When English-speaking Tamils met Tamil-speaking EX-LTTE cadres

A group of Tamil youths of Sri Lankan origin living in Europe found themselves in a quandary when EX-LTTE cadres being rehabilitated at a Vavuniya centre spoke to them in Tamil.

Inmates said the visitors spoke to them in English and they spoke to them in Tamil and the military officials manning the centre had to act as interpreters.

They said they were disappointed because the children of the Tamils who left the country during the early days of the war were unable to speak their mother tongue.

“Although they have come to help us we are sad that they could not speak the Tamil language, the very identity of the Tamil people,” B. Senduran, an inmate at the centre said.

He said that among the visitors were young doctors who were born in Jaffna. But they found it difficult to say in Tamil that they were from Jaffna.

The group led by British Conservative Party parliamentarian James Stephen Wharton visited Kilinochchi and Vavuniya to look into the welfare of the inmates in rehabilitation centres.

The group also included an Irish parliamentarian. They visited the Punthottam Rehabilitation centre where they were welcomed by Vavuniya Rehabilitation Coordinating Officer Lt. Colonel Manjula Gunasinghe.

The group attended a workshop where the inmates were trained for jobs in the Middle East. After the workshop, they mingled with the inmates but language became a problem. The military officials who were conversant in Tamil and English had to act as interpreters.

The EX-LTTE members told the visitors about their life under the LTTE and their aspirations. They said they wanted good jobs after the rehabilitation.

Lt. Colonel Gunasinghe said the visitors freely spoke to and mingled with the inmates. He said the group was satisfied with the rehabilitation process.