Rajiva Wijesinha

“ One reason why I suspect reconciliation will be easier in Sri Lanka than in many places that have suffered conflict is the level of suffering inflicted by the LTTE on the Tamil people. There was also an extraordinary hierarchical system, which gave great advantages to the privileged whilst the others had to serve them unquestioningly.
One aspect of this tyranny was the manner in which everyone was forced to flee along with the Tigers into smaller and smaller areas in smaller and smaller modes of transport. ”

“ That they should have finally got the TNA to accept this position too, after having killed off any leader who presented a challenge to them, is a mark of the power of violence – while the graveyard of the motor cars is an object lesson in how violence finally rewards itself. ”

“ There are those who advocated a witch hunt, but the manner in which these generally excellent public servants did their duty by the people in spite of the difficulties they faced has been acknowledged and they are now doing even more to support resettlement efforts. ”

“ There are thousands, in a few separate lots, and most of them seem in a reasonable state of repair, so it should not be too difficult to restore some at least to working order and give them to the resettled people. ”

“ The vast majority of prisoners seem to have been Tamil, not only political opponents, not only those who had tried to speak out against conscription and other outrages, but even ‘a businessman who was abducted, after which the LTTE made a ransom demand of Rs. ”

“ It is not only cars. There are many sophisticated vehicles, most prominent a UN lorry with markings of both WFP and IOM. I was reminded, seeing it, of how an American diplomat expressed surprise that the LTTE would help itself to food direct from UN vehicles. ”