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Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 6:23 PM
History Narrative D2
“First person to get to the water's edge wins!” Raveen shouted in mid-run. “No fair!” Amaran and Ananthi Kumar yelled back simultaneously. “Faster!” Raveen coaxed. Arriving at the spot, Amaran put his foot on a dry rock as Raveen soaked his feet in the frolicking water. “What did you want to tell us?” Amaran and Ananthi asked. “My mother says I can’t hang out with you two anymore,” he said dejectedly. The year was 1948 when the British left Sri Lanka, leaving the predominantly Sinhalese government in charge. Sri Lanka is located at the southern tip of India. “Are you going away to the city?” Ananthi enquired unfazed. Amaran spun to face Raveen, eyes in astonishment. Could he just leave after 13 years of weal and woe shared between them? “Are you really going?” Amaran stood silently on his perch, waiting for Raveen to respond. With utmost caution, Raveen said, “My father just got promoted in his work, now we’re going to live in the city so that my father can get to work easier,” with that, Raveen sped away. Amaran and Ananthi walked back home, they saw their mother crying at the doorstep. Their father a Tamil language teacher at a local school shooed the siblings back into their cramped house. Amaran sneaked back to the door, eavesdropping on his parents, “This Ceylon Citizenship Act will make us stateless, there’s nothing we can do…” “The Ceylon Citizenship Act only allows those born in Sri Lanka and those people that are third generation Tamils to become citizens of Sri Lanka,” Amaran had heard from friends around the neighbourhood, unknowingly he became tense after hearing that. Two years later in 1950, the Sri Lankan government passed a law the Resettlement Policy. Coming home one day Ananthi noticed cardboard boxes piled up at the door. Her mother was packing up their valuables. They were required to move to Jaffna from a Sinhalese populated area, the government were also moving Buddhist monks and soldiers to Jaffna causing Ananthi to feel insecure. “We have to learn Sinhala now, the government just agreed on the Sinhala Only Act. All of the Tamil teachers in the school have to learn Sinhala or will be dismissed.” Amaran’s father told them when he got back from the school, before going to a peaceful demonstration in the town. The Sinhalese who supported the law rioted with the Tamils assembled there. Even after debates and discussions the government was slow in making Tamil the national language. 16 years later in 1972, the government changed the University Admission Criteria, “Our neighbour’s son was eligible for the University of Colombo but a Sinhalese took her place instead!” Ananthi exclaimed to a fuming Amaran over dinner. Tension continued to rise even four years later, causing the formation of the Tamil United Liberation Front to fight for the freedom to Tamils in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. Sensing this was his chance to fight for the Tamils, Amaran joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) newly succeeded by Velupillai Prabhakaran in May 5th 1976. “Hey big brother, wait!” Ananthi shouts, running over to her brother “I hear from the neighbours you’ve joined the Liberation.” The lines on Amaran’s face crease then relax, “Yes I’ve signed up for the Liberation army.” “I can’t stop you once you’ve decided, come back in one piece brother.” Ananthi sighed going walking back to the house. “I will.” Amaran murmured under his breath. Amaran trained under with fellow members of the LTTE under Prabhakaran, fighting for the freedom of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Then on July 23rd 1983, the restless Sinhalese mobs launched an offensive against Sri Lankan Tamils. Mobs of Sinhalese stopped vehicles to determine the identity of the driver and passengers, stabbing the Tamils or setting the vehicles in flames. On 29th July, police shot 15 rioters and regained control of the city. After 26 years of fighting on January 8th 2009 the Sri Lankan Army finally pushed the LTTE into the Jaffna Peninsula, Prabhakaran and the LTTE held on to the jungles of Mullaitivu as their last stand. By May 12th, the LTTE had only 840 acres of land left in the jungles. Prabhakaran was killed on May 18th when a rocket hit the armour-plated van he was riding in. This effectively ended the 26 years of bitter conflict between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army. The captured militants would undergo sessions on how to live without fighting and adjusted back into the society. Would the people of Sri Lanka be safe from a reformed citizen with a mission from the deceased Prabhakaran? |