{"id":199,"date":"2008-10-28T21:03:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-28T20:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/2008\/10\/28\/refugees-still-buy-into-the-propaganda\/"},"modified":"2008-10-28T21:03:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-28T20:03:00","slug":"refugees-still-buy-into-the-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/2008\/10\/28\/refugees-still-buy-into-the-propaganda\/","title":{"rendered":"Refugees still buy into the propaganda"},"content":{"rendered":"

www.expressbuzz.com<\/font><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 <\/font><\/strong><\/font>:26 Oct 2008 <\/strong><\/font>
\nS<\/font>hobasakthi is many things: traveller, writer, blogger and \u2014 most importantly in this context \u2014 an LTTE<\/strong> child soldier once and a refugee. He is also a vocal member of the international community of refugees created by years of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Sobasakthi\u2019s novel, Gorilla, is the key to the 40-year-old writer\u2019s past. The 1983 Colombo riots prompted him to join the Tigers; another child soldier was born. Two years later, he felt the first pangs of apprehension when the Tigers, despite its tough posture, took part in the India-sponsored peace talks in Thimpu. This vote-face, coupled with their violence and rigidity and the attacks against TELO<\/strong> next year, put Shobasakthi off further. He tried to quit the movement, but was captured along with a friend and tortured. Later, the Indian Peace Keeping Force detained him. He managed to flee to Colombo, only to face imprisonment in the very capital city. Eventually he bribed his way out of prison and escaped to Thailand, ending up in France, where he now lives. He takes<\/p>\n

Excerpts from an interview with Ranjitha Gunasekaran.<\/font><\/p>\n

What do you feel about the current situation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan Government is obviously determined to finish off the LTTE, and they have had international support since 9\/11 when the world started to crack down on terror. But it is the Tamil people \u2014 civilians \u2014 who are suffering as a result of military action.<\/p>\n

Do you think the LTTE will be overpowered?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The LTTE cannot be destroyed like that. Even (slain poacher) Veerappan with his small band of men eva-ded capture for 15 years. The LTTE is a movement involving 20,000 people. They can\u2019t be defeated. A political solution is the only option.<\/p>\n

There are several “myths” about both the Tigers and the army. Are they all true?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, the Tigers won\u2019t bomb civilian areas under their control, but they collect a tax and may kidnap people. It is the law that children from each house must be given up to join them as child soldiers. On the other hand, Tamils living in army-controlled areas cannot sleep a night in peace because they never know what can happen when. My family lives in a coastal village controlled by the army. Every day, there are murders and rapes of civilians by men of the navy units stationed there. Similarly, in Jaffna, which has been held by the army for years now, murders are common. At the same time, if the Tigers suspect anyone is aiding the army \u2014 even under coercion \u2014 they are considered government supporters. I hear of parents leaving their sons in jail for their own protection. Apparently, prison is the only place Tamils are safe.<\/p>\n

What do refugees want? What do you think is the right way out?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want eelam. We want peace. We\u2019ve had enough of people dying every day. People like me, one-time soldiers, feel sad to see a movement we spilled our blood for dying before us, but the problem is that people who have been refugees and lived away for so long, whose families are abroad, still buy into the propaganda. They believe (Velupillai) Prabhakaran is a superhero. These people have profited from the war by coming to a new country and attaining unimaginable comfort and wealth. They are the source of the LTTE\u2018s funds and they do not pressure them to consider peaceful options. If they did, the Tigers would have to listen. Meanwhile the real refugees are back in Sri Lanka, dying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

www.expressbuzz.com\u00a0 :26 Oct 2008 Shobasakthi is many things: traveller, writer, blogger and \u2014 most importantly in this context \u2014 an LTTE child soldier once and a refugee. He is also a vocal member of the international community of refugees created by years of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Sobasakthi\u2019s novel, Gorilla, is the key to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[73,74],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-89","tag-eelam","tag-expressbuzzshobasakthi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shobasakthi.com\/shobasakthi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}