolence meeting. The condemnation
is in effect, one for the record.
Public anger and protest against the murder
of Mrs.Yogeswaran was thus so successfully damped. While the generality of
the people continue to be silenced and key issues concerning the future of
the Tamils cannot be discussed, what the outsider could hear by talking to
people is either LTTE propaganda or the face-saving rationalisations of people
who have surrendered their sanity in order to live with day-to-day reality.
It is an abnormal society that one encounters. One could see all the elements
of censorship through fear, ad hoc rationalisation, insanity, callousness
and outright propaganda in the impressions gathered by the Hindustan Times
correspondent:
“One
of the disturbing facts in relation to the cowardly killing of Jaffna’s 61
year old female Mayor Mrs.Sarojini Yogeswaran on May 17, is that it evoked
no revulsion among the Tamils in general and the people of Jaffna in particular....
Very few said that democracy had been throttled by gun-toting extremists who
had a vested interest in keeping Jaffna and the Tamils in turmoil.”
“Day
after day, Tamil newspapers complain bitterly about the absence of basic facilities
in their areas and put the blame squarely on the Sri Lankan Government....
But when the LTTE brazenly thwarts the government’s attempts to provide supplies
or restore normalcy, and the world condemns the LTTE for its depredations,
the Tamils swing to the LTTE’s support. They would suddenly turn around and
say: We want a permanent political solution, not relief and rehabilitation”.
On the murder of Mrs.Yogeswaran, the report
notes that some said she deserved it while others said she had been foolhardy
in contesting the Mayoral election in the face of LTTE threats. They said
it was just as well she was killed.
“A
supposedly ‘moderate’ Tamil MP was brimming with joy and went into peals of
laughter when he heard of the killing”. The TULF MP who felt ‘vindicated’ by the assassination had noted that
he had been always against the TULF’s contesting in the face of LTTE disapproval.
P.K.Balachandran, the Hindustan Times
correspondent draws the conclusion that the more substantial cause for the
absence of revulsion is political. He quotes a journalist in Jaffna: “According to a seasoned north-based Tamil
scribe, all this flowed from one fact - the general conviction among Tamils
is that any attempt to weaken the LTTE would be detrimental to them. The scribe
says, “If the Tamils have to walk with their heads held high, the LTTE should
not be weakened.” Balachandran concludes, with the very quintessence of
fascism, “Every diktat of the LTTE however
gruesome or unsettling is accepted without question.”
What most journalists have been missing
arises from the immense gulf under fascist control dividing what people say
with what is really in their heart. Do people want the LTTE to come back to
Jaffna, hold meetings in schools and take their children away to an unknown
fate, so that “they could hold their heads high and the LTTE will not be weakened”?
Is this not the very reason that many people are anxious to get out of the
Vanni today, as was with Jaffna in the past? The feeling that Tamils have
something to lose if the LTTE is weakened, comes mainly from the barrage of
propaganda in the Tamil press that subtly puts across the message that the
Sinhalese are a barbaric and implacable menace. None of the healthy changes
in Sinhalese society are acclaimed or acknowledged. The Tamils are hung in
confusion in the dichotomy between propaganda and what they feel and experience.
To a reader of the report above, honest answers from Jaffna to the questions
“Do you want the Army to leave Jaffna?” and “Do you really want the Army to
open the road to Vavuniya, which would mean weakening the LTTE?”, would bring
surprises.
The most immediately
pertinent point missed or ignored by most observers is that if the people
are so spontaneously pro-LTTE as is often held, what is the significance of
the ubiquitous network of terror maintained by the LTTE, the intimidation,
the systematic manipulation of the media, deliberate distortion of news and
the sowing of confusion? When people say cruel things such as that Mrs.Yogeswaran
or anybody else was wrong to challenge the LTTE because it is foolish and
suicidal, and indeed deserved what they got, is it not because they already
accept that the LTTE is leading the Tamils on the path of tragedy?
Then here we have a society so tragically
miscommunicating its own wishes, and so grossly misrepresented by its spokesmen
and its would-be-friends worldwide. And a noble lady was allowed to pass from
our midst, orphaned it seems by the very people she sought to serve. Top
In many ways Sarojini Yogeswaran, nee Ponnambalam, was
an ordinary middle-class Tamil woman. Born in 1933 she spent her early life
in Malaya where her father worked, and returned home to Nallur, Jaffna after
the second World War, as the daughter of a Malayan pensioner. She earned her
BA (London) and taught at Vembadi Girls High School. Her inherited wealth
ensured that she would be relatively comfortable in life. Her induction into
Tamil nationalist politics was through her husband V.Yogeswaran, who became
the charismatic TULF MP for Jaffna in 1977. Her rise to greatness was on account
of her clearly thought out response to a challenge resulting from a traumatic
event in her personal life. In the account below we will refer to two excellent
detailed articles about her. One is by D.B.S.Jeyaraj (titled ‘Death of a True
Heroine’) in the Island of 20th May 1998 (referred to as [DJ]) and the other
by ‘Roving Correspondent’ in the Sunday Leader of 24th May 1998 (referred
to as [RC]).
During the period of the Indo-Lanka Accord, the LTTE
targeted the TULF leaders. Through Yogeswaran who naively attempted to bring
about amity between the TULF and the LTTE, the latter tried to lure the TULF
leaders into the Mullaitivu jungles, but they declined. Eventually talks were
arranged at Yogeswaran’s flat in Colombo. During this period (1989) the LTTE
were freely moving around Colombo as they were having talks with the Premadasa
government. Although security was provided for the TULF leaders on the initiative
of Gamini Dissanayake, a government minister who was himself killed by the
LTTE in 1994, on Yogeswaran’s instructions the LTTE delegation led by its
intelligence chief Visu was not searched. During the meeting Amirthalingam
and Yogeswaran were shot dead in the presence of Mrs.Yogeswaran who had just
served refreshments to the killers. The latter in turn were shot dead by the
police security who came rushing upstairs upon hearing gunshots. Thus the
Tiger Leader completed the act of political parricide on which he had set
his mind, by using his chief henchmen in a suicide mission.
“After Yogeswaran’s death Sarojini was quite demoralised
for awhile. The Yogeswarans had no children and Sarojini was all alone now.
She was not in financial difficulties because of the substantial property
inherited. Had she wanted to, Sarojini could have led a peaceful, comfortable
existence. Yet her politicisation because of her late husband and desire to
carry on his work motivated her to dabble in politics. More importantly she,
like most responsible TULFers, was burdened with a “political cross”. It was
the TULF that radicalised Tamil politics and fired youth imagination with
the vision of Eelam...... She became
totally disillusioned with the so called armed struggle. She felt that the
only way out for Tamil redemption was the forsaking of violence and returning
to democracy. She realised that a negotiated settlement followed by development
was the only solution.......
“Sarojini wanted some development-oriented action. An
opportunity arose when local authority elections were announced. She staked
her claim for the Jaffna municipality. Under the circumstances she was the
best bet for Jaffna from the TULF. When party colleagues became worried about
her security, she told them bluntly, ‘Don’t worry about that. That’s my problem”.
Her courage was inspiringly overwhelming. She got her nomination”. [DJ]
A technical hitch in the TULF nomination which had to
be resolved in Court left the TULF with only ten days of campaigning. Sarojini
undauntedly led her campaign with almost no resources or infrastructure and
with people being afraid to identify with her openly. One man who supported
her and paid a heavy price was S.Namasivayam mentioned earlier, who became
vice-president of the TULF branch. He was a long standing TULF supporter,
known as a good man in the locality, was munificent in contributing to local
charitable causes and was in the forefront in addressing local problems.
Another circumstance about Mrs.Yogeswaran which is generally
unknown deserves mention. After Yogeswaran was killed, from the end of 1989
until June 1990, the Tigers reigned all-powerful over the lives of Tamils
anywhere in this country, with the active backing of the UNP Government. Many
TULF cadre were arrested by the LTTE and taken to their notorious camps through
Government check points. At this time Mrs.Yogeswaran was among the few we
know of, who was sending information out of the country about this outrage.
Marwaan Macan Markar who covered the Jaffna elections
for the Sunday Leader was moved by a particular incident he witnessed. On
polling day a policeman shooed away Mrs.Yogeswaran from a polling station
in Chundikuli, not recognising her as a mayoral candidate. Sarojini smiled
it off. There was no self-pity. What came from her was concern for the people
and reflections on the uphill task ahead. Under the circumstances her election
as Mayoress of Jaffna was a handsome victory and a demonstration of hope.
“Sixty year old Sarojini Yogeswaran knew death was inevitable.
Knowing the Tigers well she had no illusions about their sparing her. But
she may have thought or hoped that the LTTE would have let her alone for some
time at least so that she could get the municipal council to initiate some
rehabilitation and reconstruction work that would have alleviated the suffering
of the people. But to the LTTE any countenancing of civil administration in
Jaffna was anathema. It had to be nipped in the bud and the easiest thing
was to gun down an unarmed old woman.
“Sarojini Yogeswaran was not an extraordinarily brave
person. But in coming forward to be elected as Jaffna mayoress in a climate
of fear and violence, she displayed supreme courage and dedication. She had
a vision of restoring on ‘unarmed democracy’ to Jaffna..... Her vision of an unarmed democracy in effect
meant a departure from the ecology of the gun that bedevils traditional Tamil
homelands, under the guise of liberation struggles. So great was her commitment
that she refused armed security while campaigning as well as after being elected.
She refused to have bodyguards. Sarojini also turned down an offer by the
military to establish a checkpoint close to her residence. This was not due
to foolish bravado but to a deep conviction that a genuine farewell to arms
was absolutely necessary to bring about a constructive change on the path
to self-destruction....
“It was this knowledge that the chariot of death was
drawing near that imbued Sarojini Yogeswaran with a sense of impatience. She
was stridently articulate about the needs of Jaffna. But some of her recent
interviews suggest that she was terribly disappointed by the attitude of the
Government in this regard.... So great was Yogeswaran’s anguish that she went
on record saying that [President] Kumaranatunga had not delivered all she
had promised at a recent meeting.... [However] Sarojini Yogeswaran’s interaction
with NGOs and foreign missions was becoming successful. Finances were being
sanctioned and promises made for a number of ventures in Jaffna - when the
LTTE made its strike. The LTTE’s killing of Sarojini Yogeswaran was a predictable
action. The spirit of democratic assertion that was developing in Tamil politics
seems to have evaporated at least for now” [RC].
Thus Sarojini who had been seen as a pretty average
middle-class woman, through a singular act of courage for which the conditions
were created by the nature of circumstances surrounding her husband’s death,
was rising to heights of sacrifice and nobility. To many who met her after
she became a mayoral candidate, she was a woman with a mission in the face
of stalking terror of the most inscrutable kind. She was playing the life-giving
role of a mother outside the narrow confines of family. She was trying to
give life to a dying people.
Here was how she struck Bandula Jayasekera who interviewed
her for national television, which also shows her keen awareness of danger:
“The moment I met her she became amma [mother] to me and I became putha [son
in Sinhalese] to her. She was loving and motherly. She requested me before
the interview not to ask certain questions due to fear of threats to her life.
“Son, if you ask me those questions I have to give direct
answers and certain elements will not like what I have to say - so let us
avoid them”, she said. She wanted to live with the people who elected her
to office. “I am moving to Jaffna [from Colombo] with all my pots and pans”,
she told me.... She was a brave woman,
a Mother Courage, a symbol of peace, who wanted to serve the people of Jaffna,
and rekindle the spark of democracy in the land of the broken palmyrah....”
[Midweek Mirror 20.5.98]
We had observed in “Living through Jaffna’s Sultry Sunset”
that soon after the local elections there was relief and even optimism. The
LTTE had drawn back from outright confrontation. Also before the elections
notices of threat and intimidation against participating in, or co-operating
with, the elections was issued in the name of “ Sangiliyan Force”. The local
population and the journalists covering the elections identified this with
the LTTE. Nothing more was heard of this group for two months after the elections.
A lady, a foreign correspondent based here, observed that the people in Jaffna
did not in general seem to realise that Mrs.Yogeswaran was taking a tremendous
risk. When Sarojini on a trip to Colombo was delayed from returning by a minor
accident, several people complained.
During the first two months after the elections the
LTTE which was present in Pungudutivu, an off-shore island of 10 square miles,
15 miles from Jaffna town and linked by road, concentrated on summoning influential
officials and traders for meetings. ‘Sangiliyan Force’ made its reappearance
through letters in mid-April, threatening senior officials, traders and individuals
not to co-operate with the Army. All councillors were asked to resign. The
columnist ‘Paasupathan’ writing in the Sanjeevy (Saturday edition of Uthayan)
of 8th April quoted what he termed ‘biased’ news agencies in Colombo and the
local military authorities as identifying ‘Sangiliyan Force’ with the LTTE.
His failure to say what he thought or to offer an alternative suggestion was
a clear indication of his thinking. The LTTE was clearly getting worried about
‘democratic assertion’.
This was about the time the Jaffna Municipal Council
had its first sitting. An LTTE threat to Mrs.Yogeswaran had appeared in hideous
Tamil verse in its journal ‘Liberation Tigers’ before the elections, which
referred to Vettivel’s daughter-in-law whose eyes have not been opened. It
added: “The lady who roams the streets of Wellawatte and lived in luxury in
Colpetty, wants a throne it seems.... Say
we will come! We will come.....” We
have here a good indication of how the feelings of ordinary LTTE cadre having
a tough life are deliberately aroused against civilians they target. Top
rs.Yogeswaran was shot dead during the
morning of 17th May by two killers who called at her residence. She had been
talking to the deputy mayor. When she came out, the second person who was
behind the first pulled out a T56 (as reported) from hiding and sprayed Sarojini,
after which they escaped through the back. The same day a note claiming to
be from the Sangiliyan Force was delivered to Uthayan press next door to Sarojini’s
- in a lane in front of Kailasapillaiyar Kovil. The note stated that the victim
had disregarded their warnings to resign, including the final one, and they
therefore ‘dispatched her to the world of Yama’.
To those journalists from Colombo who
heard about the Sangiliyan Force during the elections, the note confirmed
their earlier suspicion that the LTTE were the killers. The claim was bound
to be authentic as no one trifles with the LTTE. The fear in Jaffna and the
reluctance of people to go to her home was again a clear indication that they
believed it was the LTTE. The BBC Tamil Service, also on the same day, interviewed
the TULF Secretary and the Jaffna based reporter whom they regularly contacted.
The latter had until the LTTE quit Jaffna in 1995, worked for the LTTE paper
‘Eelanatham’. The lady from the BBC (TS) asked the party secretary, “who killed
Sarojini?” The Secretary replied, “I have no authority to say who did it”.
He was then asked what they were going to do about the vacancy created by
the murder. To this an indefinite answer was given.
The reporter from Jaffna answering the
question who were the killers, said that it could not have been the LTTE!
His reasoning was that since there was a sentry point at the junction, LTTE
cadre carrying a T56 could not have come that way. This was obviously not
a seriously thought out answer if the truth was the objective, since many
other questions arise: Did the assassins have to pass the sentry point?, Were
bags being checked?, Who would then be allowed to pass the sentry points with
a T56? etc. To those who are politically alert, the TULF Secretary’s answer
indicated his belief. But the effect of the second interview sowed confusion.
Two days later (19th), Uthayan received
a second letter from the Sangiliyan Force written in cruder handwriting. It
made the following claims: “All local councillors who have been sent warnings
by us, including Sarojini Yogeswaran, are on our hit list. As we were about
to deliver our punishment, somebody else cut short our work by killing her,
for which we are very grateful. This killing must have been the work of one
of the Tamil parties greedy for ‘position-chairs’. Since Sarojini Yogeswaran
was leading our list, on hearing of her assassination our Jaffna district
leader issued a statement to the Uthayan on the mistaken premise that we were
responsible. We express our deep sorrow for this. We deny that there is any
connection between us and the Tigers as alleged in the press and broadcasting
media. We have had no contact with the Tigers from the time we started functioning
on Jaffna soil, but we fully endorse their policies which are in agreement
with ours”.