Tamils too helped defeat LTTE
By Wilson Gnanadass
The incessant fighting for nearly 30 long years came to an end at around 3.30 pm on Sunday, May 17, with the announcement by the LTTE’s Head of International Relations Selvarasa Pathmanathan that the Tigers have finally decided to silence their guns.
This announcement was a true sign of LTTE defeat on the one hand and victory for the government armed forces on the other.
As no war has been won without bloodshed, the Eelam war too came to an end with a huge human sacrifice.
As the final credit goes to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who fearlessly and courageously undertook the mission to fight one of the world’s most powerful guerilla outfits, it should not be forgotten that there are others too, who have equally or otherwise contributed to the victory of this war.
Though, it has been portrayed at some point by various elements that this was a war between the South and the North, President Rajapaksa himself in one of his previous speeches and, of course, Ven Galaboda Gnanissara Thero in a recent speech, have made it clear that this was never a war against the Tamils.
Moderate Tamils
Whether one accepts it or not, the end of the war has not only been due to the input by the Sinhala majority. Moderate Tamils have equally contributed to bring a halt to the LTTE terrorism and The Nation wishes to salute them today, at a time when the whole country is in a celebrative mood to rejoice the victory.
If not for the positive contribution these moderate Tamils had made, the war could not have been ended so fast.
In the history of the Eelam war, the LTTE has not only killed the Sinhalese but equal number of Tamils as well. These Tamils who became subject to LTTE brutality were the ones who braved all threats by the Tigers to show the world that the LTTE was not the true representative of the Tamils.
Who was instrumental in convincing the foreign countries to declare LTTE as a terrorist group? It was none other than the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, a moderate Tamil who sacrificed his own life for the sake of safeguarding the integrity and sovereignty of the island nation. He was assassinated in Colombo on August 12, 2005.
It is with Karuna Amman’s help that the armed forces were able to push the LTTE out of the East in 2007 and, it is believed, he played a key role in defeating the LTTE even in the North.
Douglas Devananda, a key minister in the UPFA government is another moderate Tamil who has been helping the successive Sinhala regimes to fight the LTTE. He became such a threat to the LTTE that the terrorists made several attempts to kill him even in Colombo.No other Sinhala politician could have ever fought harder than Douglas against the LTTE in the recent times.
V. Anandasangaree is another politician who became the prime target of the LTTE, because he refused to accept the popular LTTE’s slogan, that they were the sole representatives of the Tamils.
Defied Tigers
Anandasangaree, a leading and an experienced Tamil politician in the country, despite many threats to his life, opted to defy LTTE orders to be its mouthpiece but instead, carried out a massive campaign against the group outside Sri Lanka with Douglas Devananda.
PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Sidharthan, whose father himself was killed by the LTTE, is another moderate Tamil politician who decided to oppose LTTE politics. His group too has lost a number of cadres who had been killed by the LTTE. His party has been closely working with the Sri Lanka Army and this made it possible for the government to gradually weakening the LTTE.
Fortunately, these moderate Tamil politicians are today living to tell the story to the younger generation about the history of Eelam war. But scores of others who also equally contributed towards the defeat of the LTTE are no more today.
Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam of the TULF was killed in a bomb blast on 29 July 1999. He is the son of former Local Government Minister M. Thiruchelvam who was also a TULF politician. Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam was a human rights activist. He was also an active member of the Law and Trust Society. He was actively involved in drafting the constitutional reforms. He was appointed as a National List MP by the TULF but finally had to sacrifice his life for his cause, which was to liberate the Tamils from the clutches of the LTTE.
History
There are scores of other Tamils who silently have given their blessings to the successive governments for the eradication of LTTE terrorism.
The following were also brutally assassinated by the LTTE for espousing the cause of unity. They are -
• Alfred Duraiyappah (Former Mayor and MP for Jaffna) on 27 July, 1975
• A Thiagarajh (MP for Vadukkoddai) on April 24, 1981
• V Dharmalingam (MP for Manipay) on September 2, 1985
• K Alalasundaram (MP for Kopay) on September 2, 1985
• A Amirthalingam (Leader of the Opposition and TULF) on July 13, 1989
• V Yogeshwaran (MP for Jaffna) on July 13, 1989
• T Ganeshalingam (Provincial Minister for North and East) on January 28, 1990
• Sam Tambimuttu (MP for Batticoloa) and Mrs Tambimuttu on May 7, 1990
• V Yogasangari (MP for Batticoloa) on June 10, 1990
• A Thangathurai (MP for Trincomalee) on July 2, 1997
• Mrs Sarojini Yogeshwaran (Mayoress of Jaffna) on May 19, 1998
• S. Shanmuganathan (District MP for Vavunia) on July 15, 1998
• P. Sivapalan (Mayor of Jaffna) on September 11, 1998
• Canagasabai Rajathurai, an EPDP member of Jaffna on October 6, 1998
• Dr Neelan Thiruchelvam (TULF) on July 29, 1999
• Atputharaja Nadarajah , EPDP parliamentarian (November 2, 1999)
• Kanapathipillai Navaratnarajah (TELO member of Arayampathi, Batticaloa) on June 7, 2000
It would be only treacherous to say that the Tamils in general have supported the LTTE, as popularly viewed by the South.
Tamils in general have contributed positively to the eradication of LTTE terrorism and would continue to espouse the notion that this country belongs to people of every race, religion and cast to live in harmony and in unity.
