International Human Rights Day falls on the 10th of December. This article which highlights the violation of the rights of women & children and exploitation of women could be used as a runup to mark this important day.

Mani Ratnam is a popular Tamil and Hindi film director, who also directed 'Bombay', a film which went on to become a box office hit.

He recently came out with a Tamil production depicting the life of a young mother who enrolled in the Tiger ranks. It was aptly named 'Kannaththil Muththamittal' (A kiss on the cheek) and was filmed on location in Jaffna.

The story opens with a young widow joining the ranks of the Tigers after her husband also an LTTE fighter was shot dead by the army. They had a little child who was given by her for adoption to a young couple in Tamil Nadu. The child grows up and attends school. She learns that her real mother was in Jaffna. She keeps on asking for her mother and finally the adopted parents decide to visit Jaffna in their search for the mother.

They have a Sinhalese doctor friend in Colombo and he offers to help them. After clearing several hurdles the little girl comes face to face with her biological mother. Emotions swell within the mother and she yearns to hold her daughter and hug her. She is waging a battle within her. She could deny that she is the mother of the girl but her emotions and her facial expressions tend to betray her. The mother in her military fatigues cries that she cannot leave the organization. She forces herself to tell her daughter to go with her adopted parents and disappears into the thick jungle and mingles with the shadows of the trees. The dreams of the child who is drawn to her mother are shattered and the mother, for her part, sheds silent tears for disowning her child.

This story is not peculiar to only one mother and her child. This is the sad story of hundreds of mothers who joined the ranks of the LTTE. Even though the story is depicted in the cinema the incident portrayed manifests the tearful stories of the separation of mother and child in their hundreds in the Wanni. Mothers have lost their lives for an endless war that is being fought over the past thirty years, sacrificing an entire generation of children who are cruelly deprived of enjoying the warmth of a mother's embrace and guidance. This is Wanni, the heartland without a heart.

Children need a loving atmosphere, where they can grow up playing and attending school. There are organizations dedicated to protecting the rights of children, calling a halt to child recruitment, but seldom have we heard a cry of concern for these young mothers. It is strange that no statements are issued by international organizations against victimization of women who are forced to shed blood when it is in their nature to nurture their offspring with blood transformed into mother's milk.

The LTTE continues to use innocent women, to play the most cruel role of suicide bombers and to swell its ranks of fighters.

There is currently a concerted campaign carried out worldwide to promote breast feeding so that children can be given a good start in life. The mother is everything for a child and she occupies a place alongside God. We can assume that even Prabhakaran learnt the stanzas that there is no temple holier than the mother in his young days. There can not be greater violation of human rights as serious and more eroding than preventing a child enjoying the embrace and affection of its mother, wherever they may be. It has been proved that a child that is deprived of a mother's affection fails to show any compassion when it grows up, spreading hatred all around.

The LTTE is using the poverty and innocence as well as a feeling of frustration among young women to transform them into human bombs and reject their very own children. On the other hand, they use these abandoned children as cannon fodder while the hierarchy enjoys a serene atmosphere in their heavily guarded abodes ,bring up their children overseas including attending top drawer schools..

The lives lost in 2007 alone

* Bodies of female LTTE cadres were found after the LTTE carried out at an attack on the Janakapura colony in Polonnaruwa on 25th January 2007.

* Several bodies of female Tiger cadres were recovered after the LTTE fought a sea battle with the Navy in the Pulmodai sea on February 12th.

* Female Tigers were killed during an LTTE attack at Kokkuthuduwai in Mullaitivu on March the 10th.

*Again on March 27th, at Sittandy in Chenkaladi, bodies of Tiger women cadres were found when the LTTE launched a mortar attack.

* A female Tiger was shot dead when she attempted to infiltrate the Air Force camp in Batticaloa on Mah 27th.

*On June the 10th the LTTE launched a mortar attack at Bandari Puliyankulam in Vavuniya killing three soldiers. A subsequent search found the bodies of Tiger female cadres.

*Then again on June 22nd an LTTE boat was surrounded in the Nilaveli sea in Trincomalee by the Navy. The boats exploded and the body of a female suicide cadre was found wearing a suicide kit.

*On June 30th, after the LTTE launched a mortar attack at Anaiyaru in Vavuniya, the troops found a body of a female Tiger cadre.

*On September the 19th, after a confrontation Marudamadu in Vavuniya, the troops found the bodies of 03 LTTE women cadres.

* Most recently, the bodies of 10 female Tiger cadres were found after a confrontation with the troops at Mullikulam and the bodies of three women cadres after the attack on the Anuradhapura Air base.

These are just a few examples which serve to highlight how women, who nurture the future generations of the nation, had been forced to carry arms and become demons in stark contrast to their loving nature over the past thirty years.

There are many militant organizations throughout the world, calling themselves nationalists and freedom fighters. May be some of them, like the Palestinians, are compelled to launch a protracted struggle to regain their lost country and the Taliban who fought the Soviet invasion; but, none of them had women who fought as regular soldiers in their ranks. .

Despite the claims by the LTTE that they are fighting for a Tamil homeland, up to 1980 all communities including the Tamils lived in the country in harmony scattered throughout the country, plying their trade and following their vocations. The reality is that the LTTE became the aggressor forcibly taking over territory administered by the state and the homes of the Tamil civilians. It is they who expelled the Muslim residents of the North, giving them 24 hours, leaving everything behind. These residents of the North are now compelled to live in refugee camps.This is ethnic cleansing in its worst form.

Now, the democratically elected government has rid the Eastern province of the LTTE and given the people a chance to rebuild their shattered lives. The aggressors have been removed. The government is now engaged in efforts, likewise, to rid the north of the LTTE as well so that the people will be able to lead a peaceful life and look forward to a secure future for their young ones. Strangely enough and in a manner never witnessed in any part of the world, the Sri Lanka government is funding all the services such as hospitals and schools, even in areas illegally occupied by the LTTE. It is paying the salaries of public sector employees, and supplying the residents with food items; of course, the road transport was disrupted when the LTTE attacked the crossing points along the main highway to the North and commandeered convoys of food lorries.

How could the LTTE usurp the people's wealth and their places of residence against their wish? How could they hang the portrait of Prabhakaran instead of the President of the country? The LTTE is a group of plunderers who have forcibly taken over some areas of the country whereas the people whom they claim to represent are residing in large numbers outside those territories. It is a kind of robbery committed against the people and the government and deserves condemnation by all concerned. It is the duty of the government to punish robbers and save the people from their cruelty. By the same token, those who support the robbers are also guilty of an offence. Other militant groups of the world claim to fight to redeem their usurped land while, ironically, in Sri Lanka the security forces are engaged in efforts to rid the LTTE of parts of Sri Lanka itself. In this situation, it is an unpardonable sin for a rogue group to exploit women and children to advance their personal goals. , including sacrificing the lives of these women and children with out any remorse. Prabhakaran who cannot face either democratic election or survive in a democratic environment has look himself and thousands of innocent people into a set up controlled by the LTTE which is gradually and steadily destroying their lives.

Suicide squad

The Black Tiger suicide squad of the LTTE has so far carried out more than 75 suicide attacks. It is a sad and shocking fact that a third of these suicide cadres had been women.

Commencing from the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, gullible women had been brainwashed to stalk their targets through walking as human bombs, causing much blood shed in Sri Lanka. Gamini Dissanayake and others were blown up while attending a meeting by a female suicide bomber. It was a female bomber who attempted to assassinate Army Commander Sarath Fonseka. Female suicide bombers were involved in the bomb explosion opposite the Air Force headquarters .

International Human Rights Day falls on the 12th of December. This article which highlights the violation of the rights of women & children and exploitation of women could be used as a run up to mark this important day.

Looking at the blood stained trail, it becomes strikingly clear that the safety of civilians had never been a concern of the LTTE. According to International Terrorism Expert, Rohan Gunaratne, the LTTE had been responsible for 2/3rd of the suicide bombings carried out worldwide.

All right thinking people should understand the cruelty of the LTTE leadership in sending innocent women to certain death. Mrs. Prabhakaran who enjoyed foreign hospitality until the CFA was signed, is not on record as having attended any event to ameliorate the condition of women, not even events marking the memory of Malathi whom the LTTE portrays as a great female fighter.

The principal negotiator for the LTTE, Dr. Anton Balasingham always enjoyed the cold climes and the company of his White wife without being a part of Sri Lankan life. LTTE leader V.Prabakharan is more concerned on leaving behind the Rs.80 billion rupee legacy to his son than serving the people with that money. None of the womenfolk of the LTTE leaders have set an example sacrificing their lives.

The LTTE is exploiting the orphaned and abandoned children as well as the poor women, giving them training in ghostly jungle hideouts. They are being exposed to macho films and blood letting. They also hold aloft the promise that their families will be rewarded for their sacrifices. They are also brainwashed creating within them a sense of reverence with annual celebrations remembering those who are dead.

The LTTE is also said to have engaged in another unforgivable act by letting loose its thugs to selectively rape women and then putting the blame on the troops. By doing so they are able to win more unsuspecting recruits to their ranks. May be they are following the dictum that All is Fair in Love and War.

Is it not the right time for the international community to focus its search light on the barbaric acts of the LTTE in sending women as human bombs to blow up other human beings?

-The Ministry of Defence bears no responsibility for the ideas and opinion expressed by the numerous contributors to the “Opinion Page” of this web site-

Courtesy - Sri Lanka Defence