This Children’s Day we remember the forgotten LTTE Child Soldiers!
It is sad that western diplomats and the UN/UNHRC take pains to insist that the GoSL allow pro-LTTE groups to commemorate LTTE Dead as ‘civilian’ dead’ but totally ignore to even issue a single statement about the children LTTE kidnapped, turned into child soldiers and even trained to commit suicide. Why has these western forces & in particular the local NGOs/civil society & so-called human rights groups chosen to evade making reference to these children kidnapped from homes & turned into gruesome killers?
LTTE began kidnapping children as far back as the 1980s. These Tamil children were used immediately after LTTE attacked villages to rummage through dead bodies and pick whatever possessions of value. They later were taken inside thick jungles and given gruesome training. The head trainer was none other than an Australian nurse. She even wrote books boating about how she trained these kidnapped children. The West nor the human rights organizations that love to run to file cases thought of filing a case against Aunty Adele.
The LTTE and Tamil political leaders claim to represent Tamils but what about the Tamil children?
Exactly how many Tamil children did LTTE kidnap from Tamil homes since early 1980s to 2009. Has the UN/UNHRC/Western Diplomats or Sri Lanka’s NGOs/civil society organizations & HR organizations bothered to find out?
Where are the writers counting the LTTE child soldier dead?
Why are they shy to reveal the numbers?
Does the LTTE & its supporters want to hide how many Tamil children they kidnapped?
Does the LTTE & its supporters not want to share how many Tamil children they killed?
Exactly how many Tamil children died during unbearable training inside LTTE camps?
Exactly how many Tamil children were shot dead trying to flee LTTE?
How many Tamil children were taken from Church-run schools & bogus orphanages in the thick jungles!
How many Tamil children did LTTE train to commit suicide?
How many Tamil children were trained to bite the cyanide capsule & how many died?
Is it not true that all of the Tamil children LTTE kidnapped were LOW CASTE & from poverty stricken homes. They were just a number for Tamil politicians and LTTE to use against the GoSL and Sri Lankan Forces internationally?
Did LTTE/LTTE Diaspora even look after these poverty stricken low caste families?
These low caste Tamils were just a tool to advance the agendas of the Tamil elite. It is about time the Tamil low castes realize this and come to terms with who their real enemy is.
Have they released reports? Human Rights Watch released a report in 2004. https://www.hrw.org/news/2004/11/11/sri-lanka-tamil-tigers-forcibly-recruit-child-soldiers
https://www.hrw.org/report/2004/11/10/living-fear/child-soldiers-and-tamil-tigers-sri-lanka
The other entities like University Teachers Human Rights of Jaffna make reference to child soldiers simply to put on record that they have spoken on the subject but none of these entities championed any cause to stop LTTE child soldier recruitment.
Let us also point out that many UN organizations and international INGOs were operating in the North most often in offices adjoining the LTTE and none of them cared to highlight the fundamental rights that LTTE were denying children forced into uniforms, forced to carry guns and forced to kill. These children were simply statistics for them & they used these to blame the GoSL and not the perpetrators. It was always the Govts fault and nothing was said against the LTTE and their official positions were never used to stop child soldier recruitment. The subject was only important for their livelihood vis a vis the reports they got paid to do.
https://thinkworth.wordpress.com/2019/05/26/snatched-the-children-the-tigers-took-away/ – no one thought of making a documentary or film!
Thankfully the Sri Lanka armed forces militarily ended LTTE in May 2009.
The happiest of all must have been the low caste and poor Tamil families. They no longer had to fear their children being kidnapped and turned into child soldiers.
Now that low caste/poor Tamil children are no longer of use as there is no LTTE ground force, the baton is being passed on to the new generation of Tamil students with foreign-accents emerging from over 350 LTTE “madrassas” operating across Europe, Canada indoctrinating the minds of children to hate and using that for the advantage of their elders. So the lying machine continues to yarn lies and we can see how eloquently from foreign shores they speak about situation in Sri Lanka when they have not stepped into visit a single town or village.
Truth wins they say. We are waiting patiently for that day. In the meanwhile, the lies continue unabated. The baton is now with the LTTE Diaspora. Understandably they want to keep that kitty going. They have now got used to a lifestyle and are enjoying publicity from their memorials, commemorations, and many other profit making ventures. They say once you tell a lie you have to keep on telling lies to continue the lie & this looks to be a classic case.
This Children’s Day we can be happy that in over 12 years Tamil children have been saved from becoming a child soldier. Sri Lanka can be happy that we have turned child soldiers into singing sensations and brought out the talents of former child soldiers whereas the LTTE diaspora has not even provided a single scholarship scheme for them from their LTTE kitty.
Tamil low caste/poor parents & children do not need to fear – the Sri Lankan soldiers have ensured LTTE can no longer kidnap and turn them into child soldiers!
Shenali D Waduge
