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Return
of the Wanni
(Reproduced
from the Daily Mirror of February 27, 2002)
Story
and pictures by Peter Casie Chitty
 It
is not always easy to imagine someplace in Sri Lanka as backward as the
Wanni if you have been confined to the tree-lined streets of Colombo. But
for those of us who remember the rural areas before the Mahaweli project,
the early sixties, the poverty, the wattle and daub houses with thatched
roofs, it could be a picture from our "underdeveloped" past.
The Wanni region was closed to visitors for over 12 years. In a few hours
of driving in daylight you realise that the region is full of contrasts.
While there is an abundance of life - snakes, rabbits, elephants, birds
and the most beautiful butterflies - in the thick undergrowth lurks
destruction and death.
Buried below in the rich, red soil that encourages growth are the
"boom booms" and blooms.
It is dangerous for, bombs of any shape and size can be found. If one is
to venture from the roads muddied by the North East monsoon's rains even
to answer a "call" he faces a risk. Then again there are no
telephones in the Wanni. The LTTE's Adminsitrative Chief Pouvanavan said
they had already cleared 500,000 mines planted there he claimed, by the
Sri Lankan Army. These could be valuable gifts to the war effort of the
LTTE if peace does not come.
Unspoiled beauty
For some 40 years this area has been neglected. I would take pains in
describing this very beautiful part of Sri Lanka positively as
"unspoiled" rather than "underdeveloped."
There
are lush fields full of rice and vegetables alongside desolate areas with
burned down palmyrah and coconut palms without crowns. Those are signs of
battle fronts. There is a cleared out space, which looks like a military
outpost abandoned in a hurry. There is an area marked with yellow tape -
"Danger Mines".
Fertile land mined !
The 40-year-old Austins - that exhibit Britain's colonial past's selling
powers - ply to and fro. They run on kerosene after the starter motor is
initially fed with black gold - petrol - then switches on to the kerosene.
In the North, the Austin like in England, rules. Everyone here wants to go
to England to study and help in the fight or reconstruct.
The
dirt tracks they call roads there, have traces of tar and small rock
rubble - typical of our road network 50 years ago. The potholes are larger
than life. Easy to spot but hard to avoid.
Bus timetables must follow the Chinese calendar because no one knows when
they are due. "They always break down". Given the load and the
state of the buses, it is not incredible.
Tamil hospitality
In spite of all their difficulties the people in the area that has an 80%
population of displaced persons looking to survive, manage to be
hospitable, kind and smiling.
Their standard of living is appalling compared to anywhere else in Sri
Lanka except the Moneragala and Hambantota Districts.
No sewers, no running water, no television, no electricity. For many of
them the only form of entertainment is the regular Tiger Propaganda
outdoor movie at a junction in town. Most people watch the film seated on
their motor or push bicycles. Others simply squat and listen to the
dialogue that is sometimes drowned by the whirs of an ancient generator.
The theme? "Join the LTTE". At this stage it is interesting to
note that most of the displaced people moved out or remained here by
choice for reasons best known to them as it is about people who moved from
LTTE control to government areas. This was evident by the people I
interviewed, for as much as there is a fear of the LTTE embossed in the
hearts of those who ran into the arms of the government there is a fear of
the armed forces here in the Wanni.
LTTE and women cadres
The LTTE hierarchy are very impressed by the success rate of their women
cadres. "They always complete their missions and are very dedicated
to the movement. Few of them are taken alive in battle, yet, under the
cover of toughness, these are normal young women like every young woman in
the world.
Chandia (23) and Venperai (21) were two LTTE women soldiers who were
sitting in the shade at Puliyankulam on the A9 waiting for it to be
declared open when I ran into them.
This was at the last LTTE checkpoint before Omanthai. They were young and
smiled easily, relaxed for the most part, they answered questions in spite
of Ramu Sinnappa one of the Administrative Chiefs being there. "We
want peace".
Chandia has been away from home and her parents in Chavakachcheri since 'Rivirasa
I' in December 1995 drove her away. The Advanced level student who speaks,
reads and writes only Tamil, has not been to see her parents since then.
Why? "The army".
She is wanted there because she joined the movement as a 13-year-old and
saw action three years later. Her friend Venperai was 13 when she followed
female tigers into the jungles of the Vanni from her training that lasted
six months. She saw action much later in "hit and run battles".
"Have you killed anyone?" I asked and got non-comittal wry
smiles in reply.
What plans had the two about getting married?
None as yet. It seems that there is an unwritten rule that cadres marry
after they reach the age of 23. The boys have to be 30 and then need to
have written permission from their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The
interesting fact is that none of the LTTE cadres recieve a wage. Their
needs such as food, toilet neceessities and uniform are provided by the
movement.
Men and women are treated en egalite. More discipline when it happened to
be just after St. Valentine's day - that is good for the city folks.
Southerners in the North
Palayandi Chandrasekeram (41) was born on an estate in Ratnapura. His
school life on the estate was filled with fun and games while he studied
Sinhala. In October 1980, a riot led by a thug named "Rajah"
threatening to kill Tamil people left Chandresekeram's father with a
severed left arm. Their estate line home was set on fire, so the family
sought refuge in the CWC office from where they were later moved to
Killinochchi. The family settled down.
He got work as an odd job man with the Sri Lankan Army earning Rs 60 per
day but when the LTTE took over in 1999 he had a small family, so he
stayed put. The Tigers checked him out and told him that he had to
contribute. He joined, and worked for the movement as a cook. He now cooks
and interprets in Sinhala for the visitors from Colombo and other parts of
the world. His two children are schooling and his wife makes a living
sewing clothes. He has much to say for the changes he claims took place
after the LTTE took Mullaitivu, Mankulam, Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass.
"Hardly any crime. No corruption or black marketeering.
It is evident that the LTTE controls the Wanni with an iron fist and crime
faces stiff punishment. Chandrasekeram puts this down to the fact that
LTTE are all over watching. "No one comes in or goes out without them
knowing"
It is hard for anyone to penetrate the LTTE controlled districts although
there are not many roadblocks. For one, no one bothers to venture in here
and if the Deep Penetration Forces of the Army sought to assassinate any
members of the LTTE it would be a lot harder than getting at a top
government politician in Colombo's crowds. The LTTE relies on intelligence
not ignorance he said.
Murugiah Thangavel (50) was born on an estate in Kurunegala and remembers
having Sinhala friends at school. In 1977 the estate was invaded by armed
men who beat him up as they did other people on the estate. They were
Sinhalese. He lost all the confidence he had. In perfect Sinhalese he told
me that he now feels life is kinder though it is harder to make ends meet.
He has a small daughter who does military drill after school hours and
could one day swell the ranks of the LTTE female cadres. In schools all
over the Wanni, children take to martial arts and military drill like
ducks to water. There are no spectator games for them to watch and
volunteer sergeant majors are readily found. There are cadets as young as
10. They grow up believing that they will be deprived of their rights if
they don't fight on.
A senior military officer later told me "In the south, young people
look for paid employment so they join the forces - then find the going
hard and quit. The LTTE drives dedication into their people men, women and
children. They sacrifice their lives for their rights."
The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the parties requires that
the Sri Lankan Forces and the LTTE maintain their forces without
augmentation. Despite all the hue and cry about children being abducted
into the LTTE there is more evidence of children getting physical training
from their schools and conditioned as they are to the terrain, by 16 they
could have 10 years of stiff physical training as opposed to the nine
months given to government troops sent to the battlefront. This could be
the real reason for the success of the LTTE. A very old school like Wesley
College does not have a Cadet Corps because the Methodist Church today
does not encourage it. Wesley College did have a Cadet Corps to present
young men to ceremonial military in the pre-Independence colonial days
from the 1920s to do the bidding of our colonial masters.
Thangavel,
like any father, places all his hopes on the Government's commitment. He
is certain of the LTTE's commitment to peace.
My children walk bare feet
Markandu Kalingarajah (44) is the father of two boys. They walk barefoot
to school because Kalingarajah cannot afford to buy them shoes. He ran a
small shop in Nallur one kilometre from the famous landmark temple in
Jaffna. Maj. General Janaka Perera's offensive forced him to leave with a
thermos flask for his young son Harischandran (now 9), a few clothes and
his wife. Ferried across from Karaithivu to Pooneryn he reached Mallawi
and set up home building a house with his own hands, mud and a palmyrah
thatched roof. He pays Rs 100 for the garden in which he grows whatever he
can to help fill a pot to feed four mouths.
"Mallawi is good for cultivating manioc, onions, long beans, yams,
aubergines, ladies fingers. The red earth and lots of water make the crops
good." He does not hate the Sinhalese and would love to show his sons
the Galle Face Green and the Colombo Harbour Lights that everybody talks
about. "I want peace, we all want peace".
With Rs 2000, he is better off than most and says that the Wanni is being
governed well. We are happy without the skyscrapers and the noise. "
One meal a day
Linus Yogarasa (12) is a little Roman Catholic boy who lives near the LTTE
checkpoint between Madhu and Vavuniya. His 18-year-old brother is an LTTE
cadre and mans the checkpoint when his turn comes. Linus' father died of
malaria. He has never been to a big city and helps his dressmaker mother,
Rosemarie, with the household chores after he returns from school. He has
never seen a laptop computer, a cassette recorder or played with
manufactured toys. For lunch that day, he said he had one leaf vegetable
(his mother picked it from a garden) and rice. The little fellow said he'd
like to have a cricket bat.
He has the right to grow up normally, to visit the other parts of the
country and do everything that little boys his age would be doing. This
will be a possibility if only there is peace.
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Last Updated
Date: September 25, 2003
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