‘They treat us animals as we did not have any money to give them, they would not let us go. When we ran away they shot us like a hunters shooting animals, many of us injured, some of us who ran with us died with LTTE’s bullets. It's terrible what they do to the poor Tamils’
TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009 By Rajeswary Balasubramaniam
(April 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Watching the exodus of Tamils on the 20th of April 2009 from the so-called no-fire zone to the military controlled area was very moving. They were crossing Nanthik Kadal, a lagoon between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan military. It is more like the episode where Moses led his people from Egypt to the promised land of Israel. The red Sea opened a path for the exodus to cross but in the Nanthik Kadal the exodus have to swim in water sometimes up to their neck, carrying their kids, possessions and whatever they can carry.
This is a pivotal point in Sri Lankas history. A group of people were the hostages for a ruthless group who used these powerless Tamil people as their last weapons against the Sri Lankan army.
The prosperity of the Tamil community suffered immensely for the last thirty or more years due to oppression by the leaders who they thought were going bring them freedom. Many took their lives to the West and the poor, the oppressed caste who did not have any money to buy their way out, faced the hardships of losing their kids to forced conscription and being moved from place to place to protect their ’protectors’.
(April 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Watching the exodus of Tamils on the 20th of April 2009 from the so-called no-fire zone to the military controlled area was very moving. They were crossing Nanthik Kadal, a lagoon between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan military. It is more like the episode where Moses led his people from Egypt to the promised land of Israel. The red Sea opened a path for the exodus to cross but in the Nanthik Kadal the exodus have to swim in water sometimes up to their neck, carrying their kids, possessions and whatever they can carry.
This is a pivotal point in Sri Lankas history. A group of people were the hostages for a ruthless group who used these powerless Tamil people as their last weapons against the Sri Lankan army.
The prosperity of the Tamil community suffered immensely for the last thirty or more years due to oppression by the leaders who they thought were going bring them freedom. Many took their lives to the West and the poor, the oppressed caste who did not have any money to buy their way out, faced the hardships of losing their kids to forced conscription and being moved from place to place to protect their ’protectors’.
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