Open the gates of Hell - and let my people go ...

[poojitha]

(By: Selva Gnanam- Melbourne)
I was not at all surprised to read the article by Dr. Nadesan in the
'Asian Tribune' explaining why it was time to release the long
suffering people from the clutches of the LTTE and their despotic
leader. I applaud him wholeheartedly for writing what most Tamils
wanted to say, but did not have the 'ticker' to take the first step.
I, as he once was, was an ardent supporter of 'Eelam'.

I came to this country by using the excuse of 'genocide' by the
Sinhala-Buddhist people, when in reality I left the country with a
passport issued by the Sri Lankan Government, and boarded a plane from
her international airport. Before 'becoming a refugee', I lived
amongst the Sinhala people all my life, went to school with 99% of my
friends from that community, enjoyed life with them and graduated from
one of that country's premier universities. I was able to find gainful
employment (yet it was more difficult then back there, because of my
so-called 'Indian accent') in this country because of the quality of
education I received, free of charge.

As soon as I landed in Australia, I began working towards obtaining my
Permanent Resident Visa by betraying and demonizing my best and
dearest friends. I used the '1983 Black July' riots to justify my
case, when I knew very well that no decent Sinhala person was even
remotely involved in it. I knew it was not an 'ethnic problem'. I knew
it was a 'social' problem whereby the people living on the fringes of
society, made use of the situation to loot and grab whatever they
could from wherever they could. They came from all ethnic groups,
including Tamils. I was frightened but I also knew that it was
temporary. All thewhile, the people whom I demonized (when I came
here) were my 'guardians'. They lived in our homes till the situation
became normal. I blamed the government of the day entirely for letting
the situation get out of control, and I still do.

As time passed, I began reflecting on what I had done and was
continuing to do. As a devout Hindu, I could not justify my support
for an organisation that had decimated the Tamil population,
eliminated its academics and leaders, taken our youngsters and turned
them into killers but claimed to be our 'sole representative'. I read
of young girls (who had escaped from the Vanni) being raped by senior
LTTE cadres and later offered to foreigners as'entertainment' (these
girls would later volunteer as suicide bombers because they were not
'pure' any more).

Then I realised why so many Westerners came to the Vanni for 'direct
negotiations' with the LTTE, and why they were backing the LTTE in Sri
Lanka, while fiercely opposing terrorism in their countries. It was an
'erotic escaped' in an exotic island, far away from wife/husband and
family. I heard of Tamils terrorising their communities in Australia,
Canada, France, Germany, etc. to collect funds for the 'cause'. I
heard of some of them 'living it up' with these funds. I realised,
slowly and painfully, what was happening to our people in the guise of
'liberating' them.

We had created a huge monster which was devouring our people but had
no power to destroy it. A 'global business' with ships, credit card
frauds, people smuggling, narcotic trading, arms smuggling, a
bandwagon of NGOs and the 'international community' to support the
'cause' But the 'cause' itself was now nowhere in the picture. The
'effect' or the outcome of the cause was far better than the actual
'cause'. It was big money and living the good life in the West, as it
also was for the Tiger 'big wigs' in the Vanni. So who cared about the
helpless people in 'Eelam'.

First the Tamil Diaspora began whispering these concerns. Now they
have began writing about them. Soon it will become be a huge roar. But
will it be too late for our people back home.

We need to act immediately. Let the people living in the Vanni decide
their future. Let the 'international community' the NGOs, church
leaders, Human Rights organisations and everybody supporting the LTTE
come and observe who decides to leave 'Eelam'.

Let the Government afford safe passage to anybody who wants to leave.
Offer them decent living conditions in safe refugee camps, till they
are able to go to their homes once the fighting ends.

Let us add a little prefix to Dr. Nadesan's article heading and say
"Open the gates of Hell - and let my people go in peace, to wherever
they want to go".

Courtesy: The Island