Tale of two brothers

The episode surrounding the escape of young brothers Sajeevan (13) and Sujeeva (11) from the clutches of the LTTE in the No Fire Zone should provide food for thought to those haranguing Sri Lanka about her human rights. It should also open the eyes of the Tamil Nadu politicians shedding copious tears for the Tamil civilians as to who the real inquisitors of their brethren across the Palk Straits are.

The harrowing ordeal of two young escapees from the LTTE as recounted on page three of our edition yesterday gives but a glimpse of the oppression and the privations forced on the population by the outfit.

The duo were among the fortunate to flee the LTTE when they along with some 521 were rescued by the Navy and ferried to Pulmodai aboard an ICRC vessel. As with the multitudes now streaming into the cleared areas they too had a grim tale to recount and poured forth their nightmare experience under an outfit who claim to be their liberators.

Not so fortunate as they was their 20 year old sister who had gone into hiding after refusing to join the LTTE fighting cadres. Their parents were not allowed to accompany them. The two lads had led a nomadic existence since January when the battle for Mullaitivu commenced.

They had been moving from place to place leaving behind their possessions at their home in Murukandi. Another sister is in Batticaloa. Their only hope is to unite with their uncles in Mannar. The duo had managed to survive living in a bunker to escape conscription. This had been the familiar tale of all youth who had managed to flee their liberators turned oppressors.

How many such families have been similarly dislocated and on the run to escape the wrath of the LTTE for refusing to enlist their young no one knows. Nor is there any account of how many more children are held prisoner in the LTTE gulags.

This episode is but the tip of the iceberg. We may not know the anguish of many such youth who are striving to flee the hell hole they have been consigned to.

This is why the forces should do it’s utmost to finish off without delay the on going humanitarian operation to rescue the civilians trapped in the tiny pocket under Tiger control. There will be more gruesome tales to be told which may even rival those who survived Hitler’s pogrom.

As mentioned, this glimpse of the hellhole under the LTTE laid bare by Sajeevan and Sujeeva would hopefully attract the attention of those foreign busybodies who do not tire of lecturing to the Sri Lankan Government on human rights.

It was not long ago that certain sections of the Western Media likened the condition of the temporary shelters housing IDP’s to concentration camps. The narrative of these two youth is self explanatory and we don’t wish to point out where exactly are the concentration camps.

What one cannot fathom is the failure of all those roving ambassadors who descend on Sri Lanka at the drop of a hat to prevail on the LTTE to let go of the child soldiers. The question of child soldiers had been on top of the agenda since the arrival of UN special Rapporteur on Children in armed conflict Olara Otunu during the early days of the CFA. On that occasion the LTTE gave a solemn promise to release all under-aged youth deployed in it’s fighting units.

The tale of Sajeevan and Sujeeva shows that child conscription is still going on apace while the strictures delivered by the UN and the West on the LTTE in this regard has had no effect. It is time that a more concerted effort is made by the international community to force the LTTE to let go of all minors used as combatants, even at this stage of the war where all is lost for Tigers.

In the meantime the Government should take immediate steps to reach out to these innocent youth with a human touch do everything possible to offer them a new lease of life. Steps should be taken to erase the deep psychological scars they have being carrying all these years.

First of all they should be made to resume their schooling which was disrupted. Measures should also be taken to unite them with their kinsmen as early as possible. The Government should attempt to make their rehabilitation a model that catalyses it’s long term resettlement integration program.

The international community for its part should help and assist the Government to complete the next phase of the humanitarian operation to liberate more such Sajeevans from the gulags of the LTTE.