Tamil Tigers And Sinhala Tigers, Reborn

by Tisaranee Gunasekara Gobi was actively involved in reviving the LTTE through regrouping LTTE cadres and recruiting unemployed local youth with the intention of using them for acts of terrorism. . The detention.of Mr. Ruki ernando and ather !raveen..were in connection with the aforesaid investigation into attempts to revive the LTTE." #ri Lanka$s official statement to the %&'R( ) March *+, *+-., (olombo, #ri Lanka Guardian/ The first arrests came in 0anuary *++1. 2thers followed, in succeeding wavelets. 3ltogether twenty five #inhala men were arrested by the T45 )Terrorism 4nvestigation %nit/ and detained under the !T3. The government called them 6#inhala Tigers$.

The accusations levelled at them sounded dastardly in the e7treme to most ordinary #inhala ears. The state said they belonged to an organisation called the 68iplavakari 8imukthi !eramuna$ )Revolutionary Liberation ront/, a #inhala counterpart of the LTTE. They had confessed to everything, from obtaining arms9training from the LTTE to planning terrorist attacks in the #outh. 0ournalists were shown video clips of these confessions. 4n one, a detainee

said, :3bout two years ago 4 went to the LTTE9held area for arms training" . The military spokesman proclaimed that :;kg of e7plosives hidden by the suspects were found after the arrests" . The T45 had a truly horrific tale to tell the courts, the first detainees were produced before (olombo Magistrate. #inhala Tigers :had received -.- million rupees from the LTTE to carry out a massive violence like bomb blasts in the country" Their plans included :attacks on <olonnawa oil tanks and #apugaskanda oil refineries" They :.had undergone military training given by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam". They :.organised themselves into an organisation called Revolutionary Liberation Movement under the direction of the LTTE. :The main ob=ective of the organisation was to lure youths with behavioural and personality disorders and to organise them into a militia to attack innocent civilians in the #outh." :The organisation has already carried out -> operations including several bomb blasts in the #outh.." 4t all sounded like the truth and nothing but the truth. The accusations seemed too horrendous and too detailed to be lies. ?hy would a responsible organisation like the T45 concoct such a story@ ?ould the police commit a crime by lying to the courts@ ?ould a patriotic government arrest #inhalese, unless these #inhalese really were Tiger9pawns@ The #outh believed. The arrests continued. 4ntermittently, the authorities released more lurid details. or instance, in *++A the #inhala Tigers were accused of :.at least two bus bombings, assassination of Minister 5M 5assanayake, transportation of e7plosives and firearms to (olombo, providing cover for black tigers and various other smaller incidents" ?hen rights activists claimed that the confessions were obtained under torture, the authorities were shockedB :!olice do not torture detainees" , the head of the (45 said. &o one sniggered. #ince the regime had so much information, and in such e7cruciating detail, about #inhala Tigers, it was logical to e7pect that they would be indicted forthwith. Cut for two years not a single #inhala Tiger was charged. The men continued to be detained under the !T3B the regime continued to make periodic accusations. Eventually, some detainees filed fundamental rights cases in the #upreme (ourt. 4n ebruary

*++D, the 3G informed the court that no charges will be filed against ten of the detainees. The court ordered their immediate release and gave the 3G a month to indict the rest. The month passedB no charges were filed. 4n March, the #upreme (ourt gave the 3G another month, either to charge or to release the detainees . Eventually not a single 6#inhala Tiger$ was charged in a court of law of even a minor misdemeanour let alone the heinous crimes they were periodically accused of by the state. #o the e7plosive tale of #inhala Tigers turned out to be not even a damp sEuib. The state$s failure to charge a single detainee proved beyond any doubt that the authorities lied to the country and to the courts. The entire tale was a fabrication from beginning to end, concocted by the state. The confessions were made under duress, including torture. Cy later *++;, the Ra=apaksa tendency to use the war to impose economic hardships on ordinary Lankans, while en=oying the good life at national e7pense, was becoming clear. The trade union movement was beginning to e7press dissatisfaction about this obvious hypocrisy. The regime needed to nip any possible #outhern dissent in the bud. The 6#inhala Tiger$ fabrication was used to target the Railway workers union and to frighten the other unions. That tale of #inhala Tigers is particularly germane today, with the regime officially informing the %&'R( that the Tiger is reborn. Ruki ernando, ather !raveen and the Ra=apaksa9need for #ilence The very first 6#inhala Tigers$ were activists handling the Railway union$s paper, 63kuna$. That was no coincidence. 4mpunity needs silence. That is why the Ra=apaksas are viscerally opposed to a right to information act, why they are cowingFco9opting the national media and blocking dissenting websites. That was why Ruki ernando and ather !raveen were arrested. The police spokesman accused Mr. ernando and r. !raveen of 6#elling information abroad$ . 3ccording to Mr. ernando, :4 was repeatedly asked who in Geneva, who outside #ri Lanka was 4 sharing information with. 4t seemed very clear that they took great care for other nations not to hear any alternative information or perspective from within #ri Lanka." The 3mnesty 4nternational says that :#ri Lankan intelligence forces may have created a special unit to monitor those suspected of conveying information to the %&" . The Ra=apaksas cannot strengthen familial rule without killing dissent. They need to use

targeted repression against a range of dissenters, from Tamil mothers looking for their disappeared children to #inhala villagers protesting against environmental damages caused by factories belonging to Ra=apaksa9acolytes. Clocking flows of information is necessary to create an enabling environment for these acts of repression. 4f media outlets did not tell the truth, the regime$s lies about ?eliweriya would have gone unchallenged. This week, the !resident repeated his charge that 6saboteurs$ are trying to :create problems in the country by closing down factories and inciting school children" and that this :cannot be allowed under any circumstances" . The accidental death of Corella 24( is being used to suppress the truth about the 'anwella9protest and the 5hammika !erera9owned9factory which caused it. E7poses and criticisms must end, for these half truthsFlies to take wing. The arrest of Ruki ernando and ather !raveen makes sense in this conte7t. They went to <illinochchi to discover what actually happened to 0eyakumari Calendran. They tried to uncover a truth which Ra=apaksas want hidden. Cy doing so they crossed a Ra=apaksas ne plus ultra. 'ad it not been for the Geneva vote, they may have ended up sharing the fate of 6#inhala Tigers$ of *++1. 2nce Geneva ends, and if the world puts Lanka on backburner until the ne7t %&'R( session, 0eyakumari Calendran will remain incarcerated. 3nd other 6Tigers$, Tamil, #inhala and Muslim, will find themselves detained under the !T3, accused of luridly e7plicit terroristic9 crimes and =ailed sans charges. Thus the state will be free to lie about terroristsFcoups and CC#9types to sow ethno9religious discord. 4n that information9starved, politico9psychologically fractured and phobic land, Ra=apaksas will rule. ReferencesB httpGFFwww.sundaytimes.lkFtop9storyF.1-D>.html httpGFFwww.bbc.co.ukFsinhalaFnewsFstoryF*++1F+*F+1+*+1H=ournalistsHltte.shtml 4bid httpGFFlankapage.wordpress.comF*++1F+>F+AFsinhala9tigers9received9--9million9from9ltte9 police9tells9=udgeF httpGFFdefencenet.blogspot.comF*++AF+*Fanother9batch9of9tigers9undergoing.html httpGFFwww.bbc.co.ukFsinhalaFnewsFstoryF*++1F+;F+1+;+>HpoliceHtorture.shtml httpGFFwww.bbc.co.ukFsinhalaFnewsFstoryF*++DF+>F+D+>*+HsinhalaHtigers.shtml httpGFFwww.cnn.comF*+-.F+>F-DFworldFasiaFsri9lanka9ruki9fernando9arrestF 4bid httpGFFcolombogaIette.comF*+-.F+>F-DFai9told9of9special9intelligence9unitF httpGFFwww.dailynews.lkFlocalFsaboteurs9will9not9have9their9way9president