Tamil Eelam Women’s Day October 10

In celebration of Woman’s Day, please visit the following website.

http://www.media-icon.com/women/

sangam.org/articles/view2/592.html

Tamileelam Women’s Day falls on October 10th, the death anniversary of the first woman fighter -one of Tamileelam’s most cherished heroines, 2nd Lt. Malathy – to fall in action. Malathy was the first of four female causalities on that fateful encounter with the occupying Indian forces. The anniversary is of profound significance to Tamils because it marks a monumental step in the evolution of the empowered Tamil woman and her struggle against oppression.

The women of Tamileelam have had to face oppression in two folds. One, in the archaic socio-cultural attitudes that stem from male chauvinism, and the other, in the brutal state policies and practices that stem from Sinhalese chauvinism. The former denigrated the woman’s role within various spheres in society. The latter wreaked on Tamil women, an oppression unprecedented in their recent history. Under the veils of an ethnic conflict, the state prosecuted a campaign of violence and terror on the Tamils. Harassment, intimidation, violence, torture, murder, and rape were routinely employed by the state as instruments of subjugation. Under the occupation of the Sri Lanka’s security forces and the Indian forces, Tamil women suffered immensely.

From the woman that clings to the hope of meeting her family someday to the school girl that fearfully crosses an army checkpoint to get her education, from the activist that fasted unto death to at Vakavi, Batticaloa to the tigress that bit down on her capsuled ambrosia to avoid capture, from the development worker that worries daily about how to better help her people to the committee chair that advocates for the involvement of women in the peace process, Tamil women have showed above average resiliency and determination in facing their struggles and challenges. Tamileelam Women’s Day is an occasion to mark just that.

It is a tribute to the ordinary woman, who, in the face of unbearable pain and hardship, mustered the strength to do what needs to be done to feed her children. It is a salute to the principled woman, who, upon witnessing the injustices meted onto her people, chose to protest against it. It is homage to the revolutionary woman, who, in response to state-oppression, transformed herself into a resistance fighter. Tamileelam Women’s Day is a memorial to the pioneering woman, who, in choosing to empower herself, has set into motion a revolution to emancipate the Tamil woman.

When I think of this quote, I picture the poorest of woman, struggling to keep her sari from unravelling, limping into town in search of a morsel of food to put into her child’s mouth. She is the average Tamil woman living in Eelam. But to me, she is beyond average. The strength and love she shows sends shivers down my body. She is incredible. The Tamil women in Eelam are incredible. After years of sexual violence, years of having batons plunged into their vaginas by policemen, years of having their sexuality brutalized by hateful men, these women have risen. They have risen not for themselves, but for their sons and daughters. They have shown how selfless women can be. But now it is time for those of us outside Eelam to give them something in return. It is time for us to celebrate those strong and courageous women, and let the world know how special they truly are. And that is why Tamil Eelam Women’s Day on October 10th is so important. It is important that we never forget the young Krishanthy who was gang-raped at a mere age of 12. It is important that we never forget the strong Koneswari whose body was torn apart from the inside. It is important that we never forget about that poverty-stricken Tamil woman who struggles day to day to keep her beloved children alive.

I am thrown into anguish when I think about the cruel acts these women have suffered. My anguish builds when I think picture the woman whose genitals were burned by a hot iron rod. My anguish intensifies as I imagine the 18 year old girl who was doused in gasoline and lit on fire. My anguish is on the verge of exploding when I think of the woman whose breasts were cut off and used as symbols of triumph. And finally, by anguish keeps building and building until I can stay silent no more.

People may consider these women to be victims, but I consider them to be survivors. Though many are not here today to share their story, I still consider them to be survivors, because I know their spirit is forever strong. The spirits of all Tamil women, living or deceased, still proliferates life around each one of us. Their spirits inspire us to no longer stay silent about those vicious acts they are all too familiar with. Tamil Eelam Women’s Day is for the women who deserve to be heard. It is for the women who yearn for the opportunity to be break their silence.

These women keep going. They keep alive the hope that one day they will be shown the greener side of the grass. With all that has been committed against them, they still stand strong. Even when the world has shown them its most hateful face, these women soar above that world. They believe. They believe that with the kindness of their hearts and the strength of their love, they will be victorious. As we celebrate this day, we must show them, with the kindness of our hearts and the strength of our love, that we are joined together through the unbreakable bonds we share through living and believing.

The most poignant example of the heightening equity between the genders can be seen in the Iyakkam, in which female accas fight alongside male annas, all towards the common goal of independence. In the Iyakkam, a cadre is a cadre, male or female. This evolutionary feminism seen in the struggle is unique throughout the world, allowing females to fight on the frontlines. These women have broken the barriers of conformity, of a society which formerly considered a woman best suited for cooking and taking care of the home. This too is certainly a noble task, and no simple accomplishment in a nation undergoing the dangerous struggle for independence, in which needed resources for one’s family are severely lacking or absent. However, Thamil women have shown they are capable of doing more. They can live and die for a cause, just as a Thamil man can. They can devote themselves to the training and difficulties of military life, just as men can. They can leave their families and villages to protect other families and villages, just as men do.

In destroying the previous gender roles, Thamil women reveal a beacon of hope, not only for other women, but for all Thamils: that the struggle for independence is not merely for men, but for all Thamils. Including the women sexually assaulted, the women harassed and interrogated, the women denied work and education.

The amazing achievements of Thamil women have been no easy undertaking. But they have shown the character of the Thamil people. That our character is strong-willed, determined and persevering. That in times of trouble, we can unite and grow stronger because of it. That Thamil women possess a powerful reservoir of spirit and conviction needed for a nation to thrive.

Though numerous elements of Thamil culture serve to restrict a woman’s freedom, this is not the case today. I am proud to be a Thamil woman, among many who have actively dispelled social constructions and gender roles, establishing higher standards for women’s capabilities and skills. I am proud to help commemorate this day in their honor.

Poverty, Violence, and Disadvantage:
However, something was unsettling for me. While the message of the lyrics is true for most youth in the Western world and while most North American girls can tune into NBATV to see their role models play, the same cannot be said for children in other parts of the world. The reality of every day life for many children around the world is rooted in violence (often state-sanctioned), premature and exploitative labor, and the destruction of their family and social communities. Many of these children and youth do not even dare to dream about a better life for themselves as they struggle to overcome the disadvantages that they face. For these children and youth, life begins and ends with the harsh realities of violence, poverty, abuse and exploitation.Take our Tamil homeland in the Northeast for example, where two decades of war and a decade of state-imposed economic embargo has resulted in an entire generation of children growing up knowing nothing but a life ravaged by war, violence and privation. No matter how hard these youth are to dream and work, without basic necessities and adequate social structures their lives are destined to be entrapped in the cycle of poverty and violence. When children in the North and East can not attend schools because they lack proper lighting, energy, school supplies and teachers, they are severely disadvantaged and inhibited from personal, social and academic development.

Particular Situation of Girls and Young Women:
The situation of girls and young women is especially troubling. But why pay particular attention to the girl child? What many people fail to realize is the gendered impact of war resulting in disparate treatment of women in war situations. Sexual violence is one such example. While sexual violence is not exclusive to women and girls, women and girls are disproportionately affected by sexual violence during war. Tamil girls as young as five or six are routinely targeted and raped by Sinhalese soldiers while crossing check points on their way to and from school. The emotional scars of sexual violence have an enormous toll on the lives of these young women and can last for a lifetime.In addition to sexual violence, young Tamil women are forced to take on burdensome roles in the family as other members of the family are separated/killed due to the war. These young women and girls sacrifice their own education in order to ensure the basic needs of the remaining family members are met. This grossly inhibits the chances of economic development of not only these young girls but the family unit as well. Basic survival is the end goal, rather than personal growth, social development and economic advancement.

The importance of female role models: Just as seeing successful professional women’s sports figures can motivate young North American girls to break traditional stereotypes having positive female role-models can be an empowering force in the lives of young Tamil girls to uplift themselves from the dredges of violence and poverty that surround and consume them.I used to think that I did not have strong women to be role models while I was growing up. I realize now is that they were there all along, and that I just never opened my eyes wide enough to see them. The women cadres of the LTTE,or Tamileelam’s tigresses as they are called, are Tamil women who are empowered with courage and intelligence, bravery and compassion. Through their struggles, they have empowered an entire nation of Tamil women to be freed from the social structures of an oppressive culture and gain political and social emancipation.These women have single handedly changed the notion of what it means to be a Tamil woman. Beginning in the early years through simple maneuvers such as wearing pants and defying culture by cutting their hair short, and culminating today by rising to the top ranks in the Tiger chain of command, female cadres have broken barriers and shattered the traditional role of women in Tamil society. Not only do female cadres inspire me but so do everyday Tamil women back home who struggle to survive and work to feed, clothe and shelter their families. The daily struggles and obstacles that Tamil women face back home is often ignored or overshadowed by violence and politics.Whether you are a young Tamil woman studying in Toronto or a Tamil girl in a rural village in Jaffna, we all need someone to look up to for inspiration and hope. If your dreams are to be a basketball player, a writer, a lawyer or a politician, part of the greater struggle is to simply have the choice and opportunity to achieve personal fulfillment and determine your own destiny

Eelam Tamil Women
Eelam is a spiritual and political reality of the Tamil nation. As a Tamil, who is part of exilic community, we are honoured, that the “girls” of Eelam have made a substantial heroic contribution, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the “boys” in the liberation struggle! This is a struggle against, we wish to refer to as the external oppression. The external Sinhala force, as was during the Duttugemunu period, is battling to encroach on the sovereignty of Eelam. They did this mainly by secret colonisation while our so-called educated upper crust politicians were either snoring in their selfish ways or selling our birthright; excuse my turn of phrase, by fart-catching to the Sinhala leaders*. The boys along with the strategic help of the girls on the battlefront achieved not some simple (or minor) victory over powers of domination. The prime conquering victory achieved was to bring the Tamils to an intrinsic understanding of the truth, that the Tamils are an ancient Nation. “Thamilan endru soll adar thalai nemirthu nill adar”. Hence the resulting psychological conditioning enlightened the masses with a groundbreaking reality of Eelam consciousness with the confession (tharaka mantra) that the Tamils must govern themselves: “Anndra paramparai meendum oru moorai arla nenaipathil enna kurai?” All divide and rule tactics of both the internal and external political forces were made impotent by the sheer determination of the “boys and girls”(These terms are used for liberation fighters as an endearing term). The participation of Eelam women played a vital role and positively contributed towards this paradigmatic achievement!
*Refer for excellent exposition: The Fall and Rise of the Tamil Nation – V.Navaratnam (1995).

Now we move to explore on the 2nd. Issue of our focus:

Attitudes – Actions and the Internal Oppression
In Thamil Eelam, thinking has moved forward in various sectors of life. The question I would like to ask as to whether any fundamental shifts in thinking have occurred among our people. Yes! In terms of liberation thinking people have of course moved on from enslaving mentalities. In my recent visit to the Eelam, I perused the Tamil dailies. Has things changed in terms of traditional oppressive thinking? The advertisements in the dailies, to my astonishment, not at all seem to reflect on any attitudinal change. Under marriage proposal columns for example, the archaic old ways of women bartering, caste consciousness, systems of dowry enjoying prominent print space with a slight difference of approach by thinking in terms of U.S $ and British £. It is sad to witness that the internal oppression and the devaluation of women continue with relative ease! I am not bringing this up to be contentious! It must be said however, in the midst of liberative mindsets, we might still detect, ample evidence of culturally/traditionally bound oppressive mechanisms well oiled in its operation. I too am aware of the fact, that the Eelam women are continually waging the battle against such appalling internal oppression. These things do not change over night – fair enough! The question nonetheless, ought to be raised among Diaspora Tamils as to whether they are subtly supporting such oppressive internal structures under the guise of tradition, whilst of course, giving whole-hearted support to liberation ideology. It must be agreed that we can not have it both ways: we cannot have the cake and eat the cake at the same time.Attitudes impinge on our actions. A recent incident that occurred in Batticaloa that was brought to our attention could be employed here as an example. A youngest sister who resides in London flies in with her children to Colombo to attend her mother’s funeral. She reaches Colombo on a Friday afternoon. It is about 7 hours journey to Batticaloa by van. If she were to travel immediately, then she will need to organise a van on the spot, and travel through the night. She was hesitant to undertake this journey. She pleaded with her two older brothers, (one of whom is a Justice of Peace; and the other who also has landed from Sweden a day earlier) to keep Mummy’s body till Saturday. She reminded them it is taboo, as tradition would have it, for funeral to take place on a Friday! All pleadings fell in deaf ears. The brothers, to cut the long story short, had a sinister agenda pertaining to family property etc; hence they hurriedly buried the body on that Friday. When the sister and children reached Batticaloa on Saturday they greeted her with stern faces and then clobbered her with their fists in both physical and verbal violence in front of the small and helpless children!Attitudes towards women do indeed bring about such gross violations from men. These men are not brought to books. Their actions are taken for granted. It is simply because of archaic norms of perceptions as it is seen to be “normal” for women to have lesser value and subservient status in society! The unspoken telepathic message is: “Well, if men – brothers or husband batter you simply take it with out any protest! Don’t you dare talk about it? It’s a disgrace to the family.” Under such thought patterns the birthrights of a daughter are ignored and the rights of a woman are blatantly denied. That is why I presume that liberation bard Bharathi in his prophetic-poetic insight sang against “pon adimai” (women’s oppression). I do not accept for one moment that the Thamil Eelam will be a place like a Talabanic haven. On the contrary, I like to believe that the Eelam women who have brought about so much change will continue to battle against internal oppression and bring about a paradigmatic shift in men who may want to continue in their archaic attitudes (like the men in our previous example).

Conclusion
We must never forget to be objectively critical about ourselves. On the contrary we could also run the risk of head burying like an ostrich. We have achieved a lot within these 20 some years in terms of liberation thinking which has brought us to dialogue peace on an equal status! Under such conditions, while external oppression is kept at bay, we must work to bring the potential dream of Bharathi and Kasi Annandan inter alia, into a possible reality. I must take heed that in respecting men that women are honoured. And in honouring women, not as objects, or commodities, but as equal partners in the struggle for freedom, men of honour are respected. Human relationships are inevitably built on reciprocal actions. There are always twin sides to the same coin. Both genders have to be liberated from archaic attitudes. The women of Eelam, we have no doubt, will pioneer a way, in creating a place for women, that is not elevated, but an even playing field. Things are changing; and there are more things that should adhere to changing realities.

The responsibility lies not only with resident Eelamites alone. The Diaspora Tamils must think hard on their frozen attitudes as well. We too must avoid looking at things from a comfortable elevation. Now it is time for us ALL to fight our internal attitude in order for internal oppression to cease.

In the Tamil dominated Batticaloa district in the south Asian island of Sri Lanka, aggressive women rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have embarked on an image makeover – morphing into docile champions of development. Close to 100 women rebels in the war ravaged Kokkadichi Cholai village, now sport ordinary trousers and shirts with slippers instead of the customary boots and battle fatigues. Conspicuous by their absence are the AK-47 rifles, grenade-laden belts and cyanide capsules hung around the neck. Mounted on bicycles, the newfound social volunteers traverse remote villages in the 470,000 strong district in eastern Sri Lanka.Their priorities comprise providing good quality seeds and irrigation facilities to impoverished farmers subsisting on paddy and rice cultivation, fisheries and animal husbandry. Other thrust areas include the establishment of handicraft and cottage industries, provision of legal aid to victims of torture and human rights abuse and the development of infrastructure such as schools, electricity, basic health facilities and safe drinking water. The refocused LTTE cadres will work under the guidance of close to 100 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Batticalao christened The Tamil Rehabilitation Centre (TRC).

Health services, schools, transport and telecommunications facilities are devastated in this region. Security personnel had earlier requisitioned schools for combat use. Said LTTE member Malathi, 17, who once fought pitched battles in Jaffna, ” Transport facilities have been so badly hit that even distribution of milk and food to infants and pregnant and lactating mothers was disrupted.”Shelled buildings dot the once lush green Kokkadichi village encircled by placid lagoons. Lamented farmer Kamaladasa, ” Tracts and tracts of forest area around the village have been destroyed for ambush attacks by the LTTE cadres. This destruction of nature has led to decreased rainfall over the years, badly affecting our crops.” There’s an uphill task ahead. As Malathi put it,”Twenty years of this war have shattered the economy and peoples spirits. We now have to help rebuild both.” The role reversal demands societal adjustments too, as she confessed, ” We have been viewed with a sense of awe and fear among these people. We now have to feel and live as part of them.” Outlining her focus areas, she elaborated, “The chief concerns of the villagers are water for irrigating their fields and food for their starving families. We are trying to find ways, maybe rainwater harvesting will help.”

Added 25-year-old Arunaplai, an LTTE veteran with seven-years experience as a guerilla fighter behind her, “Since we had set aside our arms for peace, (we have not surrendered) we have to work for a better life for our people now.”

But what about their own lives and priorities such as marriage, children, family and secure livelihoods? ” It’s too early to think of all that now. If peace remains, bringing normalcy and development to this region will be our first priority, the people have suffered too much for too long,” she said with determination.

Sadly, as Arunaplai added, nearly an entire generation of Tamil youth has died in the protracted civil war. “The boys have laid down their lives for the Eelam, how can we then, think of marriage and children?” she asked.

More than 64,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the LTTE’s nine-year struggle for a separate Tamil homeland. While over a million have been displaced, the strife put the brakes on the island’s development. That is expected to get a fresh impetus now.

An arduous task lies ahead for the LTTE in their avatar as emissaries of development, for the conflict has taken a heavy toll of both people and resources. According to estimates, this district boasts 2685 war widows and 20,000 affected children below the age of five. Nearly 75,000 are orphaned, destitute or deserted. The next round of peace talks scheduled for early January in Thailand will focus on the division of powers between the center and the regions in a future federal system.

Fifteen years ago Malathy became the first woman fighter for the LTTE rebel group to be killed in combat. Her image contrasts sharply with traditional notions that a Tamil woman’s place is in the home.

The anniversary of Malathy’s death – October 10 – is Tamil Women’s Day and this year thousands of people poured into the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi to mark the day, and pay their respects to women fighters.

“We are here because of the girls. So many women have died for this freedom. They have renounced everything – their lives, their parents,” one cadre said.

“Because of them, we are breathing this free air,” she said at a ceremony in a playground ringed with red and gold Tiger flags and bearing a giant map of the swathe of the northeast part of the country the rebels call a Tamil homeland.Despite the success of an eight-month Norwegian-brokered truce, Women’s Day was a chance to show off the rebels’ military might, as women in fatigues marched through town with weapons on their shoulders and ammunition across their chests.

“This ceremony shows the importance of the role of women in the movement. It’s important that people recognise this,” said one spectator from Jaffna who did not want to give her name.

About 4,000 women fighters are estimated to have been killed since they first joined combat operations in 1985. More than 100 women casualties were from the infamous “Black Tiger” suicide bomber squad.

But opinions vary as to whether their role in the fighting has given women the opportunity to break out of traditional roles or whether they are simply being used by the movement.

“The truth lies somewhere in between,” said Darini Rajasingham, a researcher at Sri Lanka’s International Centre for Ethnic Studies who has written about the Tigers’ women’s wing. “On some level they take the LTTE line, but on another they are also their own agents, fighting for the liberation struggle,” she said.

The relative relaxation and freedom of travel the peace process has brought allowed crowds to descend on Kilinochchi to see the rebels put on the largest ever show of strength of their female fighters.

Busloads of people clogged the checkpoint from government to rebel territory as they arrived for the ceremony on the highway that for years was a no-go zone riddled with landmines.

A giant gunship staffed by women from the “Sea Tigers” naval unit at the posts was mounted on wheels and driven past the bombed-out buildings through the centre of the town.

The truce may lead to an end of the 19-year conflict but it remains to be seen what roles women fighters will take up. “Women have often been pushed back into the kitchen,” Rajasingham said.

“I think it would be important for the women themselves to think about what kind of role they want in the peace process. “Civilian women are certainly doing things they didn’t in the past,” she said.

The day’s celebrations seem to have convinced at least some in the crowd that the place of women has changed. “Women have equal rights now. This is a good thing,” said M. Arunachalam, a clerk from Jaffna, accompanied by his family.

“Rape is obviously not an exclusive preserve of military men. But it may be that there are aspects of the military institution and ideology which greatly increase the pressure on militarised men to ‘perform, sexually, whether they have a sexual ‘need’ or emotional feelings or not .” – Cynthia Enloe in ” Does Khaki Become You?”

Saturday July 7, was a night of horror and terror for Thambipillai Thanalakshmi, a Tamil woman residing in the village of Allaarai situated between Meesaalai and Kachchaai in the Thenamatchy sector of the Jaffna Peninsula. The 42 year old unmarried woman and her 82 year old mother with impaired eyesight were the victims of cruel violence allegedly perpetrated by uniformed security personnel stationed in the vicinity. Both women were staying alone at the time.

The violators had broken open the doors and entered the house forcibly at about 8.30 pm on Saturday night. The intruders had then tried to seize the daughter and take her out. The woman resisted and cried out. The blind old mother heard the cries and attempted bravely to rescue her daughter. The feeble woman was assaulted brutally resulting in her becoming unconscious for a while. Thereafter the daughter was dragged forcibly to an adjacent paddy field and stripped naked. Thereafter she was sexually assaulted by at least three men. Sadly none of those in the neighbourhood dared to come to the rescue of the screaming women presumably because the assailants were members of the armed forces.

Victimised women refused to be intimidated
After crawling back to her house both Thanalakshmi and her mother stayed indoors throughout the night as there was a curfew in force and venturing out to complain or get medical treatment was hazardous. Some trigger happy sentinel of the state may have shot dead the women in cold blood with the official media release describing them as “terrorists.” So the two women waited it out and on the following morning proceeded to the Kachchaai army camp and lodged their complaint. The officials on duty delayed taking action on it and even tried to dissuade the duo from “officially” complaining. The victimised women however courageously refused to be intimidated.

At about 1.30 pm the women were taken to the Army’s “civil” office at Kodikaamam. They were then taken to the police who recorded the complaint formally. The women were kept at Kodikaamam while the police visited the scene of the crime and supposedly conducted investigations. The ripped off clothing from the daughter was recovered in the paddy field but apparently not submitted for analysis. Finally after a 20 hour delay from the time of the offence the women were admitted at about 6. 30 pm on Sunday July 8, for medical treatment at the Point Pedro base hospital in Manthighai. The medical personnel there confirmed the sexual assault on the 42 year old daughter and the physical assault on the 82 year old mother.

Tamil political circles and human rights activists suspect that the inordinate delay in responding and acting on the complaint was to safeguard the security personnel allegedly involved. It is felt that the time earned was utilised to destroy incriminating evidence. The attitude of the state towards the brutal rape was illustrated by Defence Ministry spokesperson Brig. Sanath Karunaratne’s statement to the BBC.

Even as an official investigation was supposed to be in force the government spokesperson on matters concerning defence denied vehemently that soldiers were involved. Karunaratne brazenly asserted without a shred of evidence that members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were responsible for the rape. According to the enlightened brigadier the Tigers had done so in a propagandistic exercise to tarnish the good name of the Army. This statement was given wide publicity.

The response of the official defence spokesperson along with the act of gang rape on a defenceless woman was received with indignant anger by the Tamil people both in the island and abroad. It was only on Friday 6, that the a widespread protest demonstration was conducted in the North – East, Up Country and Colombo by Tamils and Muslims. The agitation was in response to a call by eleven Tamil and Muslim parties to protest against continuing sexual violence against Tamil women by security personnel. The flashpoint in this state of simmering tension was the gang rape of a Tamil woman from Badulla at a search point manned by police and army at Maradana in Colombo.

The North – East , several areas of the Up Country and certain parts of Colombo were virtually at a standstill because of the protest. The security forces in Jaffna and Batticaloa had tried to prevent the campaign but met with no success as the Tamil people were determined to express their outrage and condemnation at this reprehensible phenomenon. The observance of protest was in most instances voluntary and spontaneous because the community was deeply concerned and angry over the recurring pattern of sexual violations against helpless Tamil women by khakied offenders who were expected to “serve and protect”.

The Tamil people expected a government headed by a woman to take note of their feelings as articulated through the protest and initiate measures aimed at eradicating this menace. But the act of the Allaarai rapists within 24 hours of the massive island wide demonstration was not perceived to be an individualistic offence enacted in isolation. To the collective Tamil psyche it was a deliberate act to show that the armed forces would not be restrained by the legitimate, non-violent protests of the Tamils. The behaviour of the officials in taking belated action over the incident as well as the blatant exercise of an attempted white wash by the official defence spokesperson reinforced this perception.

With the Defence spokesperson blaming the LTTE for the offence and the Police in Jaffna remaining conspicuously inactive it was becoming apparent that no justice was going to be meted out for the pathetic Tamil women victims. Fortunately Deputy Inspector General of Police Keerthi Gajanayake from Colombo set the wheels of justice in motion by issuing firm instructions to Jaffna Superintendent R. Kudahetty to expedite the process.

Three suspects were arrested
Three suspects were arrested and produced at the Chavakachcheri courts on July 13. They were Lance Corporal Mudiyanse Weerasiri (25) and privates J. Gunewardene (30) and D.E. Gamini Dissanayake (32).

Gunewardena was from the Kurunegala district while the other two were from Anuradhapura. District Judge Annalingam Premshankar remanded all three pending an identification parade. They were to be produced before unofficial magistrate S. Kandasamy on July 25, for that purpose.

The extensive coverage given to Brig. Karunaratne’s charge that the LTTE was responsible for the rape has not been given this development that points to some black sheep in barracks as the allegedly guilty party. What is worse that Brig. Karunaratne has not seen it fit to offer some explanation for his earlier accusations that have been proved wrong subsequently.

This obvious lack of responsibility or accountability by the defence spokesperson in this instance is perhaps symptomatic of a greater malaise. The continuous acts of sexual violence and torture against Tamils by the armed forces are rationalised by the state as individual excesses and not as part of an underlying state sanctioned strategy. Rape according to Colombo is not a deliberate “weapon of war” against the Tamil people.

Indeed all acts of violence against Tamil civilians like torture etc. are portrayed as individual accidents or aberrations and not part of an overall design. The government has been able to get away with this explanation as many foreign governments, NGOs, human rights outfits and feminist organisations have unquestioningly swallowed it. The regime or the defence top brass are depicted as being ignorant of the offences committed by rank and file.

What is lost sight of here is the climate of impunity that has been created as far as offences by members of the armed forces and Police towards Tamil civilians are concerned. If the state or its organs are not involved officially in this sordid exercise then the best proof of their bonafides would be to initiate strict punitive action against those committing offences. But this is hardly ever done. Initially information of about such acts are suppressed and blacked out. If that manoeuvre is unsuccessful the motions of legal action are followed. The facade of due process is maintained.

Underneath that veneer, deliberate procrastination, lukewarm investigation, and not so subtle intimidation result in justice being delayed and therefore denied. In many instances the cases are transferred out from original jurisdiction to courts in Colombo or Anuradhapura on the grounds that the accused security personnel are not safe. The reverse of this is that Tamil victims and witnesses are understandably scared to come to these courts and give evidence.

Visible lack of retributive justice
There have been several instances where affected Tamils have been threatened and intimidated into not pursuing justice further. This complicity by several organs of the state in preventing justice can only be construed as unofficial sanction of the obnoxious violence.

The phenomenon of sexual violence against Tamil women was highlighted in these columns two weeks ago. It was pointed out then that apart from the high profile case of 18 year old Chundikuli Girls High School student Krishanthi Kumarasamy there is no other instance so far of any member of the armed forces or Police being judicially penalised for committing sexual violations against Tamil civilians. A human rights organisation has informed this column that in their unofficial estimates for every case that is reported nine go unreported.

“Rape is obviously not an exclusive preserve of military men. But it may be that there are aspects of the military institution and ideology which greatly increase the pressure on militarised men to ‘perform, sexually, whether they have a sexual ‘need’ or emotional feelings or not .” – Cynthia Enloe in ” Does Khaki Become You?”

A pattern of rapes
The visible lack of retributive justice in the case of sexual violence against Tamil women and the de facto situation of impunity for those allegedly involved gives credence to the argument that such violence is institutionalised and has the unofficial sanction of official circles. This applies to torture of detained persons too. The mass upsurge by Tamils in several parts of the island in protest against continuing sexual violations against Tamil women was clear evidence of how strongly the issue has touched all shades of the Tamil community. The rape in Allaarai the following day therefore was perceived as an impudent reaction to their genuine expression of concern by the Tamil people.

This feeling of resentment and outrage was enhanced further by two more incidents of rape against women in Jaffna allegedly by members of the armed forces. The first was in Ilavaalai where a 32 year old mother of four living alone with her children was sexually assaulted by alleged security personnel. The second was at Mandaitheevu where a 40 year old widow was raped allegedly by members of the defence services. No action had been taken by July 19, evening. The BBC noted that this was the third incident of rape reported in Jaffna within two weeks. This pattern of rapes coming in the wake of a massive peoples protest seemed deliberately provocative and added offensive insult to an already injured Tamil people.

The growing opinion that the state was unofficially sanctioning sexual violence has been strengthened again and again by the conduct of government officials. If the comments of the accredited Defence Ministry spokesperson was one indicator the earlier action of the Navy in issuing a press release denying any naval involvement in the rapes of two Tamil women in Uppukkulam, Mannar was another.

Despite the official denial naval personnel were identified along with counter subversive unit officials in the incident. True to form the case has now been transferred to Anuradhapura for the safety of the accused. Once again the course of justice seems to have been thwarted indirectly.

The Maradana incident
Another incident in Colombo revealed a mixed picture in the sphere of official response to incidents of alleged rape. It was the notorious Maradana incident of a Tamil woman being raped at an official checkpoint by police and army personnel manning it that sparked off the protest demonstration on July 6.

Thanks to the commendable efforts of Rohana Weerasinghe the officer in charge at Maradana police station three policemen and three soldiers were arrested and detained on suspicion. When they were produced at the Maligawatte courts for an identification parade two cops and a soldier were identified by the victim and two others.

The lawyers appearing for the suspects namely Kamal Priyantha Prematilleke, A. P. Jayanthaseeli Kumara, Priyantha Sujeeva Nanayakkara, Vasantha Kumara, Asoka Ranjith Upula and S. B. Senanayake requested court to release their clients on bail.

Could not plead ignorance of the crime
The magistrate Sarojini Kusala Weerawardene inquired from state counsel Achala Wengapuli as to whether he had any objections. The state attorney replied that the state had no objections to the suspects being released on bail if the courts desired. Astonished perhaps by this response the magistrate admonished counsel and suggested that he was stating his position without giving sufficient thought to the matter.

The magistrate pointed out to state counsel the nature and background of the alleged offence and possible repercussions to the pursuit of justice if suspects were released on bail. Bail therefore was denied notwithstanding the position of the state counsel.

A further appeal was made by defence lawyers that the three suspects be released on bail as they were not identified as actual perpetrators of the offence and had been in custody for several days.

The Maradana OIC however told courts that the suspects had been present at the time of the offence and therefore could not plead ignorance of it. The defence then stated that the persons concerned could not interfere in the functions of others and that they could only attend to their duties. The magistrate disagreed and queried as to whether persons assigned to particular duties would have to remain inactive when violent rape was being perpetrated or if someone tried to detonate a powerful bomb.

Continuing further Ms. Weerawardene placed the issue in perspective by pointing out that the victim was a woman and also a member of the Tamil minority. Releasing the suspects on bail at this juncture could therefore be possibly a threat to her and other witnesses. Denying bail under these circumstances the magistrate instructed police to conduct investigations as quickly as possible and send the file up to the attorney general. The exemplary conduct of the magistrate and Maradana OIC comes as a breath of fresh air in a situation where Tamil people had almost given up hopes of obtaining justice through the law enforcement and judicial systems of the country. The lackadaisical approach of the attorney general’s representative leaves much to be desired.

The deficiency of the current system in meting out justice to Tamil victims was further illustrated in the case of the notorious massacre of 14 Tamil civilians in Mirusuvil some 8 months ago. The victims included children of five and ten years and there was clear evidence of torture. The only eyewitness survivor whose testimony is crucial is supposedly under the protection of the Eelam People Democratic Party. After a long lull the soldiers suspected of the massacre were produced at the Chavakachcheri courts on July 18.

The atmosphere was tense and the relatives of the victims assembled outside the courtroom and threw up sand in a rural custom inviting the curses of the gods on those who have wronged them. When a journalist tried to photograph the suspects one of them boldly assaulted the scribe despite being in custody. The jounalist was also assaulted by military personnel in support of their colleague in custody. Tamil journalists have protested at this but the Colombo based Free Media Movement is strangely silent on the matter.

Tamil belief in the system was further eroded when the district judge A. Premshankar announced that the case would be heard further in Anuradhapura as per instructions from Colombo. The reason was that the security of the suspects was under threat if continued to be heard in Chavakachcheri.

Mercilessly assaulted by soldiers
The aggrieved relatives of the victims all of them being simple rustics were gravely disappointed at this turn of events. They complained bitterly to the Jaffna press that they had neither the resources nor the confidence to go to Anuradhapura. Some openly said that no justice was possible.

Another related judicial development also throws some light on the dark side of the existing system. Krishnasamy Thivian the final year science undergraduate over whose arrest the Tamil student community launched protest demonstrations was produced in courts on July 17. It is said that the massive outcry over his arrest compelled the authorities to produce him in courts. He was charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. In courts a weak looking Thivian showed Jaffna district Judge T. Vicknarajah his handkerchief soaked in blood. He told the judge that he had been mercilessly assaulted by soldiers at the time of his arrest and during the first two days of his detention.

He also pleaded innocence and said that he was cycling home when soldiers had fired and ordered him to halt. He had done so with his hands raised. Thereafter he was arrested and taken to Kankesanthurai on the suspicion that he was a LTTE member. Bail was sought by Thiviyans counsel Kanakaratnam Kesavan. The judge said that the law did not permit him to grant bail to someone charged under the PTA. He would refer the matter to the Attorney General and obtain a speedy opinion. In the meantime the Judge ordered that Thivian be admitted to hospital and medically examined. The case was put off for hearing on July 24.

All these examples illustrate the contrasting manner in which the existing system works in the case of Tamils arrested on mere suspicion of being in league with the LTTE and Sinhala defence personnel identified as alleged perpetrators of sexual violence against Tamil women. In the case of the former youths are incarcerated for years and years without being either released or charged in courts. Most of them are tortured. In the case of the latter every possible benefit of the law is rendered and every possible administrative concession allowed. With “punishment” like transfers these vermin strut about like conquering heroes despite their despicable offences. The double standards are blatantly transparent. The scales of justice are uneven when it comes to Tamil suspects and victims.

The ethnicities are polarised and the ethnic divide is serious in the island. The majority of the Sinhala people except for some racist rabble rousers are decent people. They mat not subscribe to the political demands of the Tamil people but would hardly support rape and torture against innocent Tamils as a repressive measure. The women in particular would not tolerate sexual violence against any other women even if they are perceived as the enemy. Besides such acts only tarnish the image of the security forces. It has been found on more than one occasion that those who engage in such acts are not the cream of the armed forces but its dregs. There has to emerge a strong ‘Sinhala” outcry in support of Tamil victims and in opposition to the sexual offenders if this island is to remain intact.

The continuing pattern of sexual violence against Tamil women by members of the armed forces and police and the climate of impunity in which the offenders evade justice has embittered and estranged Tamil feelings. The alienation of the Tamil people from the Sinhala dominated state increases further. With hopes of securing justice within the island’s system evaporating rapidly some sections of Tamil society are now looking forward to International Justice as the panacaea for their ills. The on going campaign to bring Colombo’s envoy to Canberra, retired General Janaja Perera , to the portals of international justice as an alleged “war criminal” is but one indicator of this emerging line of thought gaining ground among Tamil expatriates.

Crimes against humanity
Global trends in the field of evolving study of law in the area of human rights violations in general and violence against women in particular give rise to hope. The international community has begun developing precise standards for rapes and gender crimes of violence. These can be classified as war crimes, and crimes against humanity and even as components of genocide. This applies to women being tortured or subject to inhuman and degrading treatment too. The state is becoming held increasingly responsible.

The international tribunals set up to investigate the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda have also created important precedents over the issue of prosecuting wartime sexual violence. The Rwanda example of the Jean Paul Akayesu conviction has established for the first time that acts of sexual violence can be prosecuted as constituent elements of a genocidal campaign. The approval in Rome on July 17, 1998 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court has is another milestone. This statute has specifically defined rapes and other gender based violence as constituent acts of crime against humanity and war crimes. Under these circumstances offenders guilty of sexual violence against Tamil women and those in authority who tolerate it should realise that a day of reckoning with international consequences cannot be ruled out in the future.

In the meantime effective steps have to be taken to check and curb this evil. Constant campaigning about such violations is the only way possible. The efforts of all human rights and feminist organisations have to be harnessed in solidarity for this purpose. The Tamil party delegation that met with Western nations and canvassed against the British ban on the LTTE could undertake a similar exercise to focus on sexual violations against Tamil women. Several of the top level Western diplomats and non-governmental organisations stationed in Colombo are women and capable of extending sympathy and solidarity.

Not all Tamil women are helplessly succumbing to this juggernaut of rape that crushes their dignity and self-respect. Just as the book-wormish Jaffna youth turned and rose up in armed rebellion against perceived oppression the Tamil women too are increasingly taking to arms. The LTTE women wing called ‘birds of freedom’ initially engaged themselves in a supportive capacity like nursing, cooking etc. to assist their male colleagues. The situation is totally different now.

‘Birds of freedom’ fights back
There are full fledged infantry brigades named after former women military leaders Sothiya, Malathy and Akila. In addition there is a sea Tiger woman division named after Angayatkanni who blasted a naval vessel at Kankesanthurai. Tamil girls are joining the LTTE in large numbers and playing a very prominent role in fighting. The recent debacle of “operation Agni Kheela” was mainly suffered at the hands of the Soyhiya brigade led by Col. Suthanthira and Malathy division led by Col. Vithusha. Women commanders are also members of the central committee enjoying equal status with their male counterparts in the LTTE’s decision making process too.

The evolution and growth of militancy among Tamil women has to be seen against the background of increasing oppression by Sinhala chauvinist forces. The docile Tamil woman once relegated to the kitchen alone in a male dominated society acquired some level of upliftment and liberation through education. Now many Tamil women are achieving new levels of emancipation by taking to arms and forming themselves into a formidable fighting force while some of their sisters are being brutally violated by uniformed vermin. If this trend continues how long would it take for more and more Tamil women facing imminent threat to mobilise themselves under the Tiger emblem?.

Introduction
I would like to start by thanking the organisers of this conference for asking me to speak. I gladly agreed as this is a subject dear to my heart, but soon after, I began to tremble with nervousness as I realised the eminence of those addressing and attending this conference.

Seeing for myself parts of the war zone in the island of Sri Lanka was a life-challenging and life-changing experience. I have talked to others who have visited war zones and there has been a similarity in our experiences though in different parts of the world. Certain images, certain people’s faces and life stories remain etched in ones memory, and come back again and again, as if to question, What are we doing, in the here and now to help change the situation for them?

One of my most vivid memories is of visiting the survivors of a massacre by the Sri Lankan army in the East of the island. The community had been displaced three times, by the armed forces of the government. We all stood in the sandy ground of the refugee camp. The villagers gathered in respectful silence as life stories were told.

The poignancy of meeting the eyes of the sole child survivor of a large extended family, with a scar running from his ear round his neck to his other shoulder, telling of the hacking army knife that nearly killed him, has remained in my memory ever since. A woman in the same village had came rushing up to me raising her skirt to show me the scars on her inner thighs and legs, scars which bore witness to the horror of that particular attack.

Men, women and children had been separated into different houses in the village and the army had come and hacked most of the people to death with machetes. The look in her eyes too, will never leave me. This massacre along with many others, has now become part of the history of the suffering of the Tamil people.

These and many more images demand for the horror I felt at this human suffering to be transformed into action for change, for peace, for justice. Truth, it is said, is the first casualty in war. This could never be truer than in the case of Sri Lanka, due to the strict imposed censorship, as I have experienced over ten years of human rights work.

Massacre after massacre is ignored. It is the faces of these real live people I met who give me the energy to continue when sometimes things feel very bleak and when one asks if the world’s deafening silence will ever end. I spontaneously said to people I met on these visits, that I would do what I could when I returned home to Britain, and that I would not forget them. I try to live up to my promise, conscious also as a British person of Britain’s colonial past and its share of responsibility for the conflict.

It is a pleasure and an honour to speak here, to share with people who are genuinely and thoughtfully concerned about the situation on the island of Sri Lanka, who thirst in many different ways from the perspectives of different roles and jobs, for a real peace, a peace which means not just absence of war, but a peace where fulfilment, dignity and respect for all human life reigns.

In the time available I obviously cannot give a comprehensive study of all statistical evidence of human rights violations against Tamil women and children. Unfortunately, there are too many. But I will aim to address the subject through certain cases and an overview of the situation.

Firstly, I will look at the inter-connectedness of the situation facing children and women. Secondly, I will touch on the issue of Right to Life and the context and environment in which the human rights violations of women and children need to be understood. My third point will be looking at rape as a weapon of war and gender-related violence, and my fourth, aspects of human rights violations against children, serious contraventions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Sri Lanka is a signatory. Lastly, I will amongst my final comments, touch on Article 2 of the Convention on Genocide which is pertinent to this situation.

Interconnectedness of the human rights of women and children
Women are the givers of birth to the next generation, and children are themselves the future generation of any group or society. Children require physical and emotional security and the basics in the hierarchy of needs: food, shelter, clothing, in order to survive and thrive. They are sensitive to what happens to themselves, their parents, their friends, their families, as indeed we all are. They are sensitive to place, to atmosphere, to events, to how life is ordered and managed. The well-being and health of children depends to a large extent on the well-being and health of mothers, of the women around them and in turn of course, on society as a whole.

There are about 19,100 widows in the Jaffna Peninsula and most are distressed by difficulties they face providing for their families. There is no programme to assist them. Recent statistics gathered by a fact finding committee in Trincomalee state that there are 6,000 war widows living in the Trincomalee district alone. In the East there are more than 8,500 widows in total, 70% of whom are between 18 and 21 years old. Their situation is often desperate and if their husbands were the sole breadwinners they are now driven to extreme poverty. Women as sole carers for their children are under enormous pressure, simply to survive and help their children survive. The situation is difficult to exaggerate.Displaced people are amongst the very vulnerable. When I spoke to Aid agency project officers working with displaced children in the North East they said that since there were so many thousands of displaced children, it was unrealistic to talk of carrying out direct work with the children.

Amongst a million displaced people in the Vanni North, over 75,000 are children under the age of five. Instead of direct work with children, their projects involved working with mothers.

If the mothers could cope the children stood a better chance of surviving. Although good theory, in practice it is not possible to ensure the well-being of the mothers.

The restrictions imposed by the government food and medicine embargo have rendered the situation impossible. Deaths of mothers and children have been occurring and continue to occur, from starvation, malnutrition and disease. Food and medicine are being used as a weapon of war by the Sri Lankan government, against the civilian population, contrary to humanitarian law in armed conflict.

Right to Life and the context and environment in which the human rights violations of women and children need to be understood.
This brings me to my second point – that we are considering a situation in which the most basic of human rights is in question, the Right to Life itself. This can never be subject to derogation by a state, wartime or not. The government of Sri Lanka is a party to the Geneva Conventions and is therefore bound by Common Article 3 which prohibits murder, torture and cruel treatment of anyone not taking part in hostilities.

If there exists in a state, an over-riding ideology of racism towards a people, a specific section of the population, and if the law enforcers and those in authority are in agreement with that racist ideology, and indeed furthermore are members of the group propagating that ideology then the situation is very grave in terms of human rights for the group at the receiving end of the racism, including women and children.

If the situation is, on top of this, one of armed conflict, where an occupying army is ruling a people and have in effect license to kill, because Emergency Regulations permit them to do so, the Right to Life itself cannot be guaranteed. If those responsible for enforcing the law themselves, do, in fact, deny this right by killing, encouraged by impunity, there is a desperate situation.

The existence of such a situation in the Tamil homelands of the island known as Sri Lanka has been verified by various reports including that of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions who writes that impunity is causing a spiralling of violence against the Tamils, and who points out that the Sri Lankan army is 99% Sinhalese, speaking a different language, and coming from a different culture to the Tamils.

In March this year, at the UN Human Rights Commission under the Agenda item on Racism it was asserted by NGOs in consultative status with the UN that the war of the Sri Lankan government is clearly not only against the military forces of the Tamil people, it is against the Tamil people as a race.

It is in this context that human rights violations against Tamil women and children have to be understood. In other words it is first and foremost because they are Tamils that they are suffering.

Gender-related violence
My third point is regarding gender-related violence. Jaffna is a town with many checkpoints. Sexual harassment at checkpoints, molesting, and touching women as they pass is all aimed to humiliate and demean and to give a constant and powerful signal of the control and domination of the army, a sign of who the master is, who must be obeyed. It is at these checkpoints that many of the notorious “disappearances” occur.

In March the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances stated that Sri Lanka has the second highest number of disappearances in the world. The strictly imposed curfew also brings immense difficulties. There are women who have died due to the imposed curfew, not reaching hospital during labour.

The most heinous gender-related violence is rape. On an individual level, rape is a brutal violation of the most intimate parts of a women`s body. It causes devastating physical harm and mental trauma as anyone supporting women who have suffered rape knows. The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against Women describes rape in war-time as “the ultimate humiliation of the male enemy“. Mass rapes have been prosecuted as a crime against humanity in International Criminal Tribunals, and this has been welcomed world-wide as progress by women’s groups campaigning against state-rape.

When rape is used as it is in the island of Sri Lanka, as a weapon or war, it is not an isolated attack on an individual women, but an attack on the community, on the people collectively. It is part of a strategy to subjugate, humiliate a people, to force them to accept an imposed regime, in a war of domination. It is an assault on core values of a community and is intended to shatter the bonds of the community, as neighbours or family members may no longer be able to face one another.

It is a form of biological attack on women, and can result in pregnancies of the perpetrator’s race, which amounts to biological destruction, an indicator of the genocidal aspect of Sri Lanka’s war. Women have alleged that Sri Lankan soldiers have said whilst raping them, “You will give birth to a Sinhala lion not a Tamil Tiger”. Rape as a weapon of war is intended to convey terror and horror to further intimidate men and women alike. Women who have complained to the authorities have even been visited soon after and raped again by the same soldiers.

As a consequence of all these accumulated incidents, Tamil women experience fear in the face of the Sri Lankan army. The rapes continue and contribute to the psychological aspects of the Sri Lankan military campaign against the Tamil people. Women in fear of their own life, and knowing that impunity continues, cannot protect their children from the horrors of disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrest and summary execution. A husband is powerless to protect his wife, indeed, may be forced to witness the brutal raping of his wife. Children too, have been subjected to such degrading and inhumane treatment as in the case of Koneswary.

In reality each women tries to come to terms with her experience in the best way she can. For some the unbearable nature of the shame, though they are guilty of nothing themselves, induces mental anguish culminating in them killing themselves. One women, Sivasothy Krishnapillai was attempting to kill herself, after being raped by three Special Task Force men but was found by her husband and survived.

Fortunately, because of the strength of the Tamil community, and the fact that Tamil women are active and participate equally with men in the all aspects of the life of the community in the Tamil homelands, many women feel supported and not rejected by the community. After all, the community understands the nature of the oppression of the Sri Lankan army because its other members too, the men have also experienced its oppressive methods in other forms. The community as a whole shares and understands the suffering of the individual.

These women, who have the support, are now speaking out with immense courage about what really happened to them. This is a difficult and painful task, it involves reliving and re-experiencing the pain, yet it is usually psychologically more healthy than burying or denying the pain locked inside. The struggle for dignity and for life itself includes naming and confronting the unbearable truth. It is these women who help us try to really understand what is going on, as the full extent of the horror is revealed through their personal witness and life stories.

For some women there is no survival at all. There have been many many cases of gang-rape and murder of Tamil women by Sri Lankan military. The details of their callous and brutal murders are unbearable. Two cases are well known internationally. Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, “disappeared” on her way home from school, was gang-raped and killed by Sri Lankan army soldiers in Jaffna. Her mother, brother and neighbour who went to the army to enquire her whereabouts were killed too.

Murugespillai Koneswary, from Batticaloa in the East was raped and murdered by a grenade being thrust into her vagina to destroy any evidence of rape. Many more never reached international human rights organisations headlines. One such case was of 24 year old Ranjani raped and killed by soldiers from the Kondavil army camp in Jaffna, on her way to see relatives to say goodbye before she was to leave to go to Canada where she was to have been married.

Researching the situation of deaths of Tamil women and children has been, and is, a sickening and unpleasant task but is one that has had to be done, and has to be continued to be done. The horrifying conclusion that one reaches is that Tamil lives appear to be disposable, that systematically Right to Life itself is denied.

The vast majority of deaths are covered up, the families pleas ignored, the message repeatedly given, in a myriad ways, is that the army will have its way, as it likes. There is no justice for Tamil people. The parents and relatives of the disappeared have now formed an association, they enquire their children’s whereabouts from the Defence Ministry, the Human Rights Commission and the President herself but still get no answers.

The few highly publicised cases which have been investigated and where charges have been made against human rights violators, are carried out precisely in a calculated way to present the government in a good light, to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community, and to avoid international scrutiny of the systematic nature of the violence perpetrated.

With crocodile tears, the isolated individual’s rights become the focus of attention, after death, while the collective human rights violations of the living remain ignored, unchallenged and the perpetrators go unpunished.

Amnesty International has said that “The way in which the few investigations were selected suggests that the predominant reason is the publicity created at the time.“

Violence against Tamil women has a long history in the Tamil homelands. But they have not remained passive in the face of this violence. In fact many became actively involved in defending the Tamil community by joining the liberation army, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and by taking major roles in the Tamil administration during the period of the de facto state 1990-95, in the Jaffna Peninsula.

An incident in July 1995 when over a hundred Tamil women fighters were killed in battle shows the depths to which Sri Lanka is capable of descending. The women’s bodies were stripped and mutilated and film coverage was broadcast on Sri Lanka national TV in an obscene pornographic triumphalism which defies description.

This is war propaganda of the most abhorrent, using the abuse of Tamil women’s bodies to whip up hatred, racism, vilification and demonisation of the Tamil community. Such a hate campaign has been heading the terrorisation of the whole population of Tamil people, indisputably seen as “other” by the Sri Lankan government and military forces. Only a small section of the community escape persecution, those who are prepared to collude with the very government forces that are causing violence to their own community.

Where the women are so violated and abused, where the civilian female population is subject to the horror of war-rape, how can the children be provided with what they deserve and have a right to, a nurturing stability and a secure home life? In some cases children have lost both parents.

A fact-finding Committee reported on 25 October last year that in Trincomalee District alone more than 5,000 children have been orphaned and 18,000 lost either parent as a direct consequence of the war.

Serious contraventions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Sri Lanka is a signatory
This brings me to my fourth point. Every one of the articles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child is contravened by the Sri Lankan government, with regard to Tamil children. All children have the right to food, healthcare and education. They also have the inherent Right to Life itself. In the Vanni as stated earlier there is slow killing of children through the food and medicine embargo and the resultant starvation and disease.

The abuse of one child is one child too many. The situation we are considering in the Tamil homelands is one of multiple abuses. Over the last six months alone there have been 21 documented cases of summary execution of Tamil children by the Sri Lankan governments security and armed forces. 11 have been shot dead, 1 killed by a grenade and 1 died from torture. 8 have been killed by Sri Lankan Air Force bombings or land-mines.

Children have a right under international humanitarian law to be protected from torture, arbitrary detention, rape and summary execution, yet the government of Sri Lanka’s armed and security forces show an ethnic and cultural contempt for the lives of young Tamils and children. The following are cases in point.

In the early evening of August 21st 1998 two sisters, Kokularajani (9yrs) and Anurajani (10yrs), were walking home from a church service, near Karuvankerney. They were stopped by Sri Lanka soldiers and questioned. Later they were told to go and the soldiers shot them from behind. Kokularajani died later in hospital. The post-mortem was death as a result of murder.

On 7 December 1998, A group of Sri Lankan Army soldiers came to G. Innasimuththus house, located near the Kanmani Catholic Church, Kilaly, near Jaffna. They ordered Mr Innasimuththu to come out and those in the house to move into a room. The lamp was knocked out and the soldiers opened fire killing a three month old infant, his brother (15yrs) and injuring Amirtharani (35yrs) and Amirthananthan Theepan(4yrs). Sinnarasa Vinodhini (16yrs), miraculously escaped death. Giving evidence to the HRC on 10 December she said “On the day of the incident three soldiers entered our house. One of the soldiers asked us to get into one of the rooms. He placed the gun on our heads, threatened to kill us if we made any noise, and asked for our names. He then put the lamp out and emptied the bullets on us.

“Massacres where children have been amongst the death toll include: Mylanthailai, Kumarapuram, Nachchikuda, and Thampalakamam amongst many others. The bombing of Nagerkoil school killed 25 children instantaneously.

The teachers union in Karathuraippattu, Kilinochchi District stated in October 98 that 70 schools in the Vanni region had either been closed down or destroyed due to the Sri Lankan Army’s military operation. 15,000 children were unable to attend school as a result, they stated. Lack of buildings, sanitation, furniture and infrastructure contribute to difficulties, as do the lack of electricity, the restrictions on kerosene, school supplies, stationary and teaching aids. The Sri Lankan government’s blockade on essential items to the Vanni is the cause of this.

In the areas under control of the Sri Lankan army there are problems for teachers and students. On October 22 Sri Lankan army troops rounded up and searched a school in Jaffna. The soldiers screened all the students and checked the premises. Those children who had no national identity cards were asked to report to Kokkuvil for questioning. On November 12 Sri Lankan Army soldiers cordoned off and searched the Teachers training school in Kopai, Jaffna. Soldiers interrogated more than 100 teachers for five and a half hours, during which they used masked spotters. Such intrusion by the military into the environment of schools and colleges is highly unacceptable.

Other abuse of children by the Sri Lankan governments armed forces include forced labour particularly in the East, and as human shields.

Conclusion & Genocide Convention
For those who have witnessed at first hand the experience of the North-East and for those who have lived there or who have family and relatives there it is constantly frustrating that these crimes against humanity are not vociferously and publicly condemned by powerful international bodies. Also a cause of intense frustration, disappointment and anger, is the strict media ban imposed by the Sri Lankan government which prevents frequent and informed press coverage, necessary to generate and stimulate widespread public interest, concern and debate around the real issues.

I draw on the writing of Raphael Lemkin. It was he who coined the term genocide in 1944. His work was born of his horror at the killing of one and half million Armenians, and the killing of 6 million Jewish people in the holocaust. Only two of his Jewish family of seventy survived. In his writing he remembers asking his mother, as a child, “Why did they not call the police?”. The answer as we know, is that the police themselves were part of the authorities which allowed and orchestrated the persecution. Genocide is either a conscious deliberate policy of a state or is tolerated by a state.

One of the conditions for genocide to exist, indeed flourish is the guarantee of silence on the part of outsiders and onlookers, the assurance of non-interference by other states. If a state has this assurance it can go ahead, and make its excuses in all sorts of international fora and repeatedly declare its promises of its will to change, paying lip-service to human rights concerns but never really meaning it in a genuine and authentic way. It is a showcase device in order to continue to avoid the scrutiny of the outside world. The state will of course use demeaning and vilifying terms to discredit those whom it is killing in order to justify its.

The UN General Assembly passed the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide in 1948. This stipulated, in Article 2, the meaning of genocide to be acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Acts are named such as:

a) Killing members of the group. causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.I think that an analysis of the situation in Sri Lanka reveals that genocide is already occurring. Further genocide must be prevented.

The lives of thousands of Tamil women and children are at stake, even as we gather. The suffering they are undergoing, the pain and ill-treatment must stop. We all have a duty and a responsibility to bring to the attention of the international community both the root causes of the situation and the present-day gross and systematic human rights violations.

There does seem to be considerable inconsistency and injustice in the fact that there is widespread awareness of the large numbers of displacements within and from Kosovo and the human rights violations in that region, that discussions take place in almost every household and on almost every lip, that governments have acted and reacted; whereas the situation in Sri Lanka remains largely ignored, despite the greater figure of one million displaced, and the longer list of mass graves and atrocities. We can, together, create a more informed debate on the situation, – IF we have the will.

The World Conference on Racism, likely to be held in America in 2001 is an opportunity for the Tamil community and others to raise this important issue in an international forum where racism and its roots, and ensuing human rights violations, will be the focus of attention.As well as raising awareness of the human rights situation, I also believe that we should question the giving of multilateral aid through the Paris aid Group of the World Bank and IMF, which is financially and morally supporting the Sri Lankan government in its war against the Tamils.

I close by remembering what a women replied, when asked a question in a group run by an NGO in the North East. The group was called together by an aid agency working specifically with children, to focus on the needs of the women, on what the women wanted most for themselves and for their children. The aid workers were thinking in terms of food, clothing and shelter. One woman said,”If you are really asking us what we want, please stop those government bomber jets now!”. All the women cried yes!

She had said what they deeply longed and yearned for. But they knew that aid agencies are powerless to raise their voice on such a matter. They can make no comment, it is not within their mandate. If they do, they will be asked to leave, to get out of the island, for being “discourteous”. This was the accusation levelled at the International Committee of the Red Cross, by the Sri Lankan government, after the ICRC denounced the bombing of Navaly church in July 1995.

It is the request of the women that we take a position in stopping this onslaught on the Tamil people. It is our obligation to respect their request, for the sake of the children and the whole Tamil community – in fact for the sake of all the communities on the island. We who are outside must surely listen to their voices and take action. We are not at risk. We can and must speak the Truth in whatever ways we can, through organising, collating information, raising awareness – when we know what is happening. We must act as responsible and concerned members of the international community. State violence ignored is state violence encouraged.Let us remember the dream of the women for themselves and the children. Can we help it become a reality? Can we do something now? What step will we take today?

As International Women’s day is celebrated this, year, Sugirtharkala argues that the struggle for sexual equality continues, even where earlier victories were secured many years ago

March 8 is International Women’s day, The day is marked every year, around the world to remind everyone of the fight against the oppression of women.

The day has its origins from a landmark event on the March 8, 1857, when women workers of textile factories in the United States organised a successful strike against sexual segregation, demanding 10 hours of work per day and equal pay to that of a fellow male workers.

In 1910, a German Socialist Party activist, Clara Zetkin, proposed at the 2nd Socialist Women conference in Copenhagen that March 8 be celebrated internationally. The conference also demanded voting rights for the women. The following year it was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark and Germany.

However the 53 years between 1857 and 1910 weren’t without change. Struggles for women rights, including the right to vote, erupted in many parts of the world, in the form of women movements.

A women rights movement formed in France in 1882 with the support of Victor Hugo. The women’s movements campaigning for voting rights for women were launched in Britain and the USA in 1868 and 1869 respectively.

In 1905, when the women’s freedom movement organised a meeting in Manchester to discuss the rights of women, leading activists of the movement including Dame Christabel Panhurst were arrested by the police.

The Panhurst family is still remembered for their efforts to secure voting rights for the women.

Emileline Panhurst and her daughters Christabel (1880-1958) , Sylivia (1882-1960) and Adel (1885-1961) were involved in many campaigns and were jailed many times.

Emily Darvinson from the women liberation movement of Britain killed herself in protest at the inequality between men and women by throwing herself under horses in a state procession.

In Sri Lanka, during the colonial period, the so-called leaders of independence movements were not in favour of giving voting rights to women either.

Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan who later built the famous Ramanathan ladies college, Chunnakam too was against the idea of giving equal status to women. Ms.Nasam Saravanamuttu was the first Tamil women elected for the then state council. She was elected from the Colombo North constituency in 1932, a landmark event in the history of the South Asian region.

Today in Tamil Eelam, over 3000 women have rallied behind an organisation in the struggle for their rights. This an important development in the modern history of women’s struggle in the South Asian region.

While the men in Tamil Eelam fight for the political rights, the women are also battling against social oppression and mythical oppressive beliefs in a society. It is not an exaggeration to say that the women’s fight against their social oppression is the hardest.

A women’s liberation struggle is an important part of any national liberation struggle. But what precisely is women’s liberation? It is securing the freedom for women from the State’s oppression, social discrimination and economic dependency on men.

The Women Front of the Liberation Tigers battles intensely on these three fronts.

The awakening of Tamil women and their significant participation in the Tamil national liberation struggle gives a new dimension to the history of Tamil women. The women fighters contribute to all sections of the liberation movement.

They provide their contributions in traditional male preserves such as driving heavy military vehicles, operating all sorts of modern and heavy weaponry, working on military espionage, joining the elite naval force and underwater diving force.

By sharing duties equally with their male counterparts the women demonstrate that they have reached equal status with men. These development brought a quick change in the largely conservative Tamil society’s dealings with women.

The women’s wing of Sea Tiger unit, the elite naval force of the LTTE was formed in March 1992. Today, the members of this unit operate fast attack boats powered by 150-200 horse power engines with competence.

The Women’s Front of the Liberation Tigers (WFLT) was set up in 1990 by the women members of the LTTE. The WFLT works on many issues in the social and political development of women in Tamil Eelam. The effect on their activities can be noticed by the recent change in the society’s perception on issues like the remarriage of widows and women’s involvement in self-satisfactory economic development.

After a long struggle for the equal rights, women in the industrialist countries now enjoy basic human and political rights. However the these don’t solve all of their problems. The women in these countries face oppression in various different forms.

Sexual harassment in work places, problem in sharing responsibilities among working couples, the traditional belief in branding of jobs according to gender (e.g.: child care for women and breadwinning for man) are some of the ongoing problems.

The plight of ordinary women living in nations in armed occupation like in Tamil Eelam and Kurdistan are the worst. Their voice for help can’t be heard through the military oppression.

I had an opportunity to meet a young women who came as a refuge to London from the Vadamaradchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula. She described the current situation and plight of women in the area.

“The ordinary women are living in fear. Any thing could happen to you at any time. You can’t go anywhere out of your village without going through a number of Sri Lanka Army check points. We only go out if we are accompanied by older persons like our parents. We are frightened of the Army. There are lots of girls like Krishanthi [Kumaraswamy] who have been raped and murdered by the Sri Lankan armed forces. Unlike Krishanthi’s case ours wouldn’t come to lime light because our parents are poor working class people.

“When speaking at a recent event organised by the United Nations to mark international women’s day, the US first lady, Hillary Clinton, attacked the Taliban for mistreating women.

“There probably is no more egregious and systematic trampling of fundamental rights of women today than what is happening in Afghanistan under the iron rule of the Taliban,” she said, referring to the Islamist fundamentalist movement that controls most of the country.

Ms.Clinton said women once comprised almost half of Afghanistan’s doctors and teachers but now were barred from both professions while the doors of girls’ schools “are slammed shut”.

“We have heard all of us the stories of women being flogged with metal cables because a bit of ankle would be showing. We have heard of women being taken to hospital after hospital and finally dying … because there were no women doctors and no male doctor could be permitted to treat the women,” she said.

She also spoke about the inhuman treatments of women in several other countries.However she has failed to make any reference about the plight of women prisoners in US jails. The human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, in its recent report said that women prisoners in the US jails are undergoing serious sexual abuse, including rape and being sold as sex slaves to male inmates.

The equality between men and women cannot be established through mere laws or economic or educational developments. It can only be achieved by mutual understanding between them and with by a change of mindset in accepting basic humanitarian norms for all. Unfortunately even in last year of the twentieth century, we can’t say that we have progressed to this stage.

Mala, was a year nine student at a convent school in Jaffna. That was in 1992. Displaced due to the war, she lived in a “refugee” camp from 1992 to 1995 in the North. A few months after the resumption of the war on 16 July 1995 after the all too short period of the peace talks between the Peoples’ Alliance government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), she braved the choppy waters of the Palk Strait to seek a safe haven on the soil of Tamil Nadu, with others. With her was another girl Louise Rama, 18.But their boat was fired upon by the Sri Lanka navy. Mala sustained a gunshot injury on the right side of her body. The boat capsized and she was rescued by the navy and taken to the navy camp at Kankesanthurai (KKS). Today, three years later, she is the victim of torture and abuse in the hands of those who arrested her. The Judicial Medical Officer’s (JMO) report found 46 injuries on her person. She was compelled under torture to sign a statement of being a member of the LTTE’s Black Tiger suicide squad. Though released when Colombo High Court Judge Mahanama Tillekeratne exonerated her of all charges, she continues to stay at Welikade prison. The reason being that hailing from Jaffna, she has nowhere to stay in Colombo in safety. Mala was released on 6 October 1998.

According to a statement made at Colombo’s High Court and a report by the Colombo JMO, Mala was first blindfolded at the KKS navy camp. She was then stripped of all her clothing, and assaulted continuously during her entire stay at the camp. The report states that Mala was assaulted with an iron rod and suffered a bleeding injury as a result of a blow to her head. Handcuffs were put on her ankles, and she was suspended upside down from a bar of a window.

Mala also had handcuffs applied at her wrists and suspended from a rotating fan. Live electric wires were held to her body. She was also burnt with cigarettes and heated metal rods. She was also kicked and assaulted with wires and S-lon pipes. Her breasts, buttocks and thighs had been squeezed repeatedly but she was not sexually assaulted. All this was done to make her sign three documents. They were in Sinhala, a language she did not understand. Unable to withstand the pressure, Mala finally signed. On 28 August 1995 she was brought to Colombo and handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). At the CID office she was again assaulted. The back of her neck was cut, and she bled from the injuries. She was also hit on the mouth, resulting in a fracture of her tooth and bleeding from her mouth.

She had also been hit with a piece of wood and sustained an injury on her left leg. She was held at the CID for one month and forced to sign seven statements all typed in Sinhala. After this, she was handed over to the Welikada prison. It was only then that the bullet she received on 16 July 1995 was removed by the doctors of the Welikada prison hospital.

Two years were to pass before her trial commenced in the Colombo High Court No. 7 with Judge Mahanama Tillekeratne on the bench. The JMO’s report was taken up in court on 27 November 1997. The report stated that Mala’s injuries tallied with the time period between her arrest on 16 July 1995 by the Sri Lankan Navy and September 1995, when she was held for a month by the CID.

Judge Tillekaratne passed a verdict that on the JMO’s report made available this girl had suffered 46 torture injuries. The State then withdrew the indictment against Mala that she was a member of the LTTE’s Black Tigers on the grounds that there was no proof that her signed confession was voluntary. Mala was acquitted by the High Court on 6 October 1998.

Louis Rama was also arrested along with Mala by the Sri Lankan Navy and detained at the naval camp at KKS for two months. During this time she said she was assaulted on several occasions. Rama claims that she was cut with blades, burnt with cigarettes and stifled by a polythene bag put over her head. She was later transferred to the Magazine Prison in Colombo and examined on 17 May 1997 by Dr. Ruwan Pura, assistant JMO for Colombo. The doctor’s examination revealed five multiple superficial linear scars at the front of her chest, right shoulder, and front aspects of both thighs. The doctor’s report states that these injuries were more than six months old.

High Court Judge Shirani Tilakawardena heard this case in Colombo’s High Court, and the indictment against Rama was withdrawn by the State on the basis of the medical report which proved she had been tortured.

The navy personnel have not been arrested, and the girls say they are too afraid to identify the officers concerned as they will not be able to walk free again. The fundamental rights cases filed in these two instances were only done so two years after the incidents, hence the inability of the court to pursue with prosecuting the abusers.

Our society is continuing to metamorphose. The tornado of ideological war gusting in the shape of our liberation struggle is eradicating the giant trees of hoary dogmas deeply rooted for eons in our soil. The superstitions ensconed in the dark recesses of our mind are being expelled. There is blooming a new outlook in our universe of social ideas. New awakenings are occurring constantly. There is revolutionary change taking place in our societal relations.

The women’s liberation movement is forging ahead as an integral part of our greater struggle. The ideal of women’s liberation is the fervent child that had its genesis in the matrix of our national liberation movement. Its rise and progress is an incomparably unique chapter in history. For the awakening of the nation and the salvation of the women, the Thamil Eelam revolutionary woman has transformed herself into a tigress! Fierce and fiery, she has taken up arms to fight injustice.It is our movement itself that paved the way to this historic transformation. The women’s rights struggle continues on its journey in its quest after equality. Gender based inequalities in relationship took shape during our past in society. This inequality in human relationship has been pervasive in all societies, in all forms of culture at all times. The womankind of the world has today raised the battle flag in opposition to this inequity of the society which relegated women to an inferior status. The physical differences of the sexes are nature’s gift as an allure in the interest of the propagation of the species.

But society has now fashioned a web of discriminatory relationships based on these physical differences created for reproductive purposes. The gender distinctions, and cultural norms based on these distinctions, the imposed stereotypes and prejudices are standing as obstacles to the equality of man and woman. The human race transcends gender differences.Humanness is beyond maleness and femaleness; it comprehends all of humankind. Humanity’s abilities are not determined by physical differences; humanness inheres equally in womankind. Humanity’s marvellous abilities and unique characteristics are not commensurable by the measuring rod of gender.

Our struggle shines as a superb paradigm of women’s ability to accomplish anything. So that our race may honour humanness which is beyond masculinity and femininity, womankind is extending its hand of love and friendship. Only when man as a gender grasps this loving hand with deep awareness will equality between men and women be a reality.

Kala is a vivacious young widow in one of the many villages in the eastern province of Sri Lanka Her story reflects that of the many women who have experienced tragedy in war, yet also gained new opportunities to move into areas previously taboo for women.

I will tell you about Kala and how your aware regular giving through Community Aid Abroad is offering women like her a new direction.

In Sri Lanka, the ongoing ethnic conflict has led to tragedy in almost every household. Kala married when she was 19. Her husband was killed five years later. He was another of the many thousands of civilian casualties in this vicious and protracted conflict between the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Elam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan armed forces. Kala and her two children had nowhere to go. The small family sought refuge with Kala’s mother-in-law.

Then Kala became a member of her local Village Society.

Her Village Society is one of the 27 community groups that have cooperated to form Thadaham Rural Peoples Organisation, which Community Aid Abroad has supported since 1994.

For Kala, joining the local Society was a novel and unexpected path to personal freedom and self-expression. She attended the Village Society’s weekly meetings regularly and joined the literacy classes. Her perception of improving herself was essential if she was to bring up her two fatherless children properly, while her natural diligence made her an excellent pupil.

Now Kala has the responsibility for keeping the local Village Society’s accounts. As a member with some responsibility for running the Society, Kala has the opportunity to venture outside the confines of her compound and to make and enjoy the company of friends.

Kala was entitled to obtain a small loan from the Society after six months of membership. With the money, Kala cleared and cultivated the land around her hut. This garden gives her family enough vegetables for their own needs, as well as some to sell at the local fair. Kala’s mother-in-law is now not averse to speaking to friends about the cleverness of her daughter-in-law!

Vulnerable
Kala’s story reflects how the war has affected everyone, and in particular has impacted on the lives of women in many ways. Women are the heads of nearly 40 per cent of the households in the war zone. Men have joined the war, are hiding to avoid arrest, are conscripted or dead, disabled or reported by the army to have ‘disappeared’.

Women have thus come to fill the roles of breadwinner and protector in many households. Foraging for food for their children is not new to many of these women. But the war and the scarcity of men has made them accept roles in the public domain which were earlier closed to them. It also has added to their burdens. As happens in most other places affected by war, women have had to fill the gap created by the absence or disability of men without any significant reduction in their usual household chores.

The absence of men in the household makes women sexually vulnerable to the surviving men, who also find it advantageous that there are now more women than men in the village.

Women, Tamil women, have been long subject to oppression of a dual nature.

On the one hand, women comprising a little more than fifty percent of the Tamil people have borne the brunt of the national oppression stemming from chauvinist Sinhala policies.

On the other hand, women have been subject to an internal form of social oppression rising out of male chauvinism. This form of oppression is reinforced by the conservative traditions and some of the cultural norms inherent in the Tamil community. Oppression of women is rampant in the plantation sector where females form half the work force.

Also, caste oppression finds its virulent expression when relating to women.

This brief article will however deal with one aspect namely the impact of the war on Tamil women. It will, in particular, trace the development of the “birds of freedom”, the women military wing of the LTTE.

The role of women in military combat has been depicted in confusing terms in the Tamil Puranas. Sathyabama and Kaikeyi actively participated in battles aiding their husbands Krishna and Dasaratha but Bheeshma in the Mahabharatha refuses to fight Sikandi because he is in reality a woman, Ambai, transformed into a male.

Tamil literature does not emphasise the active participation of women in combat. Instead, it glorifies the motherhood aspect. The puranaanooru mother who describes her womb as the cave and the warrior’s son as a Tiger is one instance. There is also the heroic mother who after loosing father, husband, and brother sends her only son to war. Misinformed that her son was pierced in the back, she is ashamed that her son had run as a coward. Upon reaching the battlefield, she finds the valiant son has a chest wound and is proud that the son died as a fighter.

Growing national oppression however brought about a situation where Tamil women took to arms. The normal patterns of life underwent rapid transformation with large numbers of youths migrating. Some cultural aspects like girls travelling with a male chaperone, began to dwindle since a young male was prone to greater danger than a woman.

Initially the militant recruits were girls who were either fired by romantic adventurist visions or from families affected cruelly by the war. In some cases, personal experience was the motivating factor. The birds of freedom or “Suthanthirap Paravaikal” were initially something like a paramilitary division.

Great care was taken not to upset the cultural values of the society at large. First aid, cooking etc. were the overt functions. They also obtained military training. As time went on, the birds of freedom began to participate in fighting also.

The Indian invasion was a water shed. The Indian army was brutal and male chauvinist. The rapes, and molesting made a bitter impact.The callous disregard of the mothers’ front fast by the Indian establishment was another turning point. The abduction of one mother, Ponnamma David and letting the other mother Poopathi Kanapathipillai die without responding positively to her request worsened the situation.

Although the Tiger women militants had been injured in combat with the Sri Lankan forces, deaths occurred only with the Indian army. A total of 24 have died so far. (February 1990). The leader of the women brigade, Vasanthi alias Sothia, (photo alongside) died in 1990 due to a natural cause – disease in the form of meningitis. A brief sketch of LTTE women fighters is as follows.

The armed Tamil struggle is more than seventeen years old. (1990). The period of the armed women struggle is less than seven years. The repercussions of the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom and the ongoing armed oppression inspired many young Tamils to join militant ranks. The contribution of women was proportionately low because of the cultural barriers. In the early stages women cells were formed in various parts of Tamil Eelam.

In 1985, the various women militant cells were formed into a composite whole – the women army division of the LTTE. For the first time in contemporary Tamil history, Tamil women obtained martial training and formed a revolutionary fighting unit. The women organisations indulged in a lot of political and propaganda work among women. In a bid to raise consciousness among women about the national liberation struggle and female oppression, a journal called “Suthanthirap Paravaikal” (“Freedom Birds”) was published. The first issue was in December 1984.

Soon, that name became a synonym for the women unit. When the peninsula became a semi-liberated zone, women’s division activities were broad based and intensified. The freedom birds integrated and co-ordinated activity with women organisations, trade unions, training centres, health centres, and primary education centres. At the same time women fighters engaged themselves in direct combat against the Sri Lankan army in Mannar and Vavuniya.

Women militants were active combatants in the Adamban confrontation on 12th June 1986 where Victor was killed. Women were involved in the efforts to establish full control over Jaffna and Killinochchi districts. Several girls were injured and lost limbs while on duty at sentry points and bunkers near the army camps at Jaffna Fort, Navatkuli, Kattuvan and Valvettiturai.

Women militants also participated in the …., Mayiliathanai mini camp attack, KKS harbour view camp attack, Kurrumpucity camp attack and the famous Nelliadi attacks spearheaded by Miller. After the signing of the Indo-Lanka accord, the women division had its hands full. Initially, the women’s militia engaged themselves in propaganda. Their task was to eradicate the false sense of confidence that people had in India….. Boycott, protest marches, preventing road transport, picketing etc. were staged.

Thanks to the active work of the women cadres, a large number of females participated in this mass protest. When Thileepan commenced his death fast, the women cadres began a series of Padayathras in most regions of Jaffna. The girls dressed in red continued this for all twelve days. Person to person contact were made with domestic housewives during these marches. The interaction between domesticated women and the revolutionary women raised consciousness among the former.When the attempt was made to capture Jaffna, the women militants fought with great courage. The preliminary military operation against the IPKF was by the women cadres. The first Tiger casualty in the war against India was a women militant 2nd.Lt. Malathi. She was also the first women casualty among the Tigers. Three others Kasthuri, Thaya and Ranji also died in the preliminary encounter.

At Sittankerni, the women cadres in an operation entirely by themselves destroyed an Indian armoured personnel carrier. Women militants fought resolutely in countering commandos dropped by air at the Jaffna University in Thirunelveli…..Women militants also fought in Vanni. Notable among them was the combined male female onslaught at Weli Oya. ….

The overall impact made by the fighting girls on Tamil society is yet to be assessed. It is also too early to predict the future in relation to the position in Tamil society after the war is over.

Tamil women, have been long subject to oppression of a dual nature. On the one hand, women comprising a little more than fifty percent of the Tamil people have borne the brunt of national oppression stemming from the chauvinist Sinhala policies. On the other hand, women have subject to an internal form of social oppression rising out of male chauvinism. This form of oppression is reinforced by the conservative traditions and cultural norms inherent in the Tamil community. However growing national oppression brought about a situation where Tamil women took to arms. The normal patterns of life underwent rapid transformation with large numbers of youths migrating.

In the early days of the formation of LTTE women contributed to the freedom fight by performing socially defined women’s work. Giving moral support, providing shelter, food and played a major role in securing the safety and survival of the cadres. This work carried with risk of exposure and subsequently detention, torture and possibly death. Indeed womenwere taken into custody on suspicion subjected to rigorous and lengthy interrogations and faced torture. Women have been deprived of sleep during interrogation, sexual harassment and even deaths.

The concrete condition which forced a tremendous rupture, projecting women into a new depth of participation for national freedom were the state organized anti-Tamil riots of July 1983. This horrific outburst of racial violence in which thousands of innocent Tamil civilians were murdered, which left a trail of rape, arson and looting proved to be the ultimate revelation of the depths of Sinhala chauvinism and racism. The situation escalated in 1987 when the IPKF was in Jaffna. Women experienced the worst in their own soil at the very hands of the people whom they trusted. The incidents are too many to mention. The following is one from the stories of some women. She was a lively, vivacious and self possessed 38 year old professional woman with a eleven year old daughter. Her husband worked abroad.”Why me?” I ask myself whether by chance, something in me made them think they could do this to me? I feel inside myself soiled, I feel small, two months have gone past but I think I am getting worse. I was scared to tell my husband. Only recently had I written to him: I will tell you my story if you say it will help other women. On 12 November, in the morning, three Indian soldiers came to our house at about 8 O’ clock. My mother was in the kitchen, only my daughter and I met them. They said that they were checking and started pushing my daughter into a room, I dragged her shouted ‘Amma, Amma, checking checking. Then the soldiers at the sentry point near our house came running to our house. They who were in our house told them they were checking. ( I lost my gold chain also ), They did not stay long. However, we were scared. I took my daughter and hid her in a small box room at the rear of the house and at about 9.30, we saw the same three soldiers coming again. This time they had not used the front gate where the sentry point is located, but came through another adjoining vacant house, jumping over the parapet wall.

Then they locked my parents in one room, showed the gun and raped me, one after the other, all three of them. I did not scream. What if they shot my parents? I can still recollect those beady eyes could not handle. I left the village and Jaffna when the first bus started running to Colombo. I started having nightmares. I started seeing their faces and hearing their voices.

I took my daughter and went abroad. I even went to a psychiatrist. I could talk to him because he was a total stranger. He gave me drugs. They quietened me, but have not taken the memories away. I am becoming worse, even more so, At least I saved my daughter. I have written to my husband and he says not to worry. But you know our men. Do you think he will accept me? I feel so apart from the world. I feel different.” The stories are so traumatizing and makes one feel exhausted and impotent and as women angry at ourselves, our class, our men, our whole passive society. The above is a story of a survivor of sexual violence. There are numerous reports of suicides, deaths followed as a result of inhuman gang rape and torture and molestation. The middle class families in cases of rape and molestation have always tried to hide and submerge the incidents. This type of handling the victimization of women individualized the pain and trauma and created far reaching damage to their inner selves.

Deepening genocidal oppression has now propelled them out of their established social life into a new revolutionary world. The very decisions of young women to join armed struggle – in most cases without the consent of parents- represents a vast departure of behaviour for Tamil women. This is a turning point in the Tamil society. Women have now decided that talking about their problems will never put an end to their problems. They have to challenge. They have to change the norms. They have stormed into a previously all male activity. They have challenged the entire beliefs about women’s strength, endurance, potential, determination, courage and talents. But it is only a certain percentage of women in the age group 15- 30 who have adopted themselves to a new style of life. The majority are those who are still suffering the communal oppression as women and national oppression as women belonging to an ethnic minority group, especially as women in a war torn country. They are widowed, have lost children, brothers and sisters as victims of war and as victims of the atrocities of state terrorism. In two incidents on the 12th, 15th and 18th of August 1990, 90, 95 and 91 civilians, respectively, were shot and hacked to death and burnt alive by Muslim home guards supported by the army, in Senkallady, Thuraineelavanai and Veeramunai in the Eastern province. Women with their memories haunting with the sights of the distorted forms of bodies of their beloved, but still with the responsibilities awaiting their services as women, tending the young, the elderly, adjusting life in the worst of living conditions, still made incomprehensible, due to indiscriminate shelling, aerial bombing and torture. Complete majoritarian Democracy, in countries divided on ethnic lines will never satisfy the minority. In circumstances where the majority refuses to come to an amicable settlement with the minorities, the minorities have no way other than fighting for their right for self determination. Even in such a situation the majorities are the gainers as they easily brand these freedom fighters as “terrorists”, a word often used to gain the attention and sympathy of all the so called parliamentarians around the world. Ultimately it is again the minorities who are the losers.

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