The Blood-soaked Jasmine - [This
poem has not indulged in poetic license to take a flight of
fancy.]
Chandi Sinnathurai
She was barely sixteen When she
disappeared suddenly one night, Mallikai,* our little
thankachi.**
We searched under the dark sky everywhere. After a
long night, the village head-man asked: Could it be that
our little flower has been snatched by hungry animals?
Mallikai! I screamed into the dawning sky. Only the
wolves and the stray dogs howled back. Amma held her womb
and wailed: thankachi.
The morning skies turned bright red and mauve. An old
man who had been to the bushes came rushing. He stammered
in anger: I saw Mallikai in a pool of blood.
Where?
Where? I screamed in anger. We sprinted like angry
leopards. Mallikai, our little thankachi. There she
slept like a withered garland.
The hyenas have devoured every petal�
The Parai
Melam,*** wailing horns and mourners
The fire is lit; and the flame has engulfed Mallikai.
Amma returned home � to an empty space, Knowing that
her son will not return.
The flame that engulfed Mallikai Has enflamed her
sisters and brothers� They will now each wear a garland
in memory of Thankachi!
* Jasmine ** Little sister
***Funeral drum
Army
Man
- Kavithai by Mathini Sreetharan, USA
"அருகினில் வாழும் தமிழ்ப்
பெண் நான் கேட்கிறேன்...
கருவினைத் தரித்து. உருவினைக் கொடுத்து.
மகனென அழைத்து. அருமையாய் வளர்த்து. "அரசினைக் காக்க
உயிரதைக் கொடுப்பான்.
இராணுவ வீரன், என் மகன் இவன்" எனப் பெருமையாயக கூறிடும்
இராணுவ அன்னையே. அருகினில் வாழும் தமிழ்ப் பெண் நான்
கேட்கிறேன் கூறிடு!
பெண்ணினைப் பிடித்துத் துகிலினை உரித்துக் கைகளைக்
கட்டி மார்பினை அறுத்து பலருடன் கூடிக் காமுகப் பசியினைத்
தீர்த்து அவளது உயிரையும் எடுத்துப் புதைகிடங்கினில்
போட்டவன் உன் மகன் என்றால் என்ன நீ சொல்வாய்?
மார்பினில் ஊறும் பாலினைக் குடித்துத் தாய்க்குலம் பேணி
வளர்த்ததால் மனிதனாய் தன்னுருப் பெற்றவன் உன் மகன் என்றால்
இன்னொரு பெண்ணை இப்படிச் செய்து கொன்றிடும் உள்ளம் எங்கனம்
கொண்டான்?எங்களின் நாட்டினில் எத்தனை வேலைகள் ஆக்கமாய்ச்
செய்யலாம்? தமிழ் மண்ணினில் வந்து துவக்கினைக் காட்டி,
அப்பனை, ஆச்சியை, அண்ணனைத் தம்பியைத் தங்கையைக் கொன்று
அழிப்பதை விட்டால் எத்தனை வேலைகள் ஆக்கமாய்ச் செய்யலாம்?
நாங்களும் நீங்களும் வேண்டுவதென்ன? மாந்தராய் மானமாய்
வாழ்வதுதானே! அழகிய தீவினில் வாழும் சோதரி, தாயே!
உனக்கிதைச் சொல்கிறேன். வேண்டிநான் கேட்கிறேன்.; பெண்களை
மதிக்கும் மைந்தரைப் பெற்றிடு நேர்மையாய் நடக்கும் மனிதராய்
வளர்த்திடு-அப்போ. ஆயிரமாயிரம் ஆண்டுகள் வாழ்ந்தது போலே
சுமுகமாய் இலங்கையில் வாழலாம் நாங்கள். செய்வாயோ?.."
"...Under international
law, rape committed by government officials or armed
political groups during armed conflict constitutes
torture... Rape and other serious sexual assault have also
long been recognized as breaches of international
humanitarian law. They are now recognized as a war crime
and, when committed on a systematic basis or large scale, a
crime against humanity. As such, it is subject to universal
jurisdiction..."
Amnesty International Report
INDICTMENT
AGAINST SRI LANKA State Terror - the Record Speaks.... Rape & Murder of Eelam Tamil Women
"Sri
Lankan soldiers have raped both women and young girls on a massive
scale, and often with impunity, since reporting often leads to reprisals
against the victims and their families.." World Organisation against
Torture
"The Sri Lankan security forces are using systematic
rape and murder of Tamil women to subjugate the Tamil population...
Impunity continues to reign as rape is used as a weapon of war in Sri
Lanka." Asian Human
Rights Commission
"..On average, a Tamil woman is raped by members of the
Sri Lankan security forces every two weeks. The real number is
inevitably higher since many cases are unreported. Every two months a
Tamil woman is gang-raped and murdered by the Sri Lankan security
forces."
Statement by NGO, Women Against Rape, at United Nations Commission on
Human Rights
"....The fate
of Premini was terrible. The dusky woman
with attractive features and a slight squint
was taken to another camp and raped ..it was
a horrible gang rape with TMVP (Sri Lanka
Para Military) cadres taking turns to
sexually assault her.... Premini was heard
to shout and cry at the start. Later she
merely sobbed and whimpered...She was
apparently hacked to death and thrown into
the bushes."
more
"The
description given below of Tharshini�s disappearance on 16th
December 2005 and the discovery of her body in an abandoned village
well is put together from statements made by Tharshini�s relatives
and neighbours to one of NESOHR�s committee members. NESOHR has made
the decision to withhold the identity of the relatives and
neighbours from this report because their safety may be compromised
if these are revealed. NESOHR is ready to share this information
with any leading international human rights organization that is
willing to join us in taking up this case of the rape and murder of
Tharshini..." more
"..On 24 September 2003, the Special
Rapporteur sent a joint communication with the Special
Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to
freedom of opinion and expression and the Special Rapporteur on
the question of torture regarding the case of S.R. (f), aged 22,
held in detention in Batticaloa since 23 July 2002. She was
arrested on 24 November 2001 by four male police officers from
the Methirigirya police station on the basis of being a member
of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and was
reportedly taken to the office of the Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) in Polonaruwa. At about midnight, she was put
alone in a cell, where it is alleged that officers from the
Methirigirya police station and the Polonaruva CID threatened
to shoot her with a gun, put chili powder all over her body,
suspended her from the ceiling, slapped her repeatedly, kicked
her back, beat her with a rope, and burnt her all over with
cigarettes. She was then allegedly raped by 12 police officers
while in custody of CID..."
"There is a vast distance between
the policy and practice of women's rights in Sri Lanka. It is
almost exactly two years since the rape and torture of
Ms Sivamani Weerakon and Wijikala Nanthakumar in Sri Lankan
military custody. Both women were stripped and attacked by
members of the Counter Subversive Unit (CSU). Despite the
passage of considerable time, the Sri Lankan justice system has
failed to prosecute or even indict the men accused of raping and
torturing the two Tamil women..."
"The actual incidence of rape and sexual violence
committed by police and security forces is certainly far higher than
that which is reported. Women in Sri Lanka are frequently prevented
through fear and shame from reporting acts of sexual violence. Fear of
social ostracism and retaliation, when combined with the widespread lack
of gender-sensitivity amongst police, judicial and medical personnel act
as powerful deterrents to women reporting violence and pursuing legal
action against the perpetrators. The prevailing climate of impunity for
acts of sexual violence against women from ethnic minorities and the
fact that women who are victims of violence frequently have no safe
place to stay during investigations or trials are further elements that
dissuade women from reporting crimes of violence committed against
them..."
"...In a letter to the new Defence minister
Tilak Marapane, the All Ceylon Public Employees Front says
six armed men abducted two married Tamil women at Attalaichenai
in Amparai District in early January and raped them. The two
sisters who are from Mandur in Batticaloa had gone to
Attalaichenai to work in rice fields. Local MP Ariyanayagam
Chandranehru says police have taken no action to apprehend the
perpetrators..."
Thambipillai Thanalakshmi
: "...Thambipillai Thanalakshmi, 42-year-old Tamil
woman from Meesalai, Jaffna district was reportedly
dragged from her home at around 8.30pm on 7 July 2001 by
soldiers allegedly attached to the Kachchai army camp.
They took her to a nearby rice field where she was raped
by at least three of them. Thambipillai Thanalakshmi�s
mother tried to intervene after hearing her daughter
screaming, but was assaulted and hit with rifles by the
soldiers.
Velu Arshadevi
-
Mahendiran Nageswari -
Vijayaratnam Subashini -
Thangiah Vijayalalitha -
Sinnathamby Sivamany -
Yogalingam Vijitha
-
Ehamparam Wijikala ".. The Officer-in-Charge (OIC)
.. asked her to sit on the floor and she complied. The OIC
then asked a male police officer named Rajah to bring a
piece of cloth. Rajah blindfolded her with the piece of
cloth. She was told to remove her clothes. When she refused
she was beaten and her clothes were forcibly removed by
them. Then, while some of them held her hands and legs one
person got on top of her, soon afterwards followed by
another one. She said they both raped her..."
"..She was arrested by four male police officers from the
Medigiriya police station on 24.11.2000 around 12 noon when she was on duty.
She was then taken to CID office in Polonaruwa in a police jeep. While in
jeep she was scolded by policemen in filth and was threatened that she would
be killed. One policeman stamped on her right foot forcefully with shod
foot.At about 12.30 p.m. she was handed over to the Polonaruwa CID office.
There she was detained for two days. ...Thereafter the Police officials
ordered her to take off all the clothes except her panty and bra. She begged
them not to force her to remove her clothes. Subsequently she was subjected
to body search by police officials touching her whole body including her
genital area and breast. She was not given lunch. .. She asked the Police to
inform her parents about her arrest. The Police did not accede to that
request. Later she was threatened and assaulted by the police inside the
cell. She then fainted. When she regained consciousness she found herself
lying on the bed in another room. The police officers forced her to remove
her bra and panty. She begged and pleaded with them not to harm her. The
police officials then threatened her that she would be killed and her body
would be disposed after cutting her neck. Subsequently one by one twelve
police officers had sexual intercourse with her until next morning 5 'clock.
As a result she had many scratch marks on her breasts. She also had severe
abdominal pain."
"..Arshadevi told The Associated Press
in an interview that instead of being taken to the
police station, she was pushed into a narrow concrete
staircase leading to an army camp. For the next hour and
a half, she said, she was gang raped as she cried out
for her attackers to stop. The policeman who led her to
the stairway, S. Premathilake, now faces charges of rape
along with two of his colleagues. Arshadevi's ordeal has
brought protests from Tamil parliament members and human
rights organizations..."
"...A 28 year old Tamil woman of Indian origin from
Badulla was working as cashier at a hotel in Fort. The mother of two was
staying at a lodge in Maradana. After work she walked home passing through
the checkpoint manned by Police and Army personnel.. Her address and name
was noted by the cops and allowed to pass. Later the Policemen went to her
residence in the night and forced her under threat of arrest, to come to the
checkpoint. Since the current security situation enables Security Personnel
to wield unlimited power over any Tamil suspect, the woman reluctantly
agreed. She was gang raped by the cops and soldiers. She was warned under
threat of death to keep quiet..."
"The Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ) is deeply concerned about the security of A.S.M.
Fasmi, a reporter for the Tamil-language newspaper
Thinakkural. Fasmi, who is based on the northern island
of Mannar, says he has been detained, interrogated, and
threatened repeatedly with death since he reported on
the alleged rape of two Tamil women detained by local
security forces last month..."
"...Your Excellency, according to the
Catholic Bishop of Mannar Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph, the
CSU has been in the habit of arresting women such as
Sivamani and Wijikala from various parts of the Mannar
district to rape, and exploit brutally under the pretext
of interrogation and extended detention, under the PTA
and the Emergency Regulations. According to a statement
issued by the Bishop Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph on the 31st
of March, "The atrocities of the Sri Lankan navy
personnel in Mannar district are growing bad to worse
daily. All my efforts to get the Sri Lanka Navy to
respect the basic human rights of the people so affected
by the prolonged war are proving futile. I have again
appealed to the Commander General of the Sri Lankan Navy
for redress on behalf of the civil public of
Mannar."..."
"Amnesty International today wrote to
the President of Sri Lanka urging her to take action to
stop rape by security forces and bring perpetrators to
justice. Following several recent reports of rape by
security forces in Mannar, Batticaloa, Negombo and
Jaffna, the organization reminded President Chandrika
Kumaratunga that safeguards to protect women in custody
(as contained in presidential directives for the welfare
of detainees issued in July 1997) were being
ignored...."
TCHR has gathered detailed and specific documentation on
the widespread violations of the human rights of women rape victims.
* On average, a Tamil woman is raped by members of
the Sri Lankan security forces every two weeks. The real number is
inevitably higher since many cases are unreported.
* Every two months a Tamil woman is gang-raped and murdered by the
Sri Lankan security forces.
Personnel from the Special Task Force, the Sri Lankan
Navy, Army and Police and Home guards operating with the Sri Lankan army,
have raped Tamil women. Senior personnel such as captains are known to have
been involved in gang-rape and murders, and have been named by victims and
witnesses, but none has ever been convicted nor punished.
"...Wijikala, according to her relatives, is
pregnant and was raped repeatedly by Policemen in CSU custody. The Mannar
Bishop and human rights activists said Wednesday that the CSU has often been
in the habit of arresting women such as Sivamani and Wijikala from various
parts of the Mannar district to rape and exploit brutally under the pretext
of interrogation and extended detention under the Prevention of Terrorism
Act and the Emergency Regulations. .."
"Rape is a ... very serious concern.
On July 7 last, Mr. Pararajasingham, Tamil United
Liberation Front (TULF) MP for Batticaloa, read out a
letter written to the Sri Lanka's National Human Rights
Commission by a seventy year old woman of Neervely in
Jaffna who was raped and robbed by Sri Lankan army
personnel on May 31. The MP said he was bringing the
letter to the attention of the house as the matter had
been suppressed under the censorship. Furthermore
residents in Mannar reported on June 19 that Sri Lankan
police officers in Sinnakadai area in Mannar have
attempted to rape women in the nearby areas after
forcibly opening the doors at night..."
The International League for
the Rights and Liberation of Peoples
"On the evening of Tuesday 28th
December 1999, Sarathambal Saravanbavananthakurukal, of
a Hindu Brahmin family, was forcibly dragged from her
home, in Pungudutivu, near Jaffna Peninsula, by Sri
Lankan Navy soldiers. They then gang-raped and murdered
her in cold blood. The body of the 29 year-old mother
was found the following morning, under leaves, not far
from her home near Kannaki Amman Temple..."
" Rape as a weapon of war :
The Sri Lankan security
forces are using systematic rape and murder of Tamil
women to subjugate the Tamil population. 28 December
1999, Mrs.Sarathambal Saravanbavananthakurukal, 29, was
forcibly dragged out from her home, in Pungudutivu, near
Jaffna Peninsula, by Sri Lankan Navy soldiers. She was
gang-raped and murdered Her body was found the following
day, under bushes near Kannaki Amman Temple which is
nearby her home. AHRC received this information from
reliable sources. It is alleged by witnesses that the
soldiers who raped Sarathambal have been transferred
from the area to prevent action being taken against
them. This is a familiar method used by the authorities
to avoid scrutiny. Impunity continues to reign as rape
is used as a weapon of war in Sri Lanka..."
Asian Human Rights Commission
"...Asian Human Rights Commision
received information from reliable sources that Fahreen
Ida Carmelitta Laila or Ida Carmelitta was raped and
killed allegedly by soldiers on 12th July night in
Pallimunai village in Mannar Island. Five masked men,
heavily armed came and forcefully pulled out the girl
from the house and violently raped her and killed her.The
post mortem report submitted by Dr Emmanuel Pieries,
District Medical officer of Mannar observed that the
victim had been repeatedly raped. Her lips and breasts
were bitten off violently. She was shot through her
organ..."
"Colombo human rights agency the Forum
for Human Dignity has recorded over 45 rapes by soldiers
in the north-east since February 1996. Local agencies
say many rape victims do not report their ordeal for
fear of retaliation or ostracization from the community.
Most rape cases remain uninvestigated. In July, the
CIUAH wrote to the Sri Lankan Attorney General urging
action against three soldiers accused of raping a Muslim
woman at Oddamavady in Batticaloa District, in the
presence of her husband..."
Kanthasamy Kalanithy, June 1998
"On the 25th of June 1998, the army chief of the
Mirusuvil army camp in the Jaffna area, ordered
Kanthasamy Kalanithy, a 26-year old Tamil woman, to
marry one of his Sinhalese soldiers. He forced her to
stand in front of ten Sri Lankan soldiers and to choose
one of them, When she refused to respond he ordered one
of the soldiers to put a pottu (a red spot signifying
her marriage to him) on her forehead. When she screamed
in protest, she was gang-raped and then killed. The army
refused to hand over her body for examination and they
have attempted to threaten her parents into silence."
"......Reports about Tamil women being raped by the army are on
the rise. Only one of the thousands of rapes which have been reported, has
resulted in a conviction. Victims are frightened of reprisals and there
seems to be little point in reporting their cases, since the only place to
lodge a complaint is with the very same security forces who commit the
rapes. There also seems to be little point to expect justice on the basis of
the constitution since the constitution itself provides the mechanisms and
justifications for the commission of these war crimes and encourages
impunity. .." Pax
Romana - Non Governmental Organisation
"...Systematic rape of Tamil women
living in their homeland by the Sri Lankan armed forces
has been going on for decades. Before the Sinhalese
armed occupation of the Tamil homeland, the security
forces were organising pogroms against the Tamils, where
Sinhalese men gang-raped hundreds of Tamil women before
burning them alive. The pogroms happened regularly
throughout the last fifty years, and the rapings and
murders were never punished by the Sinhalese state, each
pogrom bigger than the last, until the all out war
began..."
North-South XXI - Non Governmental Organisation
"The
barbaric rape and murder of a young mother ...has
sent shockwaves around Batticaloa
...Parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham in a
letter to the President has said .. the
policeman who committed this alleged offence had in a
dastardly attempt to cover up the act exploded a hand
grenade in the private parts of the victim.
Police had then told relatives to bury the body without
a medical examination."
"Murugesupillai Koneswary,
a mother of four children, was killed at her home in
11th Colony village by a grenade being thrown at
her genitals on the evening of 17 May. Reportedly only
her two-year-old child was present when the attackers
entered her house. Her husband and three older children
were not at home..." Amnesty
International
Velan Rasamma -
Velan
Vasantha "Amnesty International has received
reliable reports that Velan Vasantha attempted to commit
suicide by swallowing poison. She had reportedly left a
note explaining to her prospective husband that she was
unable to continue to live after what happened to her.
The suicide attempt was unsuccessful."
"Human rights activists claim more than 150 women,
mostly minority Tamils, were raped by police and armed forces personnel last
year.
In the past few months the nation has been outraged by a
series of sex offences, followed in some instances by the death or
disappearance of victims. Security forces are allegedly behind the
incidents, which are widespread in the war-ravaged north and east. Rights
groups and mainstream Tamil political parties are now up in arms over the
alleged rape of five women by policemen in Colombo's suburbs. "
"Sri Lankan soldiers violently raped
three Tamil women in Batticaloa. At 3am (January 2nd)
troops broke into a Tamil house where a mother, daughter
and woman relative were sleeping. The rapes took place
at gun-point. Neighbours later admitted all three to
Valaichenai hospital. The soldiers are members of the
STF, the so-called elite force of the Sri Lankan army.
Rapes by the STF are said to be occurring on a regular
basis in Sri Lankan-occupied areas..."
"Rajani Velauthapillai, 22, was raped and
murdered by the Sri Lankan military manning a checkpoint
at Kondavil, a village near the Jaffna city. Rajani's
fiance lives in Canada and she was to join him in a few
weeks. As per traditions, she was visiting family elders
to bid farewell and to obtain their blessings before
leaving for Canada. On Sep 30, 1996 at about 3:30 PM,
Rajani was arrested by the SL soldiers manning the
Kondavil checkpoint for no apparent reasons. Several
people had witnessed her arrest. Rajani was then dragged
into a nearby house inhabited by two elderly people. The
soldiers chased the two occupants out of the house. They
then gang-raped Rajani and murdered her. Her bruised
naked body was found later in the toilet of the empty
house."
"Selvarajah Renuka is a 10 year old
Tamil Hindu girl, living in Pathmeni, Atchuvely on the
Jaffna Peninsula. A 5th grade student, she was on her
way to school last Tuesday (12th November 96). At 8.15,
she was abducted by Sri Lankan soldiers and taken to the
Sri Lankan army's Puttur V.C. camp. There, she was
stripped and raped repeatedly by Sinhala soldiers. When
they had finished, the soldiers released the child. The
principal of her school went to Atchuvely-Atchelu main
army camp to register a formal protest. He took Renuka
with him. The camp commanders made no attempt to
investigate the complaint..."
"
Of the numerous arrests, rapes and murders
of the girls and boys in Jaffna, one comes to light. Most,
however, go unreported because the Sri Lankan army bans
independent reporters from traveling to the peninsula, and the
government censors news about conditions in Jaffna. On Saturday
Sep. 7, 1996, Krishanthi Kumarasamy, an 18 year
old student at Chundikuli Girls' High School went missing, soon
after she had taken her first paper at the GCE A/L examination.
She was seen by a number of witnesses being taken into custody
by Sinhala army personnel at the Kaithady checkpoint, and she
disappeared soon after. According to a report published later in
the Sri Lanka Sunday Times (Nov 3, 1996), "She was stopped at
the checkpoint and three soldiers allegedly raped her until she
fell unconscious. When she revived, according to the
confessions, police officers and six soldiers further raped
her.""
"In August 1995
Lakshmi
Pillai
was raped at her home in Trincomalee by two army
informants in front of her two sons. The motive may have
been revenge as she had spoken out about being raped
before at Plantain Point army camp in August 1993. The
informants were arrested but later released on bail
pending trial. On 7 March 1996, a 45-year-old woman was
raped by soldiers at Thiyavedduwan checkpoint. Her
husband was beaten with rifle butts. Both were admitted
to Valaichchenai hospital. "
"On 7 March 1996, a 45-year-old woman
was raped by soldiers at Thiyavedduwan checkpoint. Her
husband was beaten with rifle butts. Both were admitted
to Valaichchenai hospital."
"Sri
Lankan soldiers have raped both women and young girls on a massive
scale, and often with impunity, since reporting often leads to reprisals
against the victims and their families.."
"The
description given below of Tharshini�s disappearance on 16th
December 2005 and the discovery of her body in an abandoned village
well is put together from statements made by Tharshini�s relatives
and neighbours to one of NESOHR�s committee members. NESOHR has made
the decision to withhold the identity of the relatives and
neighbours from this report because their safety may be compromised
if these are revealed. NESOHR is ready to share this information
with any leading international human rights organization that is
willing to join us in taking up this case of the rape and murder of
Tharshini..." 
