\t Singh: The New Akali Sant

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Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader V. Pirabhakaran

Sri Lanka Tamil Refugees

Between the Deviland the Deep Sea

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COVER STORY

Sri Lanka Tamil Refugees

Between the Deviland the Deep Sea

For the thousands of bedraggled Tamil refugees who have over the past pouredinto relief camps in Tamil Nadu, the hardship goes on. From fear and persecution,they have been driven into poverty, vice, hopelessness and frustration: the refugeecamps in Tamil Nadu are today dens of gambling, prostitution and liquor. Why dothe Tamil refugees find themselves trapped in such misery? Anita Pratap visited

their camps to find out.

The serpent of discontent has in-vaded the garden of Eden occu-pied by displaced Sri LankaTamils. The Tamils had fled

from their native island home sever-al .months ago in a retreat fromstate-sponsored persecution and ter-rorism. At that time India, a comfort-ing land, separated only by a narrowstrip of sea,had symbolised a havenor sanctuary from the savagery thathad oppressed them. When they setfoot on the golden sands of Dhanus-khodi (the outermost tip of the islandof Rameshwaram), the sense of free-dom, peace and security had beendeliciously heady. But the idyllproved to be short-lived. The tediumof existence in the refugee campsmarked by overcrowding, idleness,frustration, boredom and hunger hastaken a heavy toll in recent months.Today malcontent is rife among theonce-hopeful settlers from the belea-gu)ered island. The Tamil refugeesrtow find themselves ensnared in ano-win situation: neither do theywant to remain in a limbo in TamilNadu, nor can they go back to theterror that continues to stalk theirhomeland.

There are nearly 20,000 destituteTamil refugees who are entirely de-pendent on the subsistence dolesgiven by the Indian government.They are accommodated in 73 campslocated in old, disused school build-ings, choultries and the double-storeyed circular cyclone sheltersthat dot the coast of Tamil Nadu.This correspondent visited some ofthese camps to assess the conditionof the refugees. The litany of com-Deepen, a one-year-old refugee:• bleak future?

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plaints were identical. The refugeesalways preface their complaints witha "vote of thanks" to the Indiangovernment. They are grateful forthe sympathy they have receivedfrom India, pointing out that theyescaped death only because Indiaallowed them to enter. But camplifehas thrown up a whole new set ofproblems, for which they do not wishto blame India. "We are complainingagainst our predicament, not India,"they said.

The refugees complain that thedoles (generous by Indian standards)are insufficient.The money given ev-ery fortnight lasts barely 10 days.The next five days for them,thus,is awretched tale of hand-to-mouth exist-ence. Two meals a day dwindles toone main meal. Most of them selltheir clothes and towels disbursed bythe Indian government. In fact, all ofthem were wearing their old frayedand faded clothes. As the one litre ofkerosene supplied to each family isinadequate, they are forced to go insearch of firewood in the nearbyareas. To add to their miseries, thetahsildarwho is supposed to disbursetheir doles on the first and fifteenthof every month has been coming late,often three or four days late. The daythe doles are given the women headfor the nearby shops where they haveto settle their debts while the men goto the nearby barrack shop: heavydrinking is a way of life for the malerefugees who are mostly fishermen.Inebriated, they fight with eachother.

Overcrowding is another seriousproblem. For instance, in the cycloneshelter in Chenglepet district, thereare 38 families with 162 memberscrowded together. All of them hadarrived in Rameshwaram in Febru-ary 1985. Each refugee family hascarved out a little private space byusing saris as screens. In the smallenclosure they keep all their worldlypossessions: pots and pans, batteredsuitcases containing tattered clothes,plastic buckets, bundles of firewood,rubber chappals, etc. Seven monthsof habitation has darkened the wallsand floor of the shelter with grime. Itlooks drab and dingy. Some of theyoungsters in a bid to brighten their"homes" have stuck colourful pic-tures of Tamil filmstars on the bleakwalls. As cooking inside the sheltercan often be hazardous, the womencook in a common kitchen area justoutside the shelter. The aroma ofcooking is drowned in the overpower-ing stink of urine from the septictank nearby. Their living conditionshas of late eased a bit with thedonation of Rs 8,000 they have re-ceived from a Catholic priest, FrSingharasa. The money was utilised

COVER STORY

to build a row of thatched hutsoutside the shelter where 14 of the 38'families are now housed. Askedwhether they were apprehensive ab-out their houses being blown away inthe frequent cyclonic storms, 53-year-old Arokiaswamy quipped withhis sardonic humour: "We have en-dured such cataclysmic events. Be-lieve me, nature's fury is nothingcompared to man's savage cruelty."

The main problem for the refugeesis tedium. As refugees they cannot berehabilitated. In other words, no em-ployment can be given as they haveto be sent back to their homelandseventually. So from morning to night,they hang around doing nothing, gaz-ing vacantly, swatting flies in theheat, taking long siestas in the after-noons or playing cards. They realisehow debilitating ennui can be. Someenterprising men supplement theirdoles by undertaking to repair the

fishing nets of local fishermen. Butthe payment is a pittance. They arepaid Rs 10 for the work which re-quires three men to toil for threedays.

As men narrate their problems tothe stray visitor, the women cackle,giggle and whisper in the back-ground. Children take swipes at eachother, settling old scores when theirparents are not watching. Every timea bus stops, the crowd of refugeesthrong the doorway hoping to spotthe familiar figure of the tahsildar.They have no luck: it's 17 Septemberand he is already two days late.Disappointed, they turn back andcontinue to talk about their woes.

As far as health-care goes, the re-fugees are well-off except when agrave malady afflicts them. Mobiledispensaries attend to their ailmentsbut two inmates, Velu and Thangiah,died because they could not be taken

Simeon Leon recounts the woes of the Tamil refugees

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to the nearby hospital in Chenglepeton time. One died of a possible heartattack and the other of TB. Therefugees are so broke that they donot have the money for the fare tothe hospitals in Chenglepet or Mad-ras. Nagamma delivered a still-bornchild in the Madras General Hospitaland to add insult to the injury, thehospital demanded Rs 60.

Initially, the local Tamilians wereunderstanding and sympathetic to

the plight of the Sri Lanka Tamils.Gradually, the novelty of the re-fugees recounting horror storieswore off. Indifference gave way toopen resentment. As refugee SimeonLeon told SUNDAY, "The locals resentus because they are worse off thanus. They resent the fact that theirgovernment is spending money on us

COVER STORY

cannot think of returning till there ispeace and till the army is withdrawnfrom our homeland." Then with asigh of anguish he says: "O God, howlong do we have to endure this exist-ence?" When they return they areconfident of reorganising themselvesin three months.

Would they return to India again ifthere was a recurrence of violence?No way. As Arokiaswamy said, "Wehave no energy left to flee again.Earlier, we were propelled by hope.Now we know what exactly refugeelife is all about. Should violenceerupt again we will die like dogsbefore the bullets." They were wordsof despair. One left the shelter with acollage of-images: the old man gazingvacantly at the ceiling, the afternoonsunlight playing on his face; a

The cyclone shelter in Kovalam where the refugees have been put up Shyam Tehwani

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when they could do with some moneythemselves. They envy us because wesit around doing nothing whereasthey work for 14 hours a day andearn far less than what we get asdoles." All the refugees yearn forhome. The male refugees want to getback to their traditional occupations,and they hope that India will solvetheir problem so that they can returnsoon.

"Sometimes we regret havingcome here. When we fled to TamilNadu we thought it will be at best foronly a month. Every minute is as longas a year. Idleness is driving us crazy.Every day we wake up in the morn-ing wondering how we are going toendure another day," said Leon. Buthe rationalises: "Of course, we had toflee. We had no choice. And now wefind that tension and terror in ourhomelands is worse than before. We

mother carefully mending her littledaughter's tattered frock; young menand women cramped in the confinesof a circular room; women trying tocook, all the while ignoring the re-volting stench of excrement and theuncomprehending wonder in thelarge eyes of one-year-old Deepen ashe possessively clutches history inhis piece of broken coconut shell.What is their future?

Even as discontent is mountingamong those who had come to TamilNadu in the massive exodus in Febru-ary this year, another influx of Tamilrefugees began following the mas-sacres in Vavuniya and Trincomal-lee. The numbers were not as big asin February but big enough to provethat the Sri Lanka government wasnot following the rules of the cease-fire. State-sponsored violenceagainst the Tamils had begun even

before the second round of talks atThimphu in Bhutan started. The Indi-an authorities too became stricter,clamping down on journalists inter-viewing the refugees at the camps.Prior permission has to be obtainedfrom the department of rehabilita-tion in Madras and even those jour-nalists who are permitted to inter-view the inmates are not allowed intothe camps: instead they are made towait in the Keloniya Bungalow wherea handful of refugees are brought inby the authorities. As they narratetheir tales of woe, the local govern-ment functionaries keep a watch onthem, perhaps to ensure that they donot make compromising statementsabout the condition in the camps.Based on what the local authoritieshad said in February, this correspon-dent had reported how the campshad degenerated into dens of iniqui-ty with rampant smuggling, gamb-ling, drinking and prostitution.Perhaps, the denial of free access tothe camps is the authorities' way ofensuring that such reports do notreach the outside -world. But forevery rule imposed by the govern-ment there are at least three ways to jcircumvent it. As most of the re-fugees get off at Dhanushkodi, thiscorrespondent went there to meetthem just as they got off their boats.There is a tar road from Ramesh-waram to Moonraichatram. From thispoint one can get to Dhanushkodionly by jeep as the rail and road linkshave been completely submerged fol-lowing the devastating cyclone of1964. The rickety old jeeps whichshould have been sold as scrap de-cades ago virtually ferry the passen-gers to and from Moonraichatram toDhanushkodi which is six kilometresaway.

Venkataswamy (45) had fled fromChudvanthapilavu near Vavuniya

along with his seven children whenthe army attacked the village on 3September. The family hid in theforest and after a couple of daystrekked to Vavuniya. Venkatas-wamy's wife does not stay with himsince she is working as a maidservantin Saudi Arabia. The attack was thesecond one on his house. On 3 Janu-ary 1985, the army had set fire to alarge number of houses in Venkatas-wamy's village. He had, at that time,lost 40 pigs, nine hens, some moneyand gold. Scared, he had crossed overto Rameshwaram with three otherfamilies comprising 17 members (in-cluding nine children). The refugeeshad to pay Rs 2,750 to the boatrunnerwho brought them to India's shores.Venkataswamy's sister-in-law,Meenambal, had to hide in the forestfor four days with her children be-

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fore she ventured to go on foot to hermother's house in Vavuniya. Herhusband, Sothinayakam, an agri-cultural labourer, could not comeaway as they did not have enoughmoney. Even as she was talking toSUNDAY her two-year-old child, Man-gleshwari, clung to her crying forfood. .In the Mandapam camp thereare 5,100 refugees. According to SriLampatnam, a clerk in the Sri Lankagovernment in Chettikulam, Vavu-niya district, on 2 December 1984,while there was a curfew, armymenransacked their houses and beat upthe men with sticks and rifles. Fromthat village 52 young Tamil boyswere arrested on suspicion of beingmembers of the Tamil Tigers andshot dead. The elderly men were letoff after a sound thrashing. Thearmymen had then said to the oldmen: "You all know where the Tigersare hiding. Take the beating forsupporting them." According to himon 21 May 1985. the security forceswent around saying that as per thegovernment's orders all Tamilswould have to leave Vavuniya. SriLampatnam reached Rameshwaramon 26 August. According to him, thecease-fire was observed only in someareas in Vavuniya. He also said that alarge number of Tamils in places likeChettikulam, Adapamkulam, Muda-layakulam, Neriyakulam, Nechiku-lam, Pulialamkulam had abandonedtheir homes fearing army attacks andwere living as refugees in Mannarand Pesalai. Sivamalai is a 28-year-old woman who had to make a hazar-dous trip to Rameshwaram with herseven-day-old baby, Piravu. She wasconvinced that the Tamils had nofuture in Sri Lanka when her fatherwas shot dead by the army on €January this year. Old and haggardGloria held the portrait of her deadson Kuendes Peres who was only 17years old when the security forceskilled him in January. Her eyes brimwith tears as she speaks of her son.She draws comfort from the suddenarrival of her elder son, Susiaippe,who had disappeared in the forestthree months ago. Later, he managedto join her at the Mandapam camp.Many young men like Jayaseelamand Amirthalingam recounted talesof torture they had to undergo in theBoosa and Tallady army camps. Theironly crime was that they were youngTamil men; to the Sri Lanka army allyoung Tamils are "Tigers."

One' major problem with refugeecamps is that they invariably de-generate into brpthels. The fleshtrade is an easy way to supplementincomes. As journalists are no longerallowed inside the camps withoutpermission and an official escort, itwas impossible to gather evidence of

COVER STORY

the flesh trade from within the camp.However, a few lodge-owners inRameshwaram told SUNDAY thatseveral Tamil girls took rooms for anight. Even though they know it isillegal, the lodge-owners confessedthat they turned a blind eye becausetheir business was poor. Sometimesafter sunset, one can see these youngwomen, often accompanied by theirmother or aunt or a couple of male"relatives," waiting in the premisesof the famous Lord Ramanathas-wamy temple, where all tourists con-verge. When they are asked whatthey are doing there, the refugeesoften say they are waiting to worshipat the temple or some similar thing.There has been a sea change in theattitude of the people of Ramesh-waram towards the Sri Lanka Tamil

trouble. Since February 1985, therehas been a drastic reduction in theinflow of pilgrims. It has now dwin-dled to about 300 pilgrims per day.This reduction has taken a heavy tollon the supportive infrastructure liketransport, lodges, restaurants andshops.

Though most of the locals blamethe press and the politicians for theirsorry plight, the Sri Lanka Tamilmritants are determined to gainEeiam (a separate homeland) forthemselves. According to V. Pirabha-karan, leader of the Liberation Ti-gers for Tamil Eelam (LTTE), whorecently surfaced after over a year,"No force on earth, however mighty,can stop the processes of the strugglefor Eelam (see interview)." The re-fugees in Tamil Nadu, meanwhile,

Tamil refugees fritter their time away by playing cards

refugees. Initially,'they were verysupportive, warm and cordial. Today,seven months later, it is a differenttale altogether. The economy of thisquaint pilgrim town is in a shambleswith 90 per cent of the 48,000 inhabi-tants having suffered severe finan-cial setbacks in the last two years.The locals blame the Tamil refugeesfor their problems. A large numberof business enterprises rested uponthe daily inflow of about 1,200 pil-grims to Rameshwaram. In February,the exodus of Tamil refugees createda nationwide sensation. Reports ab-out the fleeing Tamils appeared inall the Indian dailies. The stories ofpersecution and terror were date-lined, Rameshwaram giving the im.pression to north Indian pilgrimsthat the small town was the hub of

have to live with their problems. InRameshwaram, for example, theyhave to contend with anger and dis-content of the local fishermen whoare volatile by temperament. In fact,the frustrated and hostile fishermenare itching to go on a path of con-frontation. Realising this the author-ities are trying to draw up newschemes to ameliorate the lot of thelocal fishermen. Some who have ex-perienced huge losses say things like"the whole problem is that our gov-ernment is so supportive. If theydon't watch out, the Sri Lanka Tamilswill carve out an Eelam in TamilNadu." As N. Chandran, secretary ofthe Rameshwaram Merchants Asso-ciation told SUNDAY: "For our sakewe hope the Tamil problem in Sri iLanka is resolved soon."

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COVER STORY

We are Prepared to Pay forFreedom With Our Lives"

V. Pirabhakaran, Jeader of Liberation Tigers/or Tamil EeJam, told SUNDAY

a Why did you choose to go•underground?_ A: I did not leave with the

intention of going under-ground. I had to attend to some workin my country. I had to discuss cer-tain matters relating to the peacetalks with my lieutenants. I also hadto assess for myself the situation andreaction in the Tamil areas. While Iwas there certain incidents tookplace (referring to the deportation ofA. S. Balasingham, official spokes-man of the LITE) so I continued toremain there.

• Q: What is the reaction of youilieutenants to the ceasefire?

A: Ceasefire is a drama. Under itsguise, the Sri Lankan armed forcesare continuing to perpetrate atroci-ties against our people, massacresare still going on, Tamils are stillbeing driven out of their homes. If itis a true ceasefire, our lieutenantswill be happy. We followed the cease-fire in letter and spirit and stoppedall our guerrilla operations. But theSri Lankan armed forces continued'to attack civilians, forcing us to re-taliate. I find I have to handle thepresent situation very carefully. Theceasefire itself is a farce and I alsohave to handle my lieutenants, whoknow only too well that it is a dramawhere the Sri Lanka governmentis covertly going ahead with its geno-cide of the Tamils.

Q: Why did you choose to go under-ground when Balasingham was de-ported?

A: I could have come back im-mediately. But I wanted to expressmy resentment at .the deportationorder.

Q:, You continued to remain inac-cessible even when Rajiv Gandhisummoned the ENLF leaders. Don'tyou think your inaccessibility hasstrained relations between the gov-ernment of India and you?

A: But I wished to convey mydissatisfaction also, as I strongly feltthat the deportation order was un-necessary.

Q: Then what made you surfaceagain?

A: There were many reasons. First,because I was underground there

were some negative forces, certainanti-liberation forces which in myabsence were trying to portray us asdangerous terrorists who wereopposed to the peace talks. Second,there was an attempt to isolate andsingle us out as hardliners whowanted only a military solution.Rumours were being floated in thepublic and in some newspaperswhich started giving grossly exagger-ated and distorted news about us,painting us as dangerous terrorists.Third, the Sri Lanka government was

A file photograph of Pirabhakaran beforehe went underground

exploiting my absence and blamingthe LITE for having killed the TULFex-MPS.

. Q: What do you hope will come outof your meeting with Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi?

A: We hope to explain our problemclearly to him. Among the issues wewant to raise with him is the fact thatJayewardene is using the ceasefireas a front while he goes about syste-matically massacring the Tamils. Wewant to try and convince him thatwhat is going on in Sri Lanka isgenocide of a race. We want to givehim details of what exactly is going

on in Sri Lanka even though there issupposed to be a ceasfire. We alsowant to highlight the fact that the SriLanka government has so far not putforward genuine, meaningful setof proposals. So far we have hadcontacts with the Indian PrimeMinister only through third parties.We want to meet him directly so thatwe can clear a lot of misunderstand-ings and suspicions.

Q: Do you think the PM will besympathetic?

A: I trust he will be.Q: Do you feel that in the last three

months the Indian government's atti-tude towards the militants has har-dened?

A: In the beginning I did not thinkso but after Balasingham was de-ported I am inclined to believe thatthe attitude has hardened.

Q: What do you think has causedthis change in the Indian govern-ment's stance?

A: I don't know what has causedthis change. Perhaps, some interna-tional crisis or pressure is responsi-ble. It is not possible for us to ascer-tain immediately as to what hascaused this change,but with time Iam sure the reasons will come out.

Q: Do you think that India hasbecome more pro-Sri Lanka?

A: So far we have not thoughtalong those lines. But certain inci-dents create doubts in our minds.

Q: Why did you not respond im-mediately to Mr Gandhi's summonswhen Thimphu II talks had failed?

A: Though both the LTTE dele-gates had come away, one delegate ofthe other groups was kept back inThimphu. India wanted the ENLFleaders in Delhi so that they couldsomehow resume the peace talks. Butwhen massacres were going on inVavuniya and Trincomallee, isn't it amockery that we, who are supposedto defend our people, are engaged inpeace talks? When there is no senseof responsibility on the part of theSri Lanka government to adherestrictly to the ceasefire regulations,peace talks become meaningless.The Sri Lanka government gave noassurances that such massacres willnot recur. In the circumstances we

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COVER STORY

The ceasefire is a drama. Under its guise,the Sri Lankan armed forces are

continuing to perpetrate atrocities againstour people, massacres are still going on,Tamils are still being driven out of theirhomes.

decided uot to terminate the talks.<?: Did the LTTE kill the two TULF

ex-MPs? The Indian intelligenceagencies are positive that you wereresponsible.

A: We are not responsible for thekilling. What can we do if Indianintelligence agencies make suchclaims? Immediately after it tookplace, we denied the claim made bythe Sri Lanka government that wewere responsible. The ENLF alsoissued a denial. Even if the Indianintelligence agencies claim that weare responsible the people in Jaffnaknow that we have not done it.Maybe the Indian inte ligence agen-cies have assumed that we did it,without any evidence. Because I hadgone underground they may havecome to such conclusions. If we haddone it, we would have claimed re-sponsibility, jiving our reasons fordoing it. We undertake an operationonly on the basis of our conviction.So, if we had done it we would nothave gone about hiding the fact. Forinstance, when we shot Alalasundar-am (the ex-TULF MP who was killedrecently had earlier been shot in theleg by the LTTE) we claimed we haddone it. We did not kill him becausewe thought it was unnecessary. Wepunished him for his anti-social acti-vities: he had a hand in the coopera-tive fraud. We produced evidence ofhis embezzlement. Incidentally, a lotof the documents exposing his nefa-rious activities were set ablaze on thecooperative premises. We alsoclaimed responsibility when we shotAnandarajah (principal of St John'sSchool in JaffnaX When the SriLanka government announced a re-ward of Rs five lakhs for informationleading to the arrest of his killers,the people of Jaffna came to 'knowthe basis of his relationship with theSri Lanka' government. They keptquiet fully understanding why wehad killed him. Anandarajah wasplanning to hold a cricket match withthe armed forces at a time when theywere killing oar people, arrestingyoung Tamil t»oys indiscriminately,burning Tamil property and raping

Tamil women. We had to do awaywith him because the governmentwas using the impending cricketmatch as propaganda to give theimpression to the world that theTamil civilians have very cordial re-lations with the Sri Lanka armed

Pirabbakaran: a legend in his lifetime

forces and that the ethnic problem issomething created by a handful ofmilitants.

0* Could not the ex-TULF MPs• have been killed by some rebel

LTTE members?A: Absolutely not. Nothing hap-

pens in the LTTE without my permis-sion. About the killing I want to saysomething. I met TULF leaders andassured them that we had not donethis killing and that they need notworry about facing such consequ-ences from us. I told them that justbecause we had shot Alalasundaramsome time ago, it did not mean thatwe were against the TULF. However,I pointed out to them that the gapbetween them and the younger gen-eration was widening most alarming-ly. The younger generation look upon

them as betrayers who have given upthe struggle for Eelam. The gap iswidening all the more because theyare not in Eelam facing the people.They have been completely isolatedfrom the realities in Eelam. So, aslong as they remain isolated from theTamil people, they are likely to facesuch drastic action from the youngergeneration. The reality is that if 1were to give up the Eelam struggle Iwould face similar action from them.

Q: You mean to say that the youn-ger generation is even more commit-ted to Eelam?

A: The incidents in Eelam showthat a Eelam, a separate state, is theonly solution. After facing so manygenocidal attacks, the Tamils realisethere is no solution other than Eelamfor them if they are to live in peaceand security.

Q: Apparently the killing of theTULF MPs, for which the LTTE washeld responsible, has hardened MrGandhi. In fact, he did not rescindthe deportation order on Balasing-ham even though he had been on theverge of doing so.

A: We have no connection with thekilling. If the Indian governmentdoes not rescind the orders becauseit assumes that we killed the TULFMPs, then it is its mistake. There isno point in punishing us. They should-punish the agency that is really guil-ty so that such incidents do not occuragain.

Q: What was your reaction whenBalasingham was deported?

A: We had cooperated so muchwith the Indian government, so whenit happened we felt we had beenwronged. The incident has created acertain amount of bitterness betweenus and them.

Q: How would you define yourrelationship with Balasingham?

A: He is our political advisor. As atrue patriot, he reflects the nationalsentiments of our people.

Q: Why did India deport Balasingham?

A: India has said that he wasdeported in "public interest." Butthe reason appears to be farcical.

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Sending him away while keeping ushere for peace talks just does notmake sense.

Q: 'Do you think the real reasonwas the assumption in Delhi thatwithout Balasingham you would notbe able to function?

A: If they think that, they aremaking a mistake. They are not deal-ing with just individuals—Balasing-ham or Pirabhakaran—but are deal-ing with the popular will of thepeople.

Q: Do you think the Indian govern-ment will revoke the deportationorders?

A: I certainly hope so.Q: Is the ENLFfirm on the demand

that the negotiations cannot resumeunless Balasingham is brought back?

A: Without Balasingham I will faceproblems and difficulties regardingthe peace talks. He is the expert onconstitutional matters so his pre-sence is crucial for the negotiations. Iwill explain these reasons when Imeet the PM and urge him to with-draw the deportation order.

Q: What will happen if the PM sayshe is not willing to rescind the order?

A: Then it will create difficulties asfar as the negotiations are con-cerned.

Q: When you meet Mr Gandhi willyou state your view that Eelam is theonly sojution?

A: Definitely. We will point outthat Eelam is the only solution andalso the historical factors that havedriven us to this conclusion.

Q: But the PM has gone on recordto state that he will not support anyseparatist cause.

A: We will take the opportunity toconvey our decision to the PM. IfIndia has another solution, it can bepresented to us. But in that case theywill have to prove to us why thatsolution will be effective.

Q: Do you think a fair and justsettlement can be arrived at throughthese negotiations?

A: Seeing the way the Sri Lankagovernment is acting it is impossiblefor us to believe that they are serious

COVER STORY

about settling this problem by meansof a negotiated settlement. Duringthe ceasefire they have been pur-chasing a lot of arms and ammuni-tion. It clearly shows that they areintent upon a military solution. Evenas the talks are going on they aregoing about driving Tamils out oftheir homeland and making themrefugees. There are now 35,000Tamil refugees in Trincomallee.Nearly 600 innocent Tamils werekilled when there was supposed to bea ceasefire.

Q: There were reports that you badbeen sighted in Batticaloa disguisedas a priest in a cassock.

A: It is true that I was in Eelam.But the rest is all make-believe.

Q: Considering that you all firmlybelieve that there is genocide ofTamils in Sri Lanka, what do youthink is the best way for India to

Pirabhakaran: 'we need India's support*

solve the problem?A: They can stop the genocide by

helping the freedom-fighters. Theycan help those who are trying toprotect the Tamils. We do need Indi-a's moral support.

. Q: Do you think India should optfor a military intervention in SriLanka?

A: I don't support this argument. Itwill create a lot of problems for Indiain the international fora.

Q: Has Rajiv Gandhi's attitude tothe Sri Lanka Tamils changed fromthat of his mother's?

A: I don't see any big difference.Q: One-and-a-half years ago, in an

interview to SUNDAY you had pre-dicted that there would be armyviolence in Vavuniya and Trincomal-le. On what basis had you made thisprediction which has come true?

A: I knew that there would beattacks by the army in these areasbecause there was hectic colonisa-tion there. There is a systematiccampaign to encroach on our terri-tory and push all the Tamils into theJaffna peninsula. We knew whattheir tactic was so we went aheadand developed bases in Vavuniyaand Trincomallee to thwart theseattempts. Just yesterday (15 Septem-ber) we shot down a helicopter inTrincomallee. It is of utmost import-ance that we protect the frontier orthe frontier will come to our door-step. Becase of our bases, J aye war-dene has not been able to push ourfrontier in and he will not be able todo so in the future.Q: What do you think will happen inthe near future?

A: The struggle for Eelam hasblossomed, gathering momentumwith each passing day. There will bea separate Tamil Eelam. No force ohearth, however mighty, can stop theprocesses. The only other eventualityis that, all the Tamils will perish inthis struggle. We may all -foe elimin-ated so that the Tamils as a race iswiped out from the island.

Q: The Sri Lanka government hasclaimed that 'the militants are plan-ning a major offensive. Is this true?

A: We have not taken any suchdecision. We have never made falseclaims or come out with exaggeratedstories.

Q: Balasingham said that Tamil

We hope to explain our problem to PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi. Among the

issues we want to raise with him is the factthat Jayewardene is using the ceasefire asa front while he goes about systematicallymassacring the Tamils.

•UNDAY 29 S^pwnbw—5 OctoMr 1965 17

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COVER STORY

The Sri Lankan army has not gone out ofcontrol. Jayewardene is masterminding

these attacks on the Tamils. He is playing adouble game. He gives his armyinstructions to unleash havoc and thenclaims that his armed forces have gone outof control.

civilians would be armed by theLTTE soon.

A: He was talking about the future.It is bound to happen in the future.

Q: Do you expect the Sri Lankagovernment to launch a massiveattack on the Tamils?

A: Yes we do. It will be on a largerscale than what we have seen inBeirut. The Trincomallee and Vavu-niya incidents were far worse thanthe holocaust in July 1983. Suchincidents will occur again with grea-ter savagery. The air attacks onTamil civilians is the first indicationof the determination of the Sri Lankagovernment to exterminate us.

tt: What good can your determina-if tion do when a couple of bombsare dropped in the Tamil areas?

A: Bombs and nuclear weapons cankill thousands. But the point is, whohave the weapons with them? At themoment the weapons are with theLanka government. But it is not verydifficult for us to capture it fromthem. After all, most of our weaponsare those which we captured fromthe Sri Lankan armed forces.

Q: Will you agree to an extensionof the ceasefire?

A: We are not carrying on a war.Ours is a defensive action against thegenocide of our people. If the geno-cidal attacks stop, we are willing tostop our guerilla operations. But it isdifficult for us to agree to an exten-sion if there is no outside agency tosupervise the ceasefire to ensurethat there are no truce violations. Ifceasefire is to be extended, we wouldexpect both the Sri Lanka govern-ment and India, that is acting asmediator, to give us an assurancethat there will be no ceasefire viola-tions. Some non-governmental agen-cies .like the International Red Cross,could be entrusted with the task ofmonitoring the ceasefire andlookinginto the conditions of the politicalprisoners.

Q: Do you think the Sri Lankanarmy has gone out of control?

A: I don't think so at all. Jayewar-dene is masterminding these attackson the Tamils. He is playing a doublegame. He gives his army instructionsto unleash havoc and then claims thathis armed forces have gone out ofcontrol as if that would exoneratehim. If there was mutiny in thearmed forces there would have beena coup by now, overthrowingJayewardene.

Q: Do you think Jayewardene isinsincere about a political solution?Will the chances for a negotiatedsettlement brighten if some otherleader is in his place?

A: We don't think a change in theSinhala leadership will solve theproblem. Our history has shown thatwe have been betrayed and deceivedby successive Sinhala governments.

Q: Are you prepared to face vio-lence and bloodshed on a long-termbasis for the sake of Eelam?

A: Certainly. No nation in theworld has ever achieved freedomwithout bloodshed and sacrifice. WeTamils are prepared to pay for free-dom with our lives.

Q: But, as in South Africa, thefreedom struggle can go on for de-cades without achieving anything.

A: No time limit can be imposedupon a liberation struggle. Till thegoal is achieved it is an ongoingstruggle. Itisapeople's war. So, thedeath of a few guerilla fighters willnot put a halt to the struggle. Often itis the people's determination andinternational support and circumst-ances that make a liberation strug-gle achieve success. We are fightingin the hope that we will see Eelam inour lifetime. We don't want to passthe burden of a liberation struggle tothe next generation: they must enjoythe fruits of our toil. But in case wedo not succeed in our lifetime, wehave a vision to see that the struggleis passed on to the next generation.

Q: Will you participate in the nextround of peace talks?

A: That would depend on the com-

position of the Sri Lankan delega-tion.

Q: Do you think India will impose asettlement upon the militants?

A: No, I don't think so. Therewould be no point in trying to imposea settlement because we will notaccept anything that will not fulfilthe legitimate aspirations of ourpeople.

Q: Do you think the peace talk isJayewardene's ploy to buy timewhile he strengthens his military?

A: Of couse it is. But then timebenefits us too.

Q: You have become something ofa folk hero in the Tamil areas. Whatdo you think are the reasons for yourbecoming a legend in your own life-time?

A: That is for the people to say.Basically, I hate such sentiments be-cause they pander to one's ego. Aliberation fighter has to transcendthe confines of his ego and his self toimmerse himself whole-heartedly inthe struggle. We are only symbols ofthe aspirations of the Tamil people.

Q: Suppose, due to circumstances,the relations between the Indian gov-ernment and Tamil militants arestrained to such an extent that Indiawithdraws support to you, will you bein a position to continue your libera-tion struggle alone?

A: Do we have any other alterna-tive? Fight we must, till our goal isachieved. India's sympathy is amorale-booster, but should Indiawithdraw support it would not meanthe end of our liberation struggle.After all we did not start our libera-tion movement with India's supportor with the help of some other exter-nal forces. We will fight till we die.When I die someone else will takeover. As Subhas Chandra Bose said,'No liberation fighter can deludehimself that he alone can deliverfreedom.' If my generation dies with-out attaining freedom the next gen-eration will carry on the struggle.Interviewed by AnKf Prmtup

18 SUNDAY 29 SeplemW—5 OctoMr 1985

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