LTTE minors surrender in their hundreds

Unspeakable cruelty and suffering, torture, violent training, brutal harassment, restricted movement and forced detention meted out by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to their youth conscripts, teenagers and minors, have prompted hundreds of them to sever relations with LTTE during past three years and surrender to Security Forces for safety and protection.

Three hundred and sixty (360) LTTE deserters, including 181 teenagers (12-18 years) from Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Ampara, Polonnaruwa, Mannar, Mullaittivu, Jaffna, Kurunegala, Colombo districts and Welioya area, either through the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) or on their own, have so far surrendered to the Police or Armed Forces in fear of their lives since the day cease-fire agreement was signed.

This 360 figure excludes many other LTTE men and women, who have reportedly deserted LTTE organization and escaped from elsewhere secretly without reaching any of the Security Forces points for safety

Out of the total of 360, fifty (50) minors were below fifteen years of age, including one girl as young as ten years. They comprise 37 boys and 13 girls who were schooling at the time they were either abducted by LTTE or conscripted against the wishes of their parents or guardians. Most of them, according to their confessions, were exposed to rigorous fire training sessions after they were forced to undergo LTTE lectures on weapons. LTTE, it was revealed, has lured many into believing that LTTE would organize schooling too for them.

One hundred and thirty one (131) of those teenage surrendees were between fifteen and eighteen (15-18) years of age and were either reading for G. C. E Ordinary Level/Advanced Level examinations or awaiting examination results or jobs at the time they fell prey to LTTE tricks. Most of them have been reportedly duped into believing that they would be offered LTTE jobs with handsome salaries after their LTTE military training was over. Those teenagers have been invariably brainwashed into believing that their land has been “grabbed and invaded by the Sinhalese ”in the South and that they should fight back using weapons. It was also disclosed that almost all of those detainees whether one liked or not were forced to undergo weapon training sessions, conducted by LTTE fighters.

One hundred and sixty (160) youths in age ranges of nineteen and thirty (19-30) years were the largest group that fell into the LTTE trap and remained worst affected because of many pro-violence assignments that were thrust upon them. Some of them, as their confessions confirmed were deployed for criminal assignments against Security Forces or anti-LTTE targets. Likewise, some of them, irrespective of high perks promised by LTTE, were ordered to extort money from Tamil civilians and businessmen against life-threats and intimidation, which some of those surrendees have flatly refused to carry out, in a few instances.

The total of 360 surrendees under reference comprises 309 males and 51 females, though fifteen surrendees of the total failed to disclose any specific information about their residence or dwellings when interrogated, most probably due to lack of knowledge. Police and troops after their reach at specific destinations, in many instances, traced their next of kin and handed those minors over to legitimate caretakers if they were willing to receive them. A few were to be referred to medical counseling as some minors appeared psychologically ill after their unexpected traumas.

The highest number of surrendees (112) was reported from Trincomalee district and the second highest, (92) being from Batticaloa district. Forty-six (46) LTTE deserters from Ampara district, thirty-two (32) from Polonnaruwa district, twenty-nine (29) from Vavuniya district, ten (10) from Mullaittivu district, eleven (11) from Mannar district, nine (09) from Jaffna district, two (02) from Welioya, and two (02) from both Kurunegala and Colombo districts sought protection for their lives during the past three years.

Those facts vis a vis LTTE conscription of minors continue to be the clear proof and endorsement of what the LTTE was doing contrary to numerous assurances and undertakings given, not only to local monitors but also to personages like Mr Olara Ottunu of the UN.