| by Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
Travel to
Jaffna: Then and Now
( December 2,
2012, Washington Dc, Sri Lanka Guardian) When I returned home in 1995 with our
pet Dalmatian with its spots, hostile crowds gathered around us at Katunayake
with shouts of Koti-Balla (Tiger-Dog). On other trips I had been taken straight
to the Katunayake Police Station, and held up at Vanuniya and released after my
friend travelling with me was arrested. I have been held up at Omanthai by the
STF for four hours with fellow bus passengers and told that there was a change
of guard at Elephant Pass and we would be held till the men from Elephant Pass
arrived on foot and if they failed to arrive we would be shot.
Today, three
years after the end of hostilities, Tamils arriving at Katunayake are still
watched. Passengers report being asked for a bribe at immigration; some
routinely seem to be handing in their passports with a few thousand rupee notes
inside. It may not be necessary but the Tamil psyche believes it to be so. In
LTTE times the same timid passengers paid a fee to the LTTE at Omanthai.
Driving to
Jaffna it is common for Tamils to be stopped by police between Puttalam and
Anuradhapura, especially at night. A year ago my van driver hired by the
university forked out Rs. 1,000 to avoid cooked up offences. A friend had a
more comical story. Stopped at midnight while driving carefully, he was shown a
radar gun with a reading below the limit. When he expressed puzzlement, the
policeman pointed to the School Zone sign, although it was midnight. He forked
out Rs. 500.
I have had a
very similar experience twice with the LTTE, once for exceeding an absurdly low
speed limit posted on a downward road and the other time for not having a side
mirror although most cars were manufactured without side mirrors. In both
instances arguing, I was advised, would mean having to wait for Monday for the
‘magistrate.’
Deeper
similarities between LTTE control and UPFA control
Far more
seriously, almost everyone looking for personal benefits joined the LTTE. Even
decent men joined to get passes for their children. Others joined the death
squads for power. LTTE agents sat through university teacher union meetings. No
opposition was tolerated. The LTTE, though hostile to its opponents, had a
reserve of hatred for those who were once with them and then left.
Today, the UPFA
is the same. Nishanthan from the TNA was sent to Velanai, Douglas’ fortress, to
organize TNA’s youth league. Nishanthan successfully got a man (aged about 37)
who was once with the EPDP to join. TNA’s newest member disappeared last week
and his wife and children are lost as the police make the motions of investigating.
Just as some
joined the LTTE for lucre, today many join the UPFA bandwagon to be able to
sell jobs and take bribes for bus route permits. The same businessmen who
joined the LTTE for the exclusive right to bid on government road and building
contracts in LTTE regions are now with the government. The LTTE sold sand and
now the EPDP does. The very same people who helped the LTTE control the Tamil
people are now behind the UPFA. An example is KP. One implicated in Rajani
Thirangama’s murder and vanished into the Vanni with the LTTE is also back. The
LTTE’s Jaffna Political Commissar, a blood thirsty killer, was hunting LTTE-ers
for the army after 2009. I was at a Noolaham (an NGO preserving Tamil books)
meeting when the army threateningly intervened and held us up until their
intelligence officer was brought in to join us.
In a dexterous
move, an NGO that provided legal services to the needy and is now run by the
founder’s daughter has been essentially bought over through dinners with
Governor Chandrasiri, a university Council seat and exclusive agency rights to
Milko in Jaffna. In exchange the once respectable NGO provides, among other
things, cover to a dreaded LTTE-er by the code name Valluthi through
employment.
Maaveerar Day
and Kaarthikai Theepam
November 26 is
Prabhakaran’s birthday, Great Heroes’ Day Nov. 28, a day when the army
vigilantly nips any celebrations in the bud. This year coincidentally, Nov. 27
was Karthikai Theepam, the Hindu (Tamil and Thelungu) Festival of Lights.
Hindus celebrate it in temples and the next day, , they light up their homes
and vicinity. So this year could they dare celebrate their festival on
Maaveerar Day?
It would appear
that some liberal soldiers had given a green light and celebrations commenced.
It was clear that some die-hard LTTE-ers would mix the two up. At Jaffna
University, celebrations were held. TNA MP, E. Saravanapavan, was among the
invitees.
The university
is seen as government territory to be carefully guarded. So there are several
men with hidden arms going about the university – because they are in civvies
it is not known if they are from the regular army or paramilitaries. (I have
seen at the university the same intelligence officer who sat through the
Noolaham meeting referred to above). It is clear though that there are
intelligence officers, EPDP men and even LTTE turn-coats roaming the university
hallways with the university administration’s connivance. Douglas Devananda
holds pre-Council meetings where he instructs the Council on decisions. These
mirror LTTE times when the LTTE had a Poruppaalar (Person-in-charge) running
the university and instructing the VC.
So the
celebrations, whether for Maaveerar or Kaarthikai Theepam, were anathema to the
government. A massive assault on the celebrants was launched. Male and female
hostels were broken into by bashing down the doors and the inmates assaulted.
The students protested, with black cloth over their mouths. Placards read
“Army: You can suppress us in battle but never our feelings,” “Reconciliation
is not through our suppression,” “Administration: Who is in charge of our
safety?,” “Administration: Who gave permission to the army to walk in?,” etc.
As the protestors came out of the campus, they were severely assaulted with
iron rods, rubber cables and batons. Initial reports say that seven students
were hospitalized with severe injuries, and Saravanabavan was beaten up and his
car stoned. A woman-student, caught in the midst of the melee, fainted; and was
beaten up regardless of her condition.
Stupid
Government Fomenting Trouble
Post 2009, when
the TNA rejected extremism and became democratic under Sampanthan, LTTE-time
TNA parliamentarians S. Kajendran, Pathmini Sithambaranathan and Gajendrakumar
Ponnambalam broke with Sampanthan and formed the Tamil National People’s Front.
Kajendran rigged elections for the LTTE’s TNA and had lived in the university
hostel controlling the university (giving new meaning to the Peradeniya phrase
‘Gajaying’ after another Gajendran who lived in the halls without paying).
Kajendran is hated at the university. Naturally the TNPF was roundly defeated
at the freer post-war 2010 polls with 0.09% of the vote!
Today the
government thinks that LTTE tactics which failed to work will now work for
them. When Amirthalingam was humiliated by the government by not recognizing
his mandate from the people, it boomeranged and the LTTE’s ideology gained
credence. Despite Sampanthan’s clear hold on the Tamil people’s hearts, the
government is trying to by-pass him – the only gentleman at the PSC to say that
unless the Chief Justice was given a seat he would give his to her. Now, the
TNPF seems to make hay by holding a demonstration on 4 December to protest the
assault on the university. It seems that the lessons of history are never learnt
by the State.
Those whom the
gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. Our government truly seems to have
gone mad.
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