Thread by @ambikasat

1/ My thoughts on support for the (role played by) LTTE.

PS: I have been attacked on social media, news websites as well as certain Tamil diaspora media & called traitor, anti-Tamil & pro-military. At the same time govt affiliated ppl have labeled me traitor, anti-natl & LTTE.

2/The fact I have to first show my bona fides, as it were, by saying I was attacked by “both sides” to show I am being objective illustrates the challenge Tamils face when calling for a nuanced understanding of & means to deal with the violent past, which spills into our present.

3/ As a Tamil who knows & works with people from different social groups within the Tamil community, it is impossible not to know persons who at one time supported LTTE &/or believe in the necessity of the role played by LTTE. The support is complex & takes many forms.

4/ There are ppl who acknowledge LTTE violations but also point to LTTE being the bulwark against a racist & violent state. There are ppl who criticize the LTTE but at the same time say they made sacrifices for the Tamil people. There are those who categorically deny violations

5/ There are Tamil SLPP politicians who played LTTE songs during 2020 election campaign & distributed hand bills stating they were never against Tamil struggle. Karuna claimed he killed 1000s of soldiers & had cut outs containing motto of brigade he headed while in LTTE.

6/All political campaign material of candidates had terms such as Tamil nation, rights of the Tamil people and self-determination. @s_nilanthan refers to this as using the politics they do not do as their rhetoric. To them LTTE is strategic tool which they hope will win votes.

7/Defence of LTTE isn’t static & changes according to context. Women from Vanni I met in Dec 2009 were livid with LTTE for forcibly recruiting children. 3 months later they were saying they felt much safer in LTTE controlled Vanni due to army’s constant visits & surveillance.

8/Just 4 months ago a family member of disappeared person criticized someone for being anti-LTTE & 5 mins later said LTTE “was destroyed due to the curses & tears of the mothers”.

This is reality of Tamils’ complex, schizophrenic & even dysfunctional relationship with LTTE.

9/Fmr combatants have said that military thru repeated interrogations re their battalions & role in LTTE yrs after end of war kept reminding them of their time in LTTE even when they’d forgotten. State is obsessed with LTTE & it suits them to keep specter of LTTE alive.

10/LTTE violations are recorded & accepted by Southern ppl, but decades long violence perpetrated by 🇱🇰 state has largely been denied & those demanding justice are often labeled LTTE. This has to be addressed if we are to have a more nuanced conversation about past & LTTE.

11/Also pro-LTTE sentiments by pro-govt politicians are nearly always ignored by govt & even the Southern public. Why is this? If they are pro-govt do they get a free pass? Why was no action taken against KP or against Karuna for massacring hundreds of policemen?

12/Honest & open conversations about this are needed but are not possible because of a repressive state that will weaponize anything, such as #PTA, against Tamils & Muslims. We need to abandon polemics & posturing & acknowledge contradictions & complexities.

Ps: apologies I tagged the wrong Nilanthan. It should be @Nillanthan