Terrorism and Heroism

Those foolish and ignorant people who wrote poems about Thileepan, without knowing the slightest thing about who he was, portraying him as a hero who died as a university student and an innocent Tamil youth after fasting in protest against the government for the sake of his people, and who cheered at the unveiling of Thileepan’s statue, do not even know who Thileepan really was.

Thileepan was not a university student. He had abandoned his university education midway and joined the LTTE, becoming a terrorist.

As an LTTE terrorist, Thileepan was the principal organiser responsible for recruiting schoolchildren into the “Student Tigers” unit. Thileepan went on a hunger strike and died while demanding that the Indian Army, which had come to Sri Lanka to suppress the LTTE, leave the country.

Prabhakaran selected him for this purpose because Thileepan was already a seriously ill and physically weak LTTE member who was believed to be close to death anyway. If you want, photographs can be found on the internet showing Thileepan fasting with the LTTE flag in the background, other terrorists—including Murali—around him, and Prabhakaran speaking with Thileepan.

Therefore, Thileepan was an LTTE terrorist. He was a traitorous terrorist who deprived thousands of schoolchildren of their right to education and placed cyanide capsules around their necks—children who, fortunately for the country, ultimately lost their lives.

The LTTE itself was an organisation that used guns to take away the rights of its own people—from the right of a child to receive an education to the fundamental right to live. It created what is described as one of the world’s largest human shields from civilians belonging to its own community and killed civilians in large numbers.

Yet, the manner in which Tamil civilians in areas under military control were provided with facilities and cared for by the military, as well as the way in which the military carried out what has been described as one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations to liberate them from LTTE captivity, has been cruelly forgotten.

That is what happened in the North.

And this is what happened in the South.

Therefore, Thileepan was an LTTE terrorist. He was a traitorous terrorist who deprived thousands of schoolchildren of their right to education and placed cyanide capsules around their necks—children who, fortunately for the country, ultimately lost their lives.

The LTTE itself was an organisation that used guns to take away the rights of its own people—from the right of a child to receive an education to the fundamental right to live. It created what is described as one of the world’s largest human shields from civilians belonging to its own community and killed civilians in large numbers.

Yet, the manner in which Tamil civilians in areas under military control were provided with facilities and cared for by the military, as well as the way in which the military carried out what has been described as one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations to liberate them from LTTE captivity, has been cruelly forgotten.

That is what happened in the North.

And this is what happened in the South.
A terrorist is a terrorist.

In any case, those who lack the gratitude, courage and character to honour their true heroes have no lasting future.

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