Selected Writings - Margaret Trawick

War and Tamil Women: A Women's Eye-view
1990

Tamil women, have been long subject to oppression of a dual nature. On the one hand, women comprising a little more than fifty percent of the Tamil people have borne the brunt of national oppression stemming from the chauvinist Sinhala policies. On the other hand, women have subject to an internal form of social oppression rising out of male chauvinism. This form of oppression is reinforced by the conservative traditions and cultural norms inherent in the Tamil community. However growing national oppression brought about a situation where Tamil women took to arms. The normal patterns of life underwent rapid transformation with large numbers of youths migrating.

In the early days of the formation of LTTE women contributed to the freedom fight by performing socially defined women's work. Giving moral support, providing shelter, food and played a major role in securing the safety and survival of the cadres. This work carried with risk of exposure and subsequently detention, torture and possibly death. Indeed women were taken into custody on suspicion subjected to rigorous and lengthy interrogations and faced torture. Women have been deprived of sleep during interrogation, sexual harassment and even deaths.

The concrete condition which forced a tremendous rupture, projecting women into a new depth of participation for national freedom were the state organized anti-Tamil riots of July 1983. This horrific outburst of racial violence in which thousands of innocent Tamil civilians were murdered, which left a trail of rape, arson and looting proved to be the ultimate revelation of the depths of Sinhala chauvinism and racism.

The situation escalated in 1987 when the IPKF was in Jaffna. Women experienced the worst in their own soil at the very hands of the people whom they trusted. The incidents are too many to mention. The following is one from the stories of some women. She was a lively, vivacious and self possessed 38 year old professional woman with a eleven year old daughter. Her husband worked abroad.

"Why me?" I ask myself whether by chance, something in me made them think they could do this to me? I feel inside myself soiled, I feel small, two months have gone past but I think I am getting worse. I was scared to tell my husband. Only recently had I written to him: I will tell you my story if you say it will help other women.

On 12 November, in the morning, three Indian soldiers came to our house at about 8 O' clock. My mother was in the kitchen, only my daughter and I met them. They said that they were checking and started pushing my daughter into a room, I dragged her shouted 'Amma, Amma, checking checking. Then the soldiers at the sentry point near our house came running to our house. They who were in our house told them they were checking. ( I lost my gold chain also ), They did not stay long. However, we were scared. I took my daughter and hid her in a small box room at the rear of the house and at about 9.30, we saw the same three soldiers coming again. This time they had not used the front gate where the sentry point is located, but came through another adjoining vacant house, jumping over the parapet wall.

Then they locked my parents in one room, showed the gun and raped me, one after the other, all three of them. I did not scream. What if they shot my parents? I can still recollect those beady eyes could not handle. I left the village and Jaffna when the first bus started running to Colombo. I started having nightmares. I started seeing their faces and hearing their voices�I took my daughter and went abroad. I even went to a psychiatrist. I could talk to him because he was a total stranger. He gave me drugs. They quietened me, but have not taken the memories away. I am becoming worse, even more so, At least I saved my daughter. I have written to my husband and he says not to worry. But you know our men. Do you think he will accept me? I feel so apart from the world. I feel different."

The stories are so traumatizing and makes one feel exhausted and impotent and as women angry at ourselves, our class, our men, our whole passive society. The above is a story of a survivor of sexual violence. There are numerous reports of suicides, deaths followed as a result of inhuman gang rape and torture and molestation. The middle class families in cases of rape and molestation have always tried to hide and submerge the incidents. This type of handling the victimization of women individualized the pain and trauma and created far reaching damage to their inner selves.

Deepening genocidal oppression has now propelled them out of their established social life into a new revolutionary world. The very decisions of young women to join armed struggle - in most cases without the consent of parents- represents a vast departure of behaviour for Tamil women. This is a turning point in the Tamil society. Women have now decided that talking about their problems will never put an end to their problems. They have to challenge. They have to change the norms. They have stormed into a previously all male activity. They have challenged the entire beliefs about women's strength, endurance, potential, determination, courage and talents. But it is only a certain percentage of women in the age group 15- 30 who have adopted themselves to a new style of life. The majority are those who are still suffering the communal oppression as women and national oppression as women belonging to an ethnic minority group, especially as women in a war torn country. They are widowed, have lost children, brothers and sisters as victims of war and as victims of the atrocities of state terrorism.

In two incidents on the 12th, 15th and 18th of August 1990, ninety, ninety five and ninety one civilians, respectively, were shot and hacked to death and burnt alive by Muslim home guards supported by the army, in Senkallady, Thuraineelavanai and Veeramunai in the Eastern province.

Women with their memories haunting with the sights of the distorted forms of bodies of their beloved, but still with the responsibilities awaiting their services as women, tending the young, the elderly, adjusting life in the worst of living conditions, still made incomprehensible, due to indiscriminate shelling, aerial bombing and torture.

Complete majoritarian Democracy, in countries divided on ethnic lines will never satisfy the minority. In circumstances where the majority refuses to come to an amicable settlement with the minorities, the minorities have no way other than fighting for their right for self determination. Even in such a situation the majorities are the gainers as they easily brand these freedom fighters as "terrorists", a word often used to gain the attention and sympathy of all the so called parliamentarians around the world. Ultimately it is again the minorities who are the losers.