16 March 2023

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

 

HOW TAMIL WIVES LOST THEIR HUSBANDS

During my contemplation at the Bali memorial on Coogee Beach, I thought of writing my next book my next book on those who ‘lost family’ during the ethnic war in Sri Lanka. When I returned home and read my mail, my attention was drawn by a reliable source to the  Groundviews article ‘Military to Face a Day of Reckoning Over the Disappeared’.  That was the indicator needed to write this article.

 

At the centre  of the above article is Mrs Ananthi Sasitharan who was is presented by Wikipedia as follows:

 

‘After the election Ananthi was appointed to assist the Chief Minister on the rehabilitation of war victims. She took her oath as provincial councillor in front of Chief Minister C. V. Vigneswaran at Veerasingam Hall on 11 October 2013

After being elected Ananthi has taken her campaign abroad to Denmark, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and the USA. In January 2014 the  nationalist Island newspaper reported that the Sri Lankan military was considering sending Ananthi for "rehabilitation", a move that Ananthi has stated she would defy’

 I analysed the Groundviews report on the basis of my own feelings, keeping in my mind, the most needy Tamils in Sri Lanka.

As per the report :

‘In a landmark case last month, the Vavuniya High Court ordered the army to produce three LTTE members who had surrendered to the military in May 2019 and have been missing ever since, in response to a habeas corpus case filed by their wives.

The judge said he believed the women’s testimony that they had handed their husbands over to the military and said that if the army failed to produce them, it must explain the circumstances in which the men had disappeared.

As per the original source at Sri Lanka Brief:

‘Notes from a habeas corpus case, Vavuniya 23.02.23. 

On Thursday, in a dusty courtroom, a judge delivered a damning verdict. Softly spoken, he called each of the three women to the front. Kanthi was first to stand up. She was in tears. One by one the judge’s orders were identical.

He said he believed the women’s testimony — first given years ago — and ordered the Sri Lankan army to produce their husbands to the court. They had surrendered to the military during the last days of the war in Mullaitivu nearly fourteen years ago, in May 2009.

 

It was the duty of the judge to use ‘evidence’ and NOT his personal belief. Belief is an exponential power which needs to be used through discretionary powers permitted by law, after all objectively measurable  evidence had been  exhausted.’

It is not clear whether the respondent was the Government of

Sri Lanka or the individual army officers. If it is the government the applicant ought to be named ‘LTTE’ and not the individuals.

If LTTE, true belief of the Court would be based on belief in LTTE laws and not Sri Lankan laws.

As per Wikipedia account of Mrs Ananthi Sasitharan :

‘Her younger brother went missing whilst fighting for the LTTE.’

Hence every member of the LTTE accepts the high risk of ‘disappearance’ during the war. When I went in search of an LTTE person whose name was in the official list he was not there. The Army said he must have ‘escaped’. The LTTE guy said later, that he was smuggled out. This could be the case with other LTTE cadre who were good in military activities and have joined other forces that value them. If I were more passionate about my work than my family then I would ‘choose’ to disappear. A true LTTE Fighter would choose fighting above family. That is the law of the LTTE. The following conclusion of the Groundviews report confirms this principle by the LTTE:

 

‘Even if time passes there is hope that we will get justice. The sacrifice of thousands of heroes who laid down their noble lives in the pursuit of freedom will not be in vain. We will fight for justice. Virtue will win.

 

The two  pictures above confirm how different the LTTE wives are to the traditional Hindu wife , Savitri who fought against her husband’s karma, to bring him back to life. The LTTE wives who desire global attention confirm that they have lost their heritage.