Posts Categorized: Military

Blood of the Combatants and the Trauma

During the confrontation with the LTTE, he killed five of the enemy carders. After some years, he predominantly preoccupied with the thoughts that were related to these killings. Although they came to kill us, they too were human beings says Sergeant Sx78.
“They were poor village boys like us who had no many options in life. They were indoctrinated, poisoned with racial hatred and directed to attack us. We had no alternative except firing at them. I in a war things are intense, either you or the enemy. If you don’t kill him he will kill you. Anyhow, these Tamil youths had parents like us, they too had expectations. All ended very sadly. Someone in somewhere may be still missing them. I know killing is bad. It is a violation of the first Buddhist precept. I was compelled to do that act.

Sergeant Sx78 feels that one day he has to face the Karmic repercussions for these killings in 1993 at the Jaffna Fort. His conscience was shattered and he became more religious. Sergeant Sx78 wishes to be a monk after his retirement from the Army.

Insider Account of Government Forces Torturing Civilians

[T]he captain… was transferred to Colombo, where he helped with search and cordon operations that rounded up ethnic Tamils. He said he knew the army was torturing, beating and raping civilians.

“I admit that it is a harassment of these people,” he said. “I admit that.”…
[T]he board ruled in February he was not eligible for refugee protection because he was complicit in crimes against humanity.

Tipping in Kilinochchi

Just as much as Perry does not have a guide in Kilinochchi to tell him that tipping is not expected, so the international system has painted the world so black and white between the system of nation-states and the ‘terrorists,’ that they cannot understand a place that is somewhere in the middle – a territory… Read more »

Recognizing the Sri Lankan Peace Process?

The Role of the International Community The LTTE Peace Secretariat released the attached statement today concerning the state of the peace process: Recognizing the Sri Lankan Peace Process Note: The statement is in PDF format, and, therefore, requires Adobe Acrobat to be read. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, click on the following image to… Read more »

Security Imbalance, Not Violence, Threatens Truce

by Jana Nayagam, Tamil Guardian, September 14, 2005 The actual risk to the ceasefire is not violence per se, but the continuing non-implementation of crucial aspects of the CeaseFire Agreement, resulting in declining benefits from it. Observers of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict have watched the ongoing shadow war in the island’s east between the Liberation Tigers… Read more »

Was it a Multi-Purpose Assassination?

DIG STF Ampara Lewke told media in Colombo that the Motorcycle Squad being trained in Colombo will also be utilised in the East to hunt down killers of Security/Paramilitary personnel and kill them – at least the instigators. So, soon there is going to be a seek and destroy operation (of Tamil Youths) in the… Read more »

I Played Chess with a ‘Terrorist’

by Shanthi Padmalingam, September 12, 2005 My heart feels heavy.  Maybe it is the longing to go back and help my people of Tamil Eelam.  Maybe it is from looking at pictures of the people I have just met and don’t want to leave behind.  Maybe it is the shock of realizing how very wrong… Read more »

Terrorists and the National Guard

by Kopi Annan, September 6, 2005 In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the world witnessed a complete breakdown of law and order in Louisiana that required the presence of the National Guard to safeguard property.  The chaos is best described by Rossie Diamnno of The Toronto Star (September 2, 2005) as follows: “It is disgraceful that countless… Read more »

India May Pull Troops From Kashmir

After New Talks by Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, September 6, 2005 NEW DELHI, Sept. 5 – India will pull back troops from the disputed territory of Kashmir if militant infiltration and violence ends, the prime minister’s office announced Monday evening after a rare meeting with Kashmiri separatists. The meeting, between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh… Read more »

Deja Vu? Sri Lanka’s Tamils Fear Return to Civil War

by Simon Gardner, Boston Globe, August 27, 2005 JAFFNA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Displaced four times by Sri Lanka’s two-decade civil war with the Tamil Tigers, 22-year-old Nirmalashanthi Vijayakanth is ecstatic to finally settle into the first home she can call her own. The ramshackle shelter in the artillery-ravaged northern town of Jaffna has no running… Read more »

TG: Fresh Promise

by Tamil Guardian editorial, London, August 24, 2005 The welcome decision last week by the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government to hold direct talks on the implementation of the February 2002 ceasefire has given a desperately needed boost to the Norwegian peace process.  The talks are to centre on the implementation of the truce.  There… Read more »

Assassination Threatens to End Sri Lankan Cease-Fire

by Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, August 14, 2005 The government of Sri Lanka and its Tamil separatist foes traded accusations yesterday over the killing of the country’s foreign minister, with rebels denying responsibility, government officials brushing off their denials and the country’s fragile peace process falling ever deeper into crisis. The assassination late Friday… Read more »

After 29 Years, an Aceh Peace Pact

The Aceh accord, to be signed on Monday, feels like a major gamble on the part of GAM, based on what we know from Sri Lanka.  In return for giving up their quest for a separate state and disarming, GAM may or may not be able to form a local party and take part in… Read more »

Close Encounter with a Tamil Tigress

by Nachammai Raman, Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 9, 2005 When Thamilvilly walked in to meet me, I wondered if she was some big cheese’s assistant coming to tell me my interview was canceled. In neatly pinned-up pigtails, austere pants, and a belted baggy shirt, she looked more like an intern than the deputy head of the… Read more »

Stranglehold on Peace

Kumaratunga will not sacrifice power for peace by Tamil Guardian editorial, December 22, 2004 Fear of a renewed war has become all pervasive.  Tamils, both in the homelands and the diaspora are closely following developments in the Norwegian peace process, albeit with deepening pessimism.  Even the usually upbeat Norwegian Special Envoy, Erik Solheim, could not conceal… Read more »

TAGOT: War Drums in the South

by The Action Group of Tamils (TAGOT) PRESS RELEASE 21 December 2004 We, The Action Group of Tamils (TAGOT), unhesitatingly compliment the Sinhala President Chandrika Kumaratunga for her political skill.  She is implacably opposed to negotiating a political settlement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  But she has cast the ultra-Sinhala Jathika Vimukthi… Read more »

Talking with Tigers

Negotiations with suicide bombers can end violence, as Sri Lanka demonstrates Jonathan Steele in Kilinochchi, The Guardian, UK, Friday December 17, 2004 Come to Elephant Pass to witness a rarity: a place where the contradictions of the “war on terror” have not produced the usual regression. In most of the world the fight against “international… Read more »

Letter from a Youth to the LTTE

Dear Mr V. Prabakaran, Mr S.P Thamilchelvan and the other Officials of the East and North of the LTTE, This is a statement of a student, age 18 (Social Juridical Worker / Low Lawyer) of the Royal Kingdom of The Netherlands. At the first place I want to congratulate all of you with achieving and… Read more »