Tamils under LTTE

Years ago as a young student I've collected funds for the Tamils in Sri Lanka and spoke passionately about the atrocities committed by the Lanka forces. That was a teenager in the mid 80's.

As a young man years later I had an opportunity to live and work in Colombo and Kandy towards the fag end of the last millennium. Those 15 months in Sri lanka had a profound impact on me, such wonderful people, humble polite and courteous, not just the ordinary folks you worked with or you met at a mall or restaurants, it was the army and the police men on the streets, that I'm talking about.

The country was under emergency rule by the Chandrika govt, there were police / army check points all over the city and one was stopped at least twice a week to check the identity cards, but, every time I handed my passport to the security personal, I used to be surprised to see that these young men in uniform return the passport after mandatory check with a smile and say "thank u and sorry 4 the inconvenience". That really amazed me; I'm yet to come across a smiling cop in India.

I remember those were the times where we saw on an average of at least one suicide bombing being carried out in Colombo every month by the LTTE; they killed innocent civilian young and old alike. Tamil (those who opposed armed struggle) and Sinhala politicians, worse School children were not spared. That’s when I really started to talk to the Tamils in Colombo, Kandy and Ratnapura to understand their side of the story.

Tamils are all over the Island nation living / working and making a life for themselves, unlike the once in Jaffna (one hardly hears their side of the story under LTTE occupation), It was also intriguing to find the Tamils from the rest of the country were largely aloof but sympathetic towards the ordinary Tamils living in the north but not the tigers. It was commonly heard in Tamil homes but in hush hush tones, where the tigers were called extortionist and drug runners. It was a rude shock to see what was happening and I felt disappointed and disillusioned. I used to be a big fan of the LTTE and Prabhakaran. I felt stupid to have supported LTTE.

It is unfortunate that even today, the Tamil news media in India continue to write about the Tamil cause and the deceitful politician in Tamil nadu taking the gullible common man for a ride on an emotive issue as Tamils in Lanka suffer at the hands of the TIGERS.

I sincerely believe the sooner the Tigers are finished the better, only then will the Tamils in Lanka be able to live in peace.