The barbaric act that claimed a cherub
LankaBuzz
COLOMBO: The last memory of her granddaughter John Rasiah would prefer
to recall is that of a jovial cherubic child swinging her tiny legs
from a high chair, her eyes twinkling with childish excitement at
receiving a new pair of shoes. But the gory recollection of the
scorched remains of the tiny figure at the roadside keeps tormenting
his mind ever since last Tuesday.
"She was very happy when she came to see me that day because I had
bought her a new pair of shoes. She insisted on wearing them right
there and walking to the bus stop. I never imagined I would see her
dead when she kissed me 'Good bye' before leaving with her
mother," a grieving Rasiah recalls.
Rasiah, an employee in a restaurant in Wellawatte is the grandfather of
two and half year old Jegatheswaran Asvini who was brutally killed in
Tuesday's LTTE bomb explosion in Milagiriya targeting ex-EPDP
Parliamentarian S. Sivadasan.
Little Asvini was proudly waddling her way home in her new shoes with
her mother when the bomb went off near St. Pauls College, Milagiriya
killing her and two others.
Her tragic death has proved for the umpteenth time that terrorists have
no regard for the age or race of their victims.
Asvini's mother John Sasida who was critically injured in the
explosion is fighting death at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the
Colombo National Hospital ignorant of the most dreadful news any mother
could hear.
"My daughter and son-in-law work as labourers in a house in
Bambalapitiya. Since there was no one to take care of her, my daughter
used to take the little one with her to work everyday. On finishing
work they would always drop by the restaurant where my wife and I work
and Asvini would play with me for a while," Rasiah who was the best
friend and playmate of little Asvini says.
He recalls how Asvini was filled with joy on that fatal day when she
heard the good news that from Thursday her grandfather would be doing
only night shifts. "Then I can stay at home and play with you the
whole day", were her final words.
Rasiah who has peacefully lived in Colombo among its Sinhala and Muslim
communities for the past 18 years would never have imagined that her
daughter and granddaughter would fall victim to the brutality
perpetrated by a few people from his own brethren.
In fact, when we reached his poverty stricken house in Siddhartha
Mawatha, Kirulapone, the Tamil and Sinhala residents of the area were
unitedly putting up white flags to bid farewell to the little girl who
used to run and play up and down the street.
A wailing S. Saroja, Asvini's grandmother who was also unfortunate
enough to witness the incident said she was working at the restaurant
when she heard the explosion.
"Asvini came to the restaurant that day to play with her grandfather
and he gifted her a new pair of shoes. When I went to her she pointed
to the shoes which she had already worn. I kissed her feet and said
they were beautiful. We heard the explosion barely 10 minutes after
they left".
"My husband and I ran to the junction only to see her lying dead at
the roadside. I could not bear to look at her scorched lifeless body. I
ran back to the restaurant screaming like a mad woman".
"We are innocent people who have not done any wrong to anyone. We
have never caused harm to others or earned money by wrongful means. I
cannot comprehend what I did to deserve this fate. I have lost my
little daughter, and my wife is in hospital unconscious," Asvini's
father B. Jegatheswaran said overcome with emotion.
His eight year old son who is not old enough to realise the gravity of
the situation is still waiting for the return of his mother and sister.
Occasionally he cries when his father breaks down not knowing that the
tiny casket in their house contains the remains of his little sister.
Two and half year old Asvini who was bubbling with life only a few days
back said good bye to her loved ones yesterday. But her tragic death
would always remind us of the thousands of children who have fallen
victim to LTTE terrorism in the last two decades.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2006/08/11/sec02.asp
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