Schoolgirl recruited to fight for Tigers

Taken from home; Now learning job skills at camp for child soldiers

Stewart Bell, National Post
Published: Wednesday, May 13, 2009

AMBEPUSSA, Sri Lanka -- A demure 16-year-old in a pink sweater, skirt and sandals, Darshika Kugandirasan doesn't look like a frontline guerrilla fighter.

She looks like a schoolgirl, which she was until two months ago. She was studying at Malawi Central College, hoping to become a teacher, even though classes were often cancelled because of the war.

As the eldest of three children, she knew the Tamil rebels wanted her to join; every family was expected to hand over at least one child for the liberation cause.

She tried to dodge them by staying indoors and out of sight, but on March 14 they came to take her to the training camp at Mulaivaikal.

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Misguided Tamil protesters

Published: Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Re: Expressway March Called Spontaneous; No Leadership Group, Say Demonstrators, May 12.

While all Canadians must be concerned about the killing of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, there should be no misunderstanding about the objectives of the demonstrators who blocked the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto on Sunday. If their primary concern had been the safety of Tamil civilians, they would have been calling on the Tamil Tigers to allow those trapped in the war zone to flee to safe areas, instead of using them as human shields. Clearly, however, the objective of the demonstrators was to bring about a situation that would allow the Tigers to preserve their fighting capability and prolong the insurgency.
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