{"id":210643,"date":"2020-05-19T18:18:33","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T12:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=210643"},"modified":"2020-05-24T00:06:35","modified_gmt":"2020-05-23T18:36:35","slug":"remembering-may-18-2009-ranaviruwo-vs-tamil-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/remembering-may-18-2009-ranaviruwo-vs-tamil-terrorists\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering\u00a0 May 18, 2009 –\u00a0“Ranaviruwo”\u00a0Vs.\u00a0Tamil “Terrorists”"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0<\/span>Karikalan\u00a0 <\/span>S. Navaratnam<\/a>\u00a0–<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Karikalan S. Navaratnam<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Our heroic Sinhala \u2018Ranaviruvo<\/i>\u2019 have roundly defeated and decimated the Tamil\u00a0<\/span>\u201cterrorists<\/i>\u201d in the war in May 2009\u2019. That, in essence, is the refrain of the Southern\u00a0<\/span>political class in post-war Sri Lanka\u00a0 <\/span>and\u00a0 <\/span>the theme that sustains all bluster and\u00a0<\/span>braggadocio of the hardcore Sinhala ultra-nationalists. That is rather a simplistic\u00a0<\/span>assertion.\u00a0<\/span>Tamil militancy represented our collective resistance to Sinhala\u00a0<\/span>majoritarian oppression and tyranny. In the face of state-sponsored terrorism and\u00a0<\/span>aggression, fledgling militancy morphed into full-fledged armed struggle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Majoritarian discourses on Tamil question in Sri Lanka never addressed the root\u00a0causes of Tamil insurgency during its infancy. Instead, the mandarins and military\u00a0<\/span>leaders of successive racist regimes, gnashing and grinding their teeth, snarled\u00a0“<\/span>Tamil terrorists<\/i>\u201d and launched savage terror campaigns against Tamil youths.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since early 1970s even before their armed struggle took off, hundreds of innocent\u00a0Tamil youths were indiscriminately hunted down and scores of them were killed. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nelson Mandela \u2013 a \u2018Terrorist\u2019<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

After all, to be dubbed as \u201cterrorist\u201d is not always universally a stigma. Nelson\u00a0<\/span>Mandela, the most iconic leader of the 20th<\/sup> Century, had earned the epithet\u00a0<\/span>\u201cterrorist\u201d. The U.S. Government had his name on Terrorist Watch Lists until 2008.<\/p>\n

Why\/how did Nelson Mandela become a \u201cterrorist\u201d?.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cSince its founding in 1912,\u00a0\u201cthe ANC fought against apartheid for decades through rigorously nonviolent\u00a0<\/i>means, mostly labor strikes and public service boycotts<\/i>,….”\u00a0The ANC\u2019s policy of\u00a0<\/span><\/i>nonviolence received a sudden and brutal setback in 1960<\/i>. That\u2019s when the\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Sharpeville Massacre took place. In 1960, South African police killed 69 black\u00a0<\/span><\/i>protesters in the town 40 miles south of Johannesburg; amid the crackdown that\u00a0<\/span><\/i>followed, the government banned the ANC. As the ANC went underground,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Mandela became the head of the military wing of the African National Congress,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u2026\u2026..(Spear of the Nation)\u2026.<\/i>.\u201d. \u201cDefending the shift in strategy as a last resort,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Mandela said in one of his interviews from prison, \u201c\u2018The armed struggle [with the\u00a0<\/span><\/i>authorities] was forced on us by the government<\/i>.’\u201d (TIME magazine, 18 July 2018<\/b>)<\/p>\n

Tamils \u2018Satyagraha\u2019 struggle\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

For over three decades the Tamil people carried on a non-violent Satyagraha\u00a0<\/span>struggle against majoritarian oppression and discrimination. A single \u2018Sharpeville\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Massacr<\/i>e\u2019 had forced the hands of ANC leaders to shift gears and opt for armed\u00a0<\/span>struggle. How many \u2018Sharpeville Massacres\u2019<\/i> and genocidal killings \u2013 savage attacks\u00a0<\/span>and periodic pogroms (in 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983) – the Tamils had\u00a0<\/span>suffered or endured, before the younglings took up arms?. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rebels silenced their guns \u2013 17 May 2009<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

LTTE fighters silenced their guns on the 17 May 2009.\u00a0<\/span>However, Sri Lankan\u00a0<\/span>military blitzkrieg continued with all guns blazing onslaught even on 18 May 2009 and the army\u2019s heavy artillery booming until they completed the slaughter of the\u00a0<\/span>entire civilians remaining trapped in the No-Fire Zone (NFZ).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA statement carried by the pro-rebel Tamilnet website said that the Tigers had\u00a0<\/span><\/i>given up their fight and “have decided to silence our guns<\/i>“. \u201cThe statement was\u00a0<\/span><\/i>issued as the Sri Lankan government was moving in for a final push today in its\u00a0<\/span><\/i>26-year civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after announcing\u00a0<\/span><\/i>that all civilians had been evacuated from the rebels’ tiny enclave on the north-east\u00a0<\/span><\/i>coast of the island<\/i>.\u201d <\/i>(Verily, the government\u2019s claim that all civilians had been\u00a0<\/span>evacuated was a blatant lie).\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTheir claims were challenged, however, by western\u00a0<\/span><\/i>diplomats and humanitarian workers who said they feared thousands of civilians\u00a0<\/span><\/i>remain trapped in the so-called “safe zone” and face a “massacre” as government\u00a0<\/span><\/i>forces move in to crush the last of the Tamil Tigers<\/i>.\u201d (The Telegraph, (UK) 17 May\u00a0<\/span><\/b>2009 \u2013 \u201cTamil Tigers ‘silence\u00a0 <\/span>their guns’ after Sri Lankan president claims victory<\/i>\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Massacre of Surrendees<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The massacre of surrendering LTTE leaders and their families by the Army was\u00a0<\/span>a treacherous act. It may seem ironic that days\/hours before their surrender, the\u00a0<\/span>Tamil \u201cterrorists\u201d released the Sinhala PoWs in their custody in one piece. But, what\u00a0<\/span>did the \u201cwar heroes\u201d do? The narrative, which has since gained international\u00a0<\/span>notoriety as \u2018White Flag\u2019<\/i> incident, merits elaborating a bit (per<\/i> Wikipedia-Excerpts):\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(QUOTED) It was all a desperate attempt to save the lives of an estimated 300\u00a0fighters and their families. LTTE’s Political Wing leader Nadesan and Pulidevan\u00a0agreed to surrender and contacted the UN, the governments of Norway, UK, USA\u00a0and ICRC, and intermediaries, Tamil M.P. Rohan Chandranehru, Basil Rajapaksa\u00a0and Sunday Times<\/i> (UK) reporter\u2026\u2026\u2026. Marie Colvin. Sri Lankan President, Mahinda\u00a0<\/span>Rajapaksa was aware of the negotiated surrender\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u00a0 <\/span>On May 17, 2009 Marie\u00a0<\/span>Colvin received a call from Nadesan asking that she relay to the United Nations that,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cthey would lay down their arms, they wanted a guarantee of safety from the U.S.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>or Great Britain<\/i>\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

UN official\u2019s role<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

(QUOTED) According to Colvin, she established contact with Vijay Nambiar, Chief\u00a0of Staff to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and relayed the LTTE\u2019s conditions for\u00a0surrender, which he in turn agreed to relay to the government. By the night of May\u00a017, the LTTE \u2026\u2026\u2026 requested Nambiar to be present to guarantee their safety in\u00a0surrender. Nambiar told Colvin that he had been assured by Sri Lankan President\u00a0Mahinda Rajapaksa of the surrendering combatants’ safety, all they had to do was\u00a0<\/span>\u201choist a white flag high<\/i>\u201d. Nambiar told her that the President\u2019s assurance was\u00a0enough and that his presence was unnecessary. At 1:06 AM on May 18, 2009,\u00a0Nadesan made his final call to Tamil MP Rohan Chandranehru saying they were\u00a0<\/span>walking towards the Sri Lankan military and, \u201cI will hoist the white flag as high as I\u00a0<\/span><\/i>can<\/i>.\u201d \u2026\u2026.., Nadesan\u2019s Sinhalese wife was among those in the front of the surrender\u00a0<\/span>party. \u00a0<\/span>LTTE surrendered to the 58 Division army, carrying White flags. \u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u00a0<\/span>Hours later, the Sri Lankan Army announced that the Nadesan, Pulidevan, and the\u00a0<\/span>LTTE members accompanying them had been killed. That evening they displayed\u00a0<\/span>their bodies.<\/p>\n

Contradictions by Sri Lanka<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(QUOTED)\u00a0<\/span>Sri Lankan Government has given various contradicting explanations of\u00a0the deaths \u2013 from denying the surrender to claiming that those surrendering were\u00a0shot by their supporters in the back. General Sarath Fonseka, the commander of\u00a0<\/span>the Sri Lankan Army at the time, claimed Defense Minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u00a0<\/span>gave instructions to Shavendra Silva, commander of the 58 Division, to kill the\u00a0<\/span>surrendering LTTE. \u2026\u2026..Pictures have surfaced of Balachandran Prabhakaran, the\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>12-year-old son of \u2026\u2026.Prabhakaran, alive, unharmed and in custody of the military.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A photo from a few hours later shows the boy\u2019s dead body shot in the chest five\u00a0<\/span>times. Other photos have appeared of Isaipriya, \u2026., alive and in the custody of the\u00a0<\/span>Sri Lankan military. Footage obtained by Channel 4 News shows a number of dead\u00a0<\/span>bodies, including that of Isaipriya, which showed signs of possible sexual assault.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These emerging eyewitness reports, photos, and videos are part of the mounting\u00a0<\/span>evidence of Sri Lankan soldiers summarily executing captured Tamils in the closing\u00a0<\/span>stages of the war.<\/p>\n

Journalist Marie Colvin\u2019s role<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

(UNQUOTE).\u00a0 <\/span>One need not labour the point why Sri Lankan leaders get the jitters\u00a0<\/span>on hearing the word \u201cGeneva\u201d. Sadly, journalist Marie Colvin was killed on 22\u00a0<\/span>Feb.2012 while covering the war in Syria.\u00a0 <\/span>Writing on her death, the BBC made\u00a0<\/span>reference to her role in the \u201cWhite Flag<\/i>\u201d episode: \u201cShe was angered that senior\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Tamil Tiger leaders who surrendered by arrangement with a very senior United\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Nations official to the Sri Lankan military were killed. On the evening of 17<\/i>th<\/sup><\/i> May\u00a0<\/span><\/i>2009 she had received a ‘desperate phone call’ from the LTTE political head\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Balasingham Nadesan\u2026\u2026She has then called the UN Secretary General’s Chief of\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Staff Vijay Nambiar who she said had been assured by the Sri Lankan president that\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Mr. Nadesan would be safe in surrendering to the Sri Lankan Army. “They would\u00a0<\/span><\/i>take him under international law,” she quoted Mr. Nambiar.\u201d <\/i>(BBC -Sinhala Service,\u00a0<\/span><\/b>26 Feb. 2012 \u2013 \u201cMarie Colvin and Sri Lanka War Crimes<\/i>\u201d<\/b> ).<\/p>\n

A Family affair!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Incidentally, it is relevant to figure out some family bonds relating to certain UN\u00a0<\/span>apparatchiks. Vijay Nambiar is the younger brother of Lt. Gen. Satish Nambiar, aformer Indian General, who had previously served as an advisor to the Sri Lankan\u00a0<\/span>government (2002\/2003).\u00a0<\/span> Satish was later quoted on the Sri Lankan military’s\u00a0<\/span>portal praising the Army’s conduct of the war in the north. UN Chief Ban Ki-moon\u2019s\u00a0daughter is married to Major Siddharth Chatterjee, who had served in the IPKF in\u00a0<\/span>Sri Lanka (1987 to 1990). According to Sunday Times (4 Sept. 2016) Mr. Chatterjee\u00a0<\/span>is reported to have praised the Sri Lanka Army for the way they defeated the LTTE.<\/p>\n

UN Failed<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t had UN Chief of the calibre of a Dag Hammarskjold or Kofi Annan,\u00a0<\/span>during the war. The \u201cWar without witness<\/i>\u201d was conducted, sans<\/i> the UN agencies,\u00a0<\/span>the ICRC, international media, INGOs or any other monitoring groups. All of them\u00a0<\/span>were ordered out of Sri Lanka.\u00a0 <\/span>In response to criticisms, Ban Ki-moon appointed \u2018The Internal Review Panel on UN actions in Sri Lanka.\u2019<\/i> BBC has commented on the\u00a0<\/span>leaked draft of the Panel\u2019s Report, which states, inter alia:\u00a0\u201cThe panel questions decisions such as the withdrawal of UN staff from the war\u00a0<\/i>zone in September 2008 after the Sri Lankan government warned it could no longer\u00a0<\/i>guarantee their safety. Benjamin Dix, who was part of the UN team that left, says\u00a0<\/i>he disagreed with the pullout\u201d. “I believe we should have gone further north, not\u00a0<\/i>evacuate south, and basically abandon the civilian population with no protection\u00a0<\/i>or witness,”\u00a0<\/span><\/i> (BBC News, 13 Nov. 2012 – \u201cUN ‘failed Sri Lanka civilians’, says\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>internal probe<\/i><\/b>\u201d)<\/p>\n

Humanitarian Operation?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Rajapaksa called it a \u201chumanitarian operation\u201d to liberate the Tamils. Massacre of\u00a0<\/span>multitude of civilians marooned in the \u201cNo-fire Zones\u201d, heavy artillery\/aerial\u00a0<\/span>attacks on hospitals and the use of prohibited weapons (WMD) could not have\u00a0<\/span>constituted a \u201chumanitarian operation<\/i>\u201d. Likewise, abduction, torture and\u00a0<\/span>disappearance of detainees held in internment camps, savage sexual attacks on\u00a0<\/span>them and summary execution of captive rebels could not have constituted their\u00a0<\/span>\u201cliberation<\/i>\u201d. During the influx of IDPs into the camps, our modest womenfolk were\u00a0<\/span>ordered to strip naked and paraded before male officers for ostensible \u2018security\u00a0<\/span>check\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>One cannot overlook that some of these \u201cwar heroes<\/i>\u201d had not spared even\u00a0<\/span>the famished female children of Haiti when they later served as UN Peacekeepers\u00a0<\/span>in that country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These were some of the exploits of the \u201cRanaviruwo<\/i>\u201d during or after their decisive\u00a0battle against the \u201cterrorists\u201d. We have lost count of the number of massacres \u2013 let\u00a0<\/span>alone the number of victims \u2013 carried out by the military in random or reprisal\u00a0<\/span>attacks against innocent civilians during the course of the war. It is a very long list!<\/p>\n

32 nations vs. Tamil rebels<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka had enlisted the support of 32 countries in the war. Countries which\u00a0<\/span>were mutually antagonistic had ganged up against the LTTE. Thus, India, China and\u00a0<\/span>Pakistan, together with USA, UK, Russia, Israel, EU and others had offered crucial\u00a0<\/span>support \u2013 military\/ material aid, financial, technological, intelligence etc. India\u00a0<\/span>stands out as the premier benefactor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026\u2026\u2026The Sri Lankan Navy led by Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, executed a\u00a0<\/span><\/i>maritime strategy based on intelligence on LTTE ship movements provided by India.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>In 2006 the SL Navy had tremendous success when, based on Indian intelligence, it\u00a0<\/span><\/i>launched operations to destroy six LTTE warehouse vessels. Subsequently, by\u00a0<\/span><\/i>2007, two more were destroyed, which completely disrupted the LTTE\u2019s supply line.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cIn a recent interview to the Jane\u2019s Defence Weekly, Admiral Karrannagoda said, \u201cIt\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was one of the major turning points in the last 30 years of the conflict. That was the\u00a0<\/span><\/i>main reason why the LTTE are losing the battle, we did not allow a single supply of\u00a0<\/span><\/i>replenishment ship to come into (Sri Lankan) waters over the last two and a half\u00a0<\/span><\/i>years since 2006<\/i>.\u201d (Indian Defence Review, Issue Vol.24.3 of Jul-Sept 2009, 19\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Nov.2014 \u2013\u201cLessons from Sri Lanka\u2019s War<\/i><\/b>\u201d )<\/p>\n

Constriction of space does not permit cataloguing the material support provided\u00a0<\/span>by each country.\u00a0 <\/span>(Vide- South Asia Journal, 23 Jan. 2020 \u2013 \u201cWhich countries helped\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>the Sri Lankan government in the civilian war 2009 \u201d)<\/i><\/b>. The rebels have not had this\u00a0<\/span>luxury. With supplies completely stopped, it was as though they were fighting the\u00a0<\/span>war with bare hands \u2013 and largely on empty stomachs!\u00a0 <\/span>I believe, their spirit and\u00a0<\/span>grit sustained them.<\/p>\n

\u2018Military marvels<\/b>\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only the \u201cRanaviruwo<\/i>\u201d, the rebels also have had their share of \u2018military\u00a0<\/span>marvels\u2019 to brag about.\u00a0 <\/span>If one can adore the armed forces as \u201cwar heroes\u201d, what\u00a0<\/span>shall we call the \u2018boys\u2019, who fought for a cause and fought clean, through\u00a0<\/span>monumental adversity and against monstrous adversaries? Some of the battles\u00a0<\/span>won by the rebels against the superior firepower of the security forces bear\u00a0<\/span>testimony to their spirit and intrepidity. The enormity of the losses suffered by\u00a0<\/span>security forces show the intensity and ferocity of some of the battles which the\u00a0<\/span>rebels had won.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Uneven war<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Tamil rebels were denigrated by military leaders and the media as \u201cBaby Brigade\u201d\u00a0<\/span>and \u201cbarefoot soldiers\u201d. For Sri Lanka, with a 250,000\u00a0 <\/span>strong armed forces\u00a0<\/span>including aerial and naval military resources and reinforced by the military,\u00a0<\/span>material, logistic and diplomatic support of 32 powerful nations around the globe,\u00a0<\/span>it took almost 25 years to subdue the rebels. Manekshaw was the first Indian to\u00a0<\/span>be decorated as a Field Marshal. The rank was conferred on him in 1973 in\u00a0<\/span>recognition of his leadership in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War, which changed the\u00a0<\/span>course of history of three different countries as well as the political geography of\u00a0<\/span>the subcontinent. In Sri Lanka, Sarath Fonseka was decorated as a Field Marshal\u00a0<\/span>for leading the fight against the \u2018boys\u2019 to a finish. Bravo Sri Lanka!<\/p>\n

Abuses by Rebels<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

After all is said and done, some of the heinous crimes committed by the LTTE\u00a0<\/span>continue to haunt my memory. Let me reflect on a couple of them. The rebels\u00a0<\/span>had no legal, moral or strategic justification for committing these crimes.<\/p>\n

*July\u00a0<\/span>1989-Killing of my leader Amirthalingam and my friend Yogeswaran is still hurting\u00a0<\/span>me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*June 1990- The massacre of over 600 Policemen who had surrendered to\u00a0<\/span>the LTTE in Batticaloa was a dastardly act.\u00a0 <\/span>The excuse that that it was carried out\u00a0<\/span>by Karuna, the LTTE honcho in the East, does not absolve the LTTE of the crime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*Oct.1990- Mass expulsion of Muslims from Jaffna.\u00a0<\/span>I have heard LTTE apologists\u00a0<\/span>rationalizing the atrocious act.\u00a0 <\/span>I could not find them convincing.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

*May 1991- The\u00a0<\/span>assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was an insane, evil enterprise which had drastically\u00a0<\/span>changed the dynamics of our political discourse. It had not only wrought the\u00a0<\/span>LTTE\u2019s eventual undoing, but had also critically undermined the Tamil struggle.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Some of us may not have fully agreed with the methods or message of the LTTE.\u00a0Nonetheless, in pursuit of the liberation of our people, the rebels have fought\u00a0<\/span>until their very last breath. Their sacrifice is a shining example of bravery and\u00a0<\/span>devotion to one’s ideals and they have made the supreme sacrifice.\u00a0 <\/span>LTTE leader\u00a0<\/span>epitomizes self-sacrifice. He did not seek safe sanctuary for his wife and children,\u00a0<\/span>but had pledged his whole family to the cause \u2013 and, perhaps, they all have\u00a0<\/span>perished in the hands of their predatory captors in the most cruel manner. We\u00a0<\/span>salute our martyrs. Equally, tens of thousands of brave young men in the security\u00a0forces, drawn mostly from poor rural families, have fought hard and died in the\u00a0<\/span>line of duty. We salute them too. They are the real heroes \u2013 not the vainglorious\u00a0<\/span>\u201cwar criminals\u201d out there, flaunting their insignia on their uniforms. They are\u00a0<\/span>fugitives from international justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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