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HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP SAYS THE TAMIL TIGERS BRUTALLY AND MERCILESSLY KILLED CHILDREN IN THEIR CUSTODY FOR ESCAPING By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles March 19, 08:20 PM:A leading human rights group in Sri Lanka charged that that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has brutally and mercilessly killed Tamil children in its custody when they attempted to escape. In a lengthy and detailed special report running into about 100 pages, the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) accused the Tamil Tigers of killing children conscripted to be trained as child soldiers when they tried to escape. According to many reports published by the group these children were abducted mostly from the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka from their homes, temples, public highways and the schools by the armed recruiters of the rebel group. The report, named Special Report #16 was issued , March 18 to coincide with the peace talks the rebel group and their opponents are holding in the mountain resort, Nakone in Japan. The report also accused the government of Sri Lanka for not showing any specific interest about the abduction of the helpless children. The Eastern commander of the LTTE, Karuna , who is in charge of the child soldier training camps and abductions in the Eastern Province is also taking part in the peace talks as a delegate at Nakone. The report said having to contend with a high rate of desertion particularly among conscripts the LTTE imposed extremely severe punishments among those children. “We now have information, “ said the special report #16 of the UTHR(J) “that a group of boys, friends in their mid-teens who attempted to escape were caught and warned. They were later caught a second time and executed by gunshots about the middle of last year. Friends of the deceased were ordered to bury them.” The report said that a number of Tiger cadres in mid-teens and late-teens had told their mothers who needed them badly that they wanted to come out of those military training camps but feared escape and its consequences. The report said an escape led to a hunted life with the family facing constant harassment and hostage taking by the LTTE. The report said, “The LTTE has promised the UNICEF that it would discharge underage children. Should the war recommence many of them would be dead before they knew what hit them. Their leaders would confer martyrdom on these remains of quenched childhood with an Rs.5000 gravestone, and notch up their numbers, as though they were votes to advance their totalitarian claims.” The report also recorded how some children were recruited at some Hindu Temple festivals and the dreaded results of attempted escapes in these LTTE child military training amps: “The modus operandi for the LTTE was to bring young men and women cadres by van and drop them at festivals. These cadres moved through the crowd canvassing among children and mothers. They would typically approach a mother, inquire about her family and children, and then pop the question‘Why don’t you give us one of your children?The results were negligible. The LTTE’s intention seems to have been to avoid or minimize outright abduction. When they got annoyed that they were hardly getting anyone, orders were given during the succeeding festival days to abduct, and the abductors went on the rampage. “The people recount the scenes with dread. At Korakalappu girls were verbally abused and their hair done up for the festival was clipped, as they were thrust into vans waiting to carry them off to the jungle. Witnesses at Kannakai Amman Temple spoke of scenes of agony that were in sharp contrast to the promise of peace. They recall screaming mothers pulling their child by one hand and an LTTE woman pulling by the other, in grotesque scenes of tug-o-war. “In this kind of conscription/recruitment there is inevitably also large scale desertion, coupled with extreme harshness on the part of the LTTE. As to how many have succumbed or suffered grave harm, we have no idea except that the number is significant. Our reports have given a number of cases from the Batticaloa District. The two below in the Amparai District may be the thin end of the wedge: “The son of Nantheeswary of Thirukovil-Thambiluvil was a 15-year-old O. Level student who joined the LTTE on his own and then, according to the LTTE, escaped. The LTTE came to Nantheeswary recently and demanded her son. The mother knew nothing about his whereabouts and said so. The LTTE took her hostage. Because Nantheeswary was ill, the LTTE released her after a few days, getting a pledge from her that she would hand back her son. The boy is missing and the mother knows nothing about him. She fears the worst. “Chandiran, an18-year-old from the same area had been with the LTTE. The LTTE came to his mother recently and wanted to take Chandiran’s elder brother, claiming that Chandiran had escaped. The mother lashed out at the LTTE asking who would feed and nurture the elder brother’s three children? The LTTE went away. The mother has since heard nothing further about Chandiran. She only had word that Chandiran was last seen at the Kanjikudichcharu camp, unable to walk. “Often the LTTE tells widows and single mothers that their children are better off in the LTTE and forcibly removes them. In Thirukkovil recently, the LTTE removed the two children of a depressed mother, girls of 6 and 9 years, to a temporary home until they could be sent to one of their Chencholai (Red Blossomed Garden) Homes. “At these homes children are brainwashed into a culture of suicide and worship of the Leader, incinerating oneself at whose command, is taught as life’s supreme privilege (see Amy Waldman’s feature in the New York Times, 14. 1. 03)” Pointing out varied statistics the report said there could be more than 10,000 child soldiers recruited by the LTTE after the ceasefire agreement was signed with the Sri Lanka government. (19/03/03 go2lanka.com) |