Meeting The Canadian “Combatant” conscripted by LTTE
by Kath Noble
It would be foolhardy to assume that the conflict in Sri Lanka was irretrievably over. Prabhakaran is gone, but the Tiger diaspora is sounding as fierce as ever. They won’t do anything that involves moving from the comfort of their Western armchairs, internet cafes and lobby bars, but they have money. Whether this can be translated into bombs in Colombo depends to a large extent on the mentality of the Tiger cadres on the ground, so I was particularly interested during my recent trip northwards to meet some of those who had been detained by the Army.
More than 9,500 Tiger cadres are being held in a dozen or so camps around Vavuniya, of which I was able to visit two. Men have been separated from women, and there is a combination of longstanding members and new recruits in each place.
The first camp was in an old school building, tucked away down a narrow alley in the centre of town. It housed about 300 men, from teenagers to the middle aged. A few looked like children, small and with very innocent faces, but we were assured that those under 16 had been moved to a special location.
Our group seemed to be of tremendous interest to the detainees. Activities that had been going on when we entered the main hall stopped almost immediately, and people moved to gather round. Some of the men had been dozing on their mats in the corner, but they too got up, quickly rearranging their sarongs. Curious about our purpose, they wanted to talk.
I was introduced to a man who had been in the LTTE for 15 years. Now 31, he had known little else. He was from Kilinochchi and had been in the Tiger police. He had escaped with his wife and two children on May 17th.
He asked where we were from. Apart from the International Committee of the Red Cross, who had been to record their details and inspect the conditions in which they were being held, they had not seen any foreigners. However, many of them had received visits from family members. The man that I was talking to said that his parents had come all the way from India. He wanted to know if we had any idea what the authorities were going to do with them, to which we replied that as far as we could tell, the Government was in the process of working out a rehabilitation programme.
Speaking easily, he said that this uncertainty was their most serious concern. Relations between the LTTE cadres and their minders seemed to be good. He was surprised to find that the officer in charge was very educated, he told us, and they had had many interesting conversations. Meanwhile, a friend of mine who visited a different camp reported that soldiers and detainees were playing cricket together and even discussing battles in which they had fought on opposite sides.
One of the people I had travelled with decided to ask what the Government would have to do to prevent him from going back to the armed struggle. This seemed to me a rather peculiar question in the circumstances, and it took some time to explain. Reference was made to the Thirteenth Amendment, federalism and many of the other solutions that have been put forward over the years. What political reforms are needed, my colleague insisted. When he finally grasped what was being asked, the man laughed. We lost, he said with a shrug of his shoulders. He explained that they had tried their best for Eelam, but it hadn’t worked.
He said that they would have to rely on political parties to work for their people now, referring to the upcoming elections in Vavuniya and Jaffna. I asked who he would vote for if he had the chance, a question he sidestepped, commenting that he thought that Douglas Devananda would win.
An older person intervened in the discussion with some thoughts on the future. From the Mullaitivu area, he had a wife and a small child, and he had been a medical cadre in the LTTE for nine years. He had surrendered on May 16th. Our generation can’t forget, he said. He didn’t think that the Sinhalese community would be able to put the conflict behind them either, given what had happened over the years. It is for the children to make things better, he stressed.
Without elaborating further, he suggested that we might like to meet an English boy who was amongst their group. This was a surprising development, and he was summoned from the upstairs room in which he had been resting. He turned out to be Canadian, with the accent to prove it. Now 26, he had moved to Toronto when he was only 12. He claimed that he had returned to Sri Lanka in 2007 to visit some relatives in Kilinochchi, and had been forcibly conscripted by the LTTE. The Tiger police had turned up at the place where he was staying not long after he had arrived, he said, confiscating his passport and compelling him to join them. He had found his relatives in Mullaitivu only weeks before the end of the fighting. They were rescued by the Army on May 17th.
His cousin was being held in the same place. At 24, the LTTE had exempted him from recruitment until February this year because he had worked in one of their garages. When Kilinochchi fell and they withdrew eastwards, he had been taken into the fighting ranks too.
The Canadian was the only person to talk about the ordeal that they had been through. Stressing the need for counsellors to visit them as soon as possible, he spoke of his roommate, a teenager who had seen his parents blown up in front of him. They had all witnessed too many awful things in the fighting, he said. The rest of the group didn’t seem to feel the need to discuss it, he added, but he would be going to a therapist as soon as he got back to Toronto.
When we got to the second camp, which was in a university hostel some distance out of town, I understood just how eager the men had been to communicate. They had approached us, and even those who couldn’t participate in the discussion because of language problems had stood and listened to what was being said, getting translations where necessary. By contrast, the women seemed indifferent to our presence. Smiles were eventually returned, but they weren’t very enthusiastic until one of the people we were travelling with started a game. This soon brought pretty much all of the detainees out of their rooms, giggling like the teenagers that they probably were. They seemed a good deal younger than the men that we had come across.
I wandered outside to where a group were preparing lunch. One girl was stirring a massive pot of rice, while another was cutting up potatoes and five or six others were attempting to lift a huge kettle of boiling water off the open fire. It looked like hard work, but they must have been glad of having something to do. Unlike at the men’s camp, activities weren’t organised, there was no radio or television and no equipment for sports, and they hadn’t started classes.
Having stood and watched for some time, I asked whether anybody could speak English. They all shook their heads. When I mentioned Sinhala, their eyebrows nearly disappeared under their hairlines. That was a rather distasteful suggestion, their facial expressions implied with total clarity. Tamil only, the potato cutter emphasised, demonstrating that she did know a bit of English after all.
These limited experiences may not be sufficient to draw any conclusions about the state of mind of the remaining Tiger cadres, but they do serve to highlight some of the things that the Government could do to help to avoid a return to violence. With far greater numbers than were expected, the process of rehabilitation was bound to get delayed, but this excuse can’t be used for much longer. The Tiger diaspora is hard at work, generating propaganda that is undermined by the very existence of the people that I met. Let’s hope that their efforts will be outdone.
(Kath Noble is a freelance journalist based in Colombo).
Related: Sri Lanka won't let Ottawa see detained Canadian [The Globe and Mail]
13 Comments
In both this article and a previous one, you show a tendency to depict Tamil women in a negative manner. In a highly questionable manner, you never actually say outright that you think Tamil women are liars, arrogant, racist, childish but you suggest this through your careful selection of information. So the women raised their eyebrows at being asked if they speak Tamil. Another woman said "Only Tamil"--an answer that makes her susceptible to being thought not only a chauvinist but a liar as well (since they had previously said they did not know English). If for whatever reason, you could not probe them further as to why they had raised their eyebrows to the question, then you should not rely on innuendo to fill in the gaps of your information gathering. How do you know that they didn't raise their eyebrows with distaste because these women had been ill-treated or even raped by the Sinhalese soldiers? I'm not saying they were, but how do you know they were not? Did you ask them? Aren't there other reasons than chauvinism that could account for their attitude?
There was an opportunity here to practice real journalism, but you passed on that. If it is true that the women seemed indifferent compared to the men, it would have been illuminating to find out why. Instead you leave it to readers to jump to your guided conclusions.
If only people like Kath Noble would accept that the reason the diaspora exists is because they were forced to flee (in 1958, 1977, 1983) by the Sinhalese.
If only the Sri Lankan state could deliver justice and bring to court at least some of those involved in those crimes then the hatred of the diaspora would melt away.
this is pure propaganda.
written with deliberate intent.
the comment made by "Milly", taking note that the language used by Kath 'Noble' serves to apparently "subtly" disparage tamil women and thus casts aspersions on their claims - the whole point however is that it is not subtle but instead is farcically crude. examine this quote from her earlier article, it is unbelievable that anybody can take this material can seriously…
"Having wandered off from the group, a small crowd gathered around me and a retired teacher of English and Sinhala from Kilinochchi was brought out to speak. In a deeply conspiratorial tone, she explained that their children had been taken away from them and many lakhs of people had been killed. Not being fresh off the plane from England, I knew that this was untrue, also because I had met quite a number of their children at the centres for LTTE cadres, but people who come looking for horror stories would leap on such quotes with glee."
and again…
"An elderly lady approached as our group entered the compound, to complain that she hadn’t been given any soap or washing powder. Whether this was the case seemed after some discussion unclear, and she didn’t look in the slightest bit dirty. It emerged that she and her husband were both over 65 years of age, and therefore eligible for release, but their nearest relatives lived in Kandy and for some reason couldn’t travel to bring them home."
here is part of an earlier comment i made about Kath 'Noble' which i posted in response to her article - "A Two-Day Trip to the I.D.P. Camps in Vavuniya and Chettikulam", also on transcurrents.
"is this stuff (the above) for real??? does not the amateurish tone of the piece make you chuckle???
PEOPLE…who is "Kath Noble???" Is this Oxford trained mathematician really who "she' claims to be???
See - http://www.island.lk/2008/06/01/features6.html
An examination of all 'her' previous articles including this one serve only to raise suspicions, the writing is so pathetically stylised that it is hard to discern anything but blatant childlike propaganda. It is i think, no coincidence, that Kath Noble is a 'freelance' journalist - i.e. she is not affiliated to any professional, internationally recognised newspaper house or any other respectable journalistic enterprise (the "The Island", fails on most counts, to fall into this category). it is additionally to be noted that NONE of the "VARIOUS organisations campaigning on issues of global governance both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in South Asia, Africa and Europe" which she claims to have worked for, are mentioned by name.
Perhaps, incredible as it may seem, it is the case, that the quality of the journalism/research evidenced in this and in other previous pieces have been deemed by internationally respected institutions simply not upto scratch. might it be the case that the ONLY place where this quality of journalism receives press is Sri Lanka, a columnist for the Island - coincidence? Shurely shome mishtake!
So again the questions must be posed, who is "Kath Noble", who is 'she' writing for, or who is writing FOR 'her'???
1) An extremely stupid person possibly verging on mental illness/learning disabilities OR simply a piss poor journalist?
2 An idiotic singhalese propagandist working for the Sri Lankan government utilising all the brain cells at his/her command?
3) Actually the ardent anti-imperialist British girl she claims to be…who somehow has fallen in love with the Sri Lankan state? (or a Singhalese, perhaps Dayan Jayatilleke!, and is now blinded to all else?)
OR
4) Some combination of all of the above?
the oxford english dictionary definition of "noble";
1 belonging to the aristocracy. 2 having fine personal qualities or high moral principles. 3 imposing; magnificent.
"Kath Noble", whoever you are, what you do is not noble. Your articles (which also betray the basic principles of good journalism - "speaking truth to power") display an absolute absence of "high moral principles". really it is best that you cease from spreading falsehoods, shut up shop and simply go away. [remember there are many eyes watching and recording YOU, and others like you, understand this, neither history nor the law will be generous to you…]"
All these articles are quite beside the point. The point is that these people are being held in captivity against their will. Whatever you do inside these camps is of no consequence. If there are no charges against them they should be set free. Otherwise they should be charged and produced in court.
Milly, when it comes to rape why do you accuse only Sinhalese soldiers. Why not Tamil men, especially the elederly men or the LTTE soldiers. Do not undermine our men. They are also equally capable of doing what the Sinhalese can do. How do you know that they didn't raise their eyebrows with distaste because these women had been ill-treated or even raped by the Tamil soldiers? I'm not saying they were, but how do you know they were not? Did you ask them?
Rajan,
In an earlier article in The Island, titled "Cut off the Telephone", Kath Noble actually has the cheek to question the integrity and ability of another journalist. She says, "Poor Europeans, little do we know that Sunanda Deshapriya is one of the least talented of the media community. Very few skills are needed for shouting outside Fort Station, and it seems that donors are ready to hand funds to any organisation that has a promising sounding name."
Any journalist and discerning reader should be able to see that hers is not journalism to be proud of. It belongs to the genre of fiction, and badly written fiction at that. If I were writing this kind of garbage, I would use a pseudonym to protect my real name and reputation. As you say, the law and history will catch up with her. Also, one day she will have to face up to the value of her life's work, and she will be very depressed indeed!
Rajan,
In an earlier article in The Island, titled "Cut off the Telephone", Kath Noble actually had the cheek to question the integrity and ability of another journalist. She says, "Poor Europeans, little do we know that Sunanda Deshapriya is one of the least talented of the media community. Very few skills are needed for shouting outside Fort Station, and it seems that donors are ready to hand funds to any organisation that has a promising sounding name."
Any journalist and discerning reader should be able to see that hers is not journalism to be proud of. It belongs to the genre of fiction, and badly written fiction at that. If I were writing this kind of garbage, I would use a pseudonym to protect my real name and reputation. As you say, the law and history will catch up with her. Also, one day she will have to face up to the value of her life's work, and she will be very depressed indeed!
Thanks Milly for the wonderful insight into Kath's less than honourable journalistic practice at the expense of one of most dispossessed group of people in the world. I believe, as you implied, in her previous article Kath said as to how a woman approached her and said in english that hundreds of thousands of our children have been taken away by the Sri Lankan Army, not to be seen ever again. Kath knew this woman was lying because logically speaking of course that many children could not have been taken away by the security forces. Her logical mind instantly saw through this woman's rather troubled mind who has been traumatized for decades having been displaced herself and seen probably tens of thousands of Tamil men, women and children (and not hundreds of thousands as the lying Tamil woman claimed) disappear - elementary Watson!
I understand that Kath is an English woman. If so, she is uncharacteristically stooping very low in her dimwitted demonisation of the Tamil women and children, through as you rightly say, by ommision and commission of information! Whilst it is incumbent upon the Tamil community as a whole to take such intellectual terrorism head-on themselves, I would kindly urge you to continue have a watchful eye on the likes of Kath Noble, who appeared to have sworn fealty to Fascist Sinhala government in Colombo. If only honest, intelligent people like your good self could look askance at what's been written about innocent, hapless Tamil women and children, they would be less likely to be misrepresented to the world outside by the likes of Kath Noble.
Dr Arun Vincent,
For all their unjustifiable crimes, the LTTE had a strict code regarding rape or sexual assaults. There was one punishment; death. All allegations were taken very seriously and the death penalty was administered without a flinch. Sri Lankan soldiers on the other hand rape and kill Tamil women with impunity. One exception being the rape of a innocent school girl, where I suppose disgust was a universal feeling. Indian soldiers are no different. Aside from LTTE soldiers, Sri Lankan and Indian soldiers practiced sexual violence with impunity in this conflict. Rape of Tamil women is viewed by the Tamil community as an attack on their culture and when Tamils commit such acts, we view such individuals as a disgrace to the Tamil community. The LTTE's discipline regarding this matter is unquestionable.
"I understand that Kath is an English woman." I doubt it.
'the Tiger diaspora is sounding as fierce as ever. They won’t do anything that involves moving from the comfort of their Western armchairs, internet cafes and lobby bars, but they have money. Whether this can be translated into bombs in Colombo depends to a large extent on the mentality of the Tiger cadres on the ground'
I agree with this point of Kathy. How much hatred the diaspora is having we don't know. How long they will take to overcome their revenge we don't know.
Its really pathetic to read the comments out of hatered and bitterness from the diaspora. You(diaspora) have done enough harm to Sri Lanka, all communities have suffred from your funding a war and violence based on hatered and revenge.
If you want to do justice to these IDPs or ex-LTTE cadres get in to legitimate paths than writting articles igniting racism and hatred.
TRN,
I wonder if you have moved with Tamils at some close proximity. There is no room for “revenge” “blood” in the Tamil culture. I don’t have to tell you where to look for this. You mistake disappointment and dismay with “hatred and bitterness” Tamil civilians, who have been attacked, abused, dehoused, maimed, killed since the 1950s and now inflicted the ultimate humiliation of being thrown into barbed wired camps; forced to queue up for basic food and water; dying in large numbers for the want of urgent medicine – raise their voices in defence, asking for justice and for the world to intervene on their behalf. This is their right. Even Covenants of the UNO encourage and uphold these. It is not only the Tamil diaspora that rallies around seeking justice for them – much of the civilized world too. It is only morons and those devoid of humanism within them who will find this objectionable. As to the comfort zone of the diaspora you and many others imagine, let me tell you having seen some of them in Europe, North America and Oceania. These men and women both have to work from morning till evening to keep the home fires burning.
Their children are often virtually neglected because maids are unheard of here – but they box on. Their children are exposed to drugs, booze, poor social culture but they carry on regardless. Our strong cultural traditions (both Tamil and Sinhala) often helps as a bulwark against these negatives so long as the parents focus on them. In North America, the harsh and unfriendly weather from September to June is against them and so the time-consuming distance between home and workplace. Yes! Even the lowliest live in decent, comfortable homes, have cars, their refrigerators are full, they dress well and they can afford an yearly holiday. Many Sinhalese there enjoy these as well but work equally as hard. This is normal to everyone in these societies. Those in Sri Lanka live in a government and society that has ruined us cannot be something we can blame these countries for. Bur friend, our “dear leaders” are more than OKK, are’nt they? That should please your Buddhist Sinhala bleeding heart enormously. The problem with you guys is you are unable to make your system work –and chose to mock at your fellow citizens who have risked their lives in other parts of the world. Or do you suffer from the sour grapes syndrome? Grow up, dear chap, and try to put things in order at home together with all other yakkos – if that is possible at all. Or else, get someone to shoot you on the foot and run to the nearest embassy and ask for asylum – as much of the underworld (Sinhalese/Muslims) in Cbo is doing these days charging “torture by the Police and armed forces” - as we learn from these embassies.
ISS