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LTTE tortured and killed: Ex-cadre's book

13 July 2012 09:07 am - 23     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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The LTTE tortured and killed alleged spies and "traitors" and also looted Tamil shops and homes while fighting the Indian peacekeepers in Sri Lanka, a book by a former woman fighter says.

Niromi de Soyaza, who joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in early 1987 at age 17 and now lives in Australia, says she quit the group after realising that violence cannot lead to a Tamil Eelam state.
 
One afternoon, in Sudhumali in Jaffna, Niromi and her Tiger friends saw some of their male colleagues kick and punch a teenage LTTE member, Vellai, even as he kept muttering "I didn't do it, I didn't do it."
 
Accusing him of being an Indian spy, Vellai was buried up to his shoulder, forced to "swallow cyanide, to see what it did to him", says the 308-page book, "Tamil Tigress" (Mehta Publishing House).
 
Finally, an LTTE guerrilla, Justin, dealt a blow on the victim's skull with an axe.
 
Niromi says of the killers: "The boys burst out laughing... For them, killing Vellai was no different to killing a cockroach."
 
Later, in a jungle camp in the Vanni region in Sri Lanka's north, the LTTE's then number two, Mahattaya, shot dead an 18-year-old guerrilla, Shanthan, for falling in love with a woman colleague.
 
"The two young men who had led Shanthan into the tent now dragged his body behind them, by his arms.
 
"A thin stream of blood was running down from the centre of Shanthan's forehead, down his blue-and-white checked shirt.
 
"One of the men opened the back door of the jeep, and they threw Shanthan's body in. Then they drove off."
 
Nobody in the camp spoke after the killing, and no one comforted the dead man's love, Nora, who kept sobbing.
 
Niromi says: "I could not comprehend the senseless murder of this young man. I felt sickened, confused and outraged all at once."
 
After seeing similar harshness in the group, Niromi began to question the ethics under which LTTE commanders operated.
 
"From top to bottom in our organization, everyone did whatever they pleased so long as they could justify it as being for the good of the (LTTE). I had not been prepared for this."
 
The book says that in 1986, even before Niromi joined the LTTE, the Tigers brutally killed members of rival groups in Jaffna.
 
This included hanging members of the TELO outfit from trees and setting them on fire while they were alive.
 
The LTTE also massacred members of another Tamil group, the EPRLF, whom it had earlier taken captive in Jaffna.
 
While fleeing from Indian troops, who were deployed in Sri Lanka's northeast under a 1987 bilateral pact, Niromi saw LTTE guerrillas break into shops and loot chicken, clothing, food and more.
 
When she protested, one LTTE member said: "If we don't loot the shops, someone else will.
 
"With that kind of reasoning, I too helped myself to a shirt, sachets of shampoo, packets of fruit-and-nut chocolate and a few children's books....
 
"Although (our commander) had banned the use of cosmetics, some (LTTE) girls were not deterred from grabbing tubes of skin-whitening Fair & Lovely face creams and also nail varnish."
 
On another occasion, LTTE guerrillas looted footwear, sanitary napkins and underwear from a shop.
 
Indian soldiers took the blame for such looting.
 
The book says that people of Jaffna repeatedly pleaded with the LTTE to give up fighting the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF).
 
One of Niromi's close associates in the LTTE was Akila, who was one of the three people declared proclaimed offenders after the 1991 killing of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. The other two were Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief, Pottu Amman.
 
After Niromi quit the LTTE in 1988, Akila rose to become the deputy head of the women's intelligence wing. The Sri Lankan military killed her at Neerveli in Jaffna in 1995.(India Today)

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  Comments - 23

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  • Mario Friday, 13 July 2012 11:46 AM

    LTTE is a terrorist organization so nothing surprises me, how and why did this writer join it in the first place??

    saman Sunday, 15 July 2012 04:47 AM

    LTTE might be gone but their supporters are live and well. Just read the comments here...

    Sarani Sunday, 15 July 2012 01:21 AM

    What a malicious comment.

    poor vicks Saturday, 14 July 2012 05:37 AM

    can not accept the true facts by your own colleagues.

    lol@me Saturday, 14 July 2012 05:31 AM

    forcefully recruiting child soldiers??? nope i don't guess! :P

    nicky karunarathna Saturday, 14 July 2012 02:37 AM

    LTTE's brutality, barbarism, blood thirst, racism, bigotry, Nazism, ultra nationalistic views and egoism well known in the world over. So this book is not new news to anyone in the world or to NGO's, INGO's, ICC, UN or other authorities. But all can be supress by billions of dollars in their coffers and all these guys are in their pocket. So this book won't open any new eyes of the world. That's the absolute truth.

    Rak Friday, 13 July 2012 10:26 PM

    Good Try.But I dont Want to get Rich in This Way.

    mahinda Friday, 13 July 2012 12:31 PM

    please4 present this book to Human rights lunatics i will bear the cost

    Achcharu Friday, 13 July 2012 12:40 PM

    @ Mario -Read the book first brother

    Vicks Friday, 13 July 2012 12:04 PM

    Well - the book is already in print... Just buy some copies and make Niromi happy!!!

    Gunawardena Friday, 13 July 2012 11:56 AM

    Finaly this will open some peoples eyes!!

    nalaka Friday, 13 July 2012 09:12 AM

    some LTTE sympathizer might comment stating that she is brought over by the gov

    Real peace Friday, 13 July 2012 11:42 AM

    Niromi De Zoyza

    I salute your courage to write this book. Tamil version of this book should be circulated widely in the North & East.

    If Tamils want a political solution for their legitimate grievances, they must make sure that Pirabaharan’s LTTE is never revived or resurrected.

    Mario Friday, 13 July 2012 11:40 AM

    I remember a High Ranking Navy Commander was captured along with few other navy men during 90's but was released during CFA.. It was also huge publicity at that time..

    Mario Friday, 13 July 2012 11:37 AM

    What I fail to understand is when LTTE is accused its true but when govt is accused that too with evidence its a false..

    Sapumal Bandara Friday, 13 July 2012 11:17 AM

    Over to Mr Ban Ki Moon & Ms Navaneethan Pillai, please.

    sri Lankann Friday, 13 July 2012 10:53 AM

    Please lets not talk about LTTE and waste time..... No more LTTE exit. Lets talk how we can develop the county together as Sri Lankans.

    Nodrog Friday, 13 July 2012 10:56 AM

    If the LTTE could do this do their own just imagine what they would have done to captured soldiers?

    Jehan Friday, 13 July 2012 10:26 AM

    Max comment

    DUWI Friday, 13 July 2012 09:45 AM

    I trust the international community will investigate these atrocities against humanity as some of the perpetrators may be living in western countries.

    Esala Friday, 13 July 2012 09:37 AM

    Print this book use our tax money and send it to Europe & USA.

    Porak Friday, 13 July 2012 09:25 AM

    This is for the TN lunatics.


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