Child Soldiers — A Lost Generation
By Udara Soysa
Ranjan Selvathurai was 15 years old when Tamil Tigers kidnapped him in 2008. He was captured by the advancing military in mid May 2009.
“My life was a living hell when we were with the LTTE. We were forced to do many things we did not want to go through,” he told The Sunday Leader.
“We were beaten up very badly on many occasions for small mistakes. I know that some senior LTTE leaders used some young Tamil Tiger members to practice ‘karate’”, he said.
Padmini*, Mullaitivu, was 14 when she was kidnapped by the Tamil Tigers. “It was horrendous. I did not care at all to fight a war with a military. We were forced to fight. We were cut out from the rest of the world. We were not allowed to do anything that normal children do,” Padmini said.
“The elder sisters in the movement who trained us were more cruel than male trainers. The time under the LTTE was like a never-ending nightmare for me,” she said.
Nalini*, 15, Kilinochchi, another former child soldier talking to The Sunday Leader said that the issue of poverty forced her to take up arms.
“It was a big mistake. The worst mistake I have done in my life. I have destroyed every hope I had in my life by joining the Tamil Tiger movement,” she lamented. “I don’t have much hope about the future and life in general,” she said.
According to government sources, all captured former child soldiers have been rehabilitated and were released by the end of June this year.
Mahesan Ganeshan, a trauma specialist who worked closely with former child soldiers, told The Sunday Leader that the effects of being a child soldier is long term for the child victims.
“Being a child soldier warps a child’s perception about the world. It does long term damage to a child’s mind,” he pointed out.
Victor Karunairajan, a Tamil community leader from Jaffna told The Sunday Leader that the issue of child soldiers had destroyed the Tamil community.
“The last 30 years had been a negative chapter for Tamils. It is very important that we take collective measures to ensure bright futures for former child soldiers in the North and East,” he said.
*The names of the children have been changed in order to protect their privacy
Lets all join hand to give these kids who lost their childhood, a memorable life.
it is cruel to force children to do anything. Forcing them to fight is a war crime!
ltte basteds let them rot in hell
If Diaspora Tamils had formed an NGO to help solve problems of IDPs, and send it just one dollar a month for the past year, most of the problems of those unfortunate people would have been solved by now. The problem is; the Diaspora Tamils are not interested in rehabilitating the ex-LTTE cadres or uplifting the shattered lives of IDPs. One can clearly see that from their comments here.
Some of the Diaspora are hallucinating an Eelam and others are dreaming for a stepping stone for an Eelam. Together they want to punish Rajapaksa for killing the terrorists that shattered the lives of innocent Tamils. They do not know that they are living in a fools paradise. Now that KP had started a NGO to help the ordinary Tamils, this lot call him a traitor. Do I need to say more.
What Diaspora Tamils have to do with IDP and ex-LTTE cadres? First of all who created this mess? Why Sinhala blood thursty animals murdered/maimed tens of thousands of innocent Tamils in the name of “eliminating terrorism”? We lived proudly with dignity under LTTE.
What a smart move by Corrupted Apartheid Rajapakse Brothers&Co. Regime! First you kill/maime as many as you can using chemical weapons with the blessing and support of the so called “friendly” countries, loot and destroy our property then put us in concentration camps and ask help from Diaspora Tamils??? What a joke!!! Ask those “friendly” countries or UN they will help you gladly… So they can make money out of you!
Even “Diaspora Tamils form an NGO to help solve problems of IDPs, and send it just one dollar a month for the past year”: This has to go through Corrupted SL Regime so they can put into their pockets in the name of IDP!
KP had started an NGO? for what??? To give all collections to Rajapaksa Brothers&Co. What does he think… Diaspora Tamils are fools???
Hooray Mahavamsa Lanka!!! What a country: People and their mentality! GOD BLESS S…LANKA!
Govt. ‘trying to change’ demography
TNA says the displaced are ordered to leave their ancestral lands after few days
The major Tamil political party in Sri Lanka has accused the government of trying to change the demography in the north taken over by the military following the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels over a year ago.
“Displaced people are not allowed to resettle in their ancestral lands,’ says the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
The TNA also accused the government of breaching pledges made to India and the international community over resettling internally displaced people (IDP).
IDPs from Shanthipuram in Kilinochchi district and Murugandi and Hindupuram in Mullaitivu district were not allowed by the authorities to resettle in their ancestral lands, claimed the TNA.
Pledges to India
“Sometimes they are allowed visits to their lands but are ordered back to the camps in a day or two,” MA Sumanthiran, MP, told journalists.
The MP says that Mullaitivu GA was ordered not to resettle IDPs
He said it is a violation of the pledges given by Mahinda Rajapaksa government to India and other international bodies.
Suresh Premachandran, MP, said nearly 75 percent of the affected IDPs are Tamils of Indian origin who were chased away from the upcountry in 1977 and 1983 racial riots.
The parliamentarian said that Government Agent in Mullaitivu has received written orders from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) not to resettle any IDP in the areas.
The TNA accused the government of carrying on a ‘land grab policy’ in order to establish military camps.
Someone has lost his Marbles !