Gorilla Read online

  23. After keeping me overnight in the camp, on 20.01.1988, the peacekeeping forces put a gunny bag over my head and took me in their vehicle to my own village of Mandaitivu. It must have been about 4 in the morning.

  24. The Peacekeeping Forces had announced a curfew all over Mandaitivu and had rounded up all the young men into the compound of St. Philip’s Church. They made the men parade in a line in front of me and ordered me to pick out those who belonged to the LTTE. I told them that no one in that row was LTTE. That day, no one was arrested in the village. They brought me back to the camp.

  25. ‘Why didn’t you help us capture a Tiger?’ I was asked as I was hung by my legs and beaten. I was tortured all twelve days I spent at the camp. Then, after tremendous effort from my parents and the recommendations put forth by our village representative leader, Mr. A Ambalavaanar J.P., I was released on 31.01.1988. But I was ordered by the IPKF to come daily to the Velanai camp and sign in. Every single day the IPKF was in Sri Lanka, I went to the army camp to sign my name.

  26. After the IPKF left in 1990, the LTTE that had been living in the jungles came into town. They came to my house on 05.05.1990 and arrested me. They accused me of being a ‘Tamil traitor,’ and said I had worn the mask of betrayal.

  27. They kept me for a week in their camp in Kunjan Fields. On 13.05.1990, they released me but I was aware that they kept me under close surveillance.

  28. The second Eelam war began in June of 1990: between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers. With a plan to recapture the fort of Jaffna, the Sri Lankan army divisions began to converge via Narandanai—Saravanai—Velanai—Mankumbaan—Allaipiddi until they arrived at Mandaitivu. Young Tamil men from the other groups also came with them. The Sri Lankan navy came by sea and surrounded our island.

  29. We had dug a bombing shelter behind our house. My two brothers, sister, and mother hid in there with me.

  30. The approaching army fired nonstop with guns and grenades. After burning down our house, they came over to our bomb shelter and looked in. We climbed out with our hands raised.

  31. There must have been about ten soldiers. Along with them were four Tamil turncoats. Amongst them, I recognized a young man from my village, Sandhya Sasidharan.

  32. He pointed at me and told the Sri Lankan soldiers that I was an LTTE supporter, that my older brother was a key LTTE member, and that my whole family supported the LTTE. When they heard this, with a loud whoop, the soldiers fell upon my brothers and me, attacking us with knives and bayonets.

  33. I fainted when I was struck on my head by a bayonet.

  34. When I opened my eyes, I was in Jaffna Public Hospital. I couldn’t move my legs. The soldiers had beaten and broken the bones in both my legs. There were also stitches on my head. I learnt later from my parents that I had been taken to the hospital by the Catholic priest, Fr. Vilvarasingham who had brought me here by boat, and that my two younger brothers, Aruldhasan and Nimaladhasan had been cut to pieces by the army. Even their corpses couldn’t be found.

  35. When my brothers and I were being attacked, the soldiers had ordered my sister and mother to run. So they had run to the Mandaitivu St. Thomas Church, hidden out there for two days, and escaped Mandaitivu by boat to the St. Anthony’s church refugee camp in Paasaiyoor.

  36. As the hospital was very crowded, acceding to the request of the doctors, I left the hospital on 18.09.1990 and joined my family at the Paasaiyoor refugee camp. My parents took care of me in the refugee camp. But even the refugee camp was not a safe place. The camp was constantly aerial bombed. The Sri Lankan army was also advancing. There was no way to predict when the army was going to enter Paasaiyoor. My parents had four sons. Now only I remained. So in order to save me, my father told me to go to Colombo. He also gave me ten thousand rupees.

  37. On 14.01.1991, I left the Paasaiyoor refugee camp, travelled by private bus to Kerativu, caught a boat to Poonagari-Sangupiddi, and cycled my way to Vavuniya. I arrived at a relative, Devanayagam’s house in Vavuniya on 16.01.1991, stayed a day there, and in the morning of 17.01.1991, left on his vegetable truck (TN Transport) to reach Colombo by 8 in the evening.

  38. In Colombo, I stayed at the Avendal Lodge, 24/6, Mahinda Mawatha, Maradana. On 20.01.1991, at 6.30 am, the Maradana police (Colombo-10) under the leadership of the inspector in charge of the Maradana police station, Bernard de Silva, came to my lodging and arrested all the young Tamil men staying there. They took us to the Maradana police station, put us in cages, stripped us and started interrogating us. Already, there were about thirty young men there. When the police saw the wounds on my body, they became very harsh. I told them the truth. But the police insisted, ‘No, you are an LTTE soldier. These wounds are the result of your fight with the army,’ and beat me mercilessly.

  39. In the afternoon of 28.01.1991, at about 12 o’clock, they packed seven of us in a military truck and deposited us at the Galkissa army camp.

  40. Once again, the wounds on my body raised questions. A masked figure identified me as belonging to the LTTE. The minute they heard this, the soldiers began to rain blows on me. They beat my barely healing wounds with the butts of their guns. I was handcuffed and my hands were placed upon a table to be hit with a stick; they broke the fourth finger of my right hand, and smashed the middle finger. Then they twisted my toes with pliers. They poured melted polythene bags over my genitals. They cut the skin on my left hand lightly, and stuffed it with crushed hot pepper. I passed out.

  41. On 30.01.1991, the military turned me over to the Maradana police. I was passing out all the time. The police kept asking, ‘Did you come to Colombo to set off bombs?’ and torturing me. After a week, I was put in Mara prison. The police inspector who transported me to prison was Sub-inspector Pereira. My number at the prison was D.O. 627.

  42. Every three months, I was taken to the Mallikakantha Courthouse. The judge would extend my prison stay by another three months under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

  43. After suffering in prison for two years, on 25.12.1992, under the recommendation of Minister M. S. Chellasamy, a few young men were released. I was one of them (later, for having made this arrangement, the Minister M. S. Chellasamy’s secretary, Govindarajan received ten thousand rupees from me as a bribe).

  44. After my release, I stayed at 26/1, Dam Street, Colombo-13. On 27.12.1992, I was awakened by the Pittakotta police and taken to their police station.

  45. I told the police officers that I had been released from prison only two days ago. It was no use. On the morning of 28.12.1992, some Tamils from the other groups came in to identify me. Amongst them, I saw a young man called Muraleedharan from my neighbouring village of Allaipiddi. He pointed me out to the police as LTTE.

  46. Every day I spent at the police station, I suffered indescribable misery from the unrelenting torture.

  47. Then on 15.01.1993, a relative of mine, Mr. Marusaleen, gave the police the sum of twenty-five thousand rupees and was able to release me. But I was told to come in daily to the police station and sign the register.

  48. Each time I went to the police station to sign, the policemen would grab me and beat me. They would remove my shirt and poke fun at my wounds, pointing me out to those coming and going as a ‘Tiger.’ If I entered the police station at 9 in the morning, I was allowed to leave only at night. My whole day would be spent being tortured at the police station.

  49. The attacks, continuous torture, and the two years I had spent in prison broke my body and spirit completely. I couldn’t bear any more torture. With the knowledge that further torture would kill me and the help of my relative, Mr. Marusaleen, I paid a travel agent two lakhs to obtain a false passport, and escaped from Sri Lanka.

  50. Sir, I have given above the reasons for leaving my country of birth. I beg of you to read my petition with compassion and grant me leave to live in your country as a political refugee until the war ends in mine.

  51. If this petition were made public, I would be in great danger. Therefore, I request you ver
y kindly to protect the information given in such detail here and if you need additional information, to call me for a direct interview.

  52. Thanking you.

  53. Yours truly,

  J. Anthony Thasan

  54. Attachments:

  The French translation of this petition

  My National Identity Card

  Four photographs

  Copy of certificate granted by the Border Police

  The jeeps that left the city in such a hurry were all flying black flags. It seemed Indira Gandhi had been shot and killed.

  Actually this news made barely a ripple in Kunjan Fields. The response to Indira Gandhi’s death in Kunjan Fields was the kind of disturbance and curiosity one might witness if an ownerless cow had been found dead in the field.

  But the folks from Kunjan Fields who worked in Jaffna city in the markets, mat shops and slaked lime shops came home by 1.30 pm and told everyone that all the shops were closed in the city, and that there were memorial meetings everywhere.

  Now on the great North Road, a jeep with loudspeakers on its roof was moving towards Kunjan Fields. To the sound of its sad ‘doing doing’ sitar music, it was dropping leaflets that small children fought over. The loudspeaker began to speak to the crowd.

  ‘Dear citizens of Tamil Eelam,

  There is one God

  Two Races

  Three kinds of Tamil

  Four Directions

  Five Senses

  Six Tastes

  Seven Musical Notes

  Eight Points of the Compass

  Nine Emotions,

  as classified by the Tamil race that lives according to these precepts. The known languages of the world are six thousand two hundred and forty. Of which, eighty-three are civilized. Out of the civilized languages, seven are especially refined. Tamil is one of them. But this honeyed tongue has no nation of its own. Nor is there a specialized politics for it. The Tamil Eelam liberation that sought to change this enslavement was supported by the great mother Indira Gandhi, she who fought for the greater Bengal, the esteemed daughter of Nehru. We salute her valorously in the name of the people of Eelam.’

  As he spoke into the loudspeaker, Rocky Raj’s voice became emotional. (The phrase ‘salute valorously’ was most probably introduced into Tamil Eelam by none other than Rocky Raj.)

  Suddenly, the kid seated next to the driver, enthusiastically scattering leaflets, exclaimed, ‘Gorilla’s* group is standing over there!’ Rocky Raj, who was in the back speaking into the mike, bowed his head immediately.

  The vehicle drove past the group, scattering leaflets. Rocky Raj lifted his head slightly and looked back. There stood the tall figure of Gorilla, his father, holding his lungi folded above his thighs, glaring after him.

  But, when they returned to the same spot, Gorilla was gone. Rocky Raj stopped the vehicle near the crowd and in a lowered voice invited them that evening to the ‘memorial meeting in front of Parasakthi Vidyalaya.’ They reported the following to Rocky Raj.

  ‘The woman who cut off the balls of ten thousand people and built an empire is dead… That brat who ate my rice is now going about making speeches on her behalf,’ Gorilla had been saying in fury as he left.

  ‘A person who can insult a dead soul like this needs to be tied to a post and blown up with a bomb,’ thought Rocky Raj.

  * * *

  Gorilla: n. Lives in the jungles of Africa. It is the largest amongst primates. Except for its face and chest, is covered with rough black hair. Large nostrils. The male is twice the size of the female. Males have a protuberant ridge on their skulls and an extended mandible. The gorilla cannot stand straight. It carries its weight on its hands as it walks. Sometimes it beats itself on its chest and shouts loudly. Even though it looks fierce, it is actually quite shy. It never attacks unprovoked. It sleeps in a new place, every night. It has no fixed abode. Gestation period, from 250 to 290 days. It delivers only one baby at a time. Lifetime: about thirty years. Has no tail. A fully-grown gorilla is about five feet tall, 250 kilos.

  Guerrilla: n (mostly in the plural). One who fights a guerrilla war, the hit and run war that is called a guerrilla war. (N.B: In the 1980s, ‘Socialism and Guerrilla Warfare,’ was released by the LTTE’s propaganda unit.) To attack and escape is the technique of this warfare. Derived from the French word ‘guerre,’ meaning war.

  Gorilla: n. In those days in Punchi Borella, Colombo, there lived a famous thug called Sudhu Mahathaya. Once, over a court case, the judge Sunil De Silva fined him ten rupees. Saying nothing, Sudhu Mahathaya paid the fine, came out, and waited on the street opposite the courthouse. After finishing with all his cases for the day, the judge pulled out onto the street in his car. Sudhu Mahathaya, who had been standing in the middle of the street with his hands on his hips, stopped the car, placed a kris knife at the judge’s throat, and saying, ‘You are the king of the court while I am the king of the street,’ grabbed a ten rupee note from the judge’s pocket before releasing him. None of the policemen standing in front of the courthouse had the guts to even go near Sudhu Mahathaya.

  The man who was able to take on such a Sudhu Mahathaya, catch him, beat him, chase him, break his leg, and shoot him as he was running, was Inspector Jesurasan.* But another Jesurasan—‘Jungle-wild’ Jesurasan—ran circles around the inspector for many years; as there were many Jesurasans running around in Kunjan Fields, they each had a prefix, like ‘Problematic’ Jesurasan, ‘I am’ Jesurasan, and ‘Jungle-wild’ Jesurasan. Problematic Jesurasan worked as a sandhauler. I am Jesurasan drove a truck for the company Pillayar Villas. Jungle Wild Jesurasan was a local thug.

  In the three years Inspector Jesurasan was the O.I.C at the Oorkavathurai police station, Jungle-wild Jesurasan drove him crazy. The catch of the overnight nets set out by the Gurunagar, Paasaiyoor and Saanthai folks in the seas of Araali Paravai, were, every morning, neatly stolen by Jungle-wild. He was a lion, eluding even the best of the trackers hunting for him, masking his footprints cleverly.

  Once, the Paasaiyoor men had hidden and waited to catch the thief, and managed to slice at his stomach. People still tell the tale with amazement, of how Jungle-Wild ran, holding his blood and guts in one hand and the stolen shrimp nets in the other. The whole of Kunjan Fields gathered together in anger and went over to Paasaiyoor to inquire about its actions against one of their own, and for the next two months, incited quarrels with the people of Paasaiyoor wherever they saw them.

  If there was trouble in Kunjan Fields, Jungle-wild slipped away to Jaffna town; if he had trouble in Jaffna town, he went to Pandivirichan; if there was trouble in Pandivirichan, he moved to Colombo; if there was trouble in Colombo, he travelled back to Kunjan Fields. And in this fashion, he was always on the run.

  Inspector Jesurasan in Kunjan Fields put in place every law, code, plan and trick he could come up with to catch Jungle-wild. It was no use. Jungle-wild was able to slip out of every trap the inspector laid for him. Finally one day, when he was drinking arrack at Seal-Arrack Clementa’s house, the inspector came to raid the place for illicit liquor sales, and the two came face to face. The inspector stiffened. ‘Hey, aren’t you Jungle-wild Jesurasan?’ he yelled as he swung his baton and went for his elusive target. Jungle-wild, who had been sitting on the ground, growled back, ‘Hey, aren’t you O.I.C. Jesurasan?’ and jumped up, then twisted and flung a foot at the inspector’s face. In that one shot the inspector was out cold.

  The last thing he saw coming at his face was Jungle-wild and the bottom of his blackened foot. The memory of that image must have stayed with the inspector for a long time, deeply angering him. ‘He is a real wild Gorilla,’ he kept telling everyone.

  * * *

  Somewhere in the Sinhala outback, Jungle-wild got his ankle whacked by a sword. He crept back to Kunjan Fields to hide out in his hut. There was pus running from his foot but he was too afraid to go to the hospital. When the police finally captured Jungle-wild, they found him lying on a sickbed. The doctor who had attended
to his foot had been the one who called the police—he told them that the Mother of God’s son, meaning Jesurasan, was lying in his hut unable to walk.

  In the early morning, on his sleeping mat, Jungle-wild was handcuffed by Inspector Jesurasan. Two policemen dragged him away roughly by his feet, pushing him into their jeep. The sergeant abused him in Sinhala all the while, kicking at his head with boot-clad feet. Jungle-wild kept rubbing his head against the sergeant’s feet, begging in Sinhala, ‘Aney, my mahathaya, my master, don’t hit me.’ Inspector Jesurasan sat in front.

  While the police were manhandling and pushing Jungle-wild into the jeep, his wife Genoa* and two boys stood watching, to one side. There was a baby in Genoa’s arms. As the jeep started to leave, Genoa suddenly threw herself in front of it, and wiping at her teary eyes said, ‘He doesn’t go about like that now. He has changed.’ All those watching could see that the whole act was simply that: an act.

  Inspector Jesurasan jumped out of the jeep, grabbed Genoa’s hair, and smashed her head against the jeep. ‘Sly whore! Are you putting on a show?’ he shouted, aiming a kick at her lower stomach with his boot. Genoa held the baby with one hand and her stomach with the other and sank down quietly on the side of the street.

  * * *

  The Oorkavathurai police station was located in the middle of a bustling market place, a few metres from the jetty. Jungle-wild Jesurasan, clad only in his underwear, was made to stand in the hot midday sun, on the street in front of the police station. There were four or five slippers tied around his neck. He had his hands stretched out, and a piece of cardboard announcing ‘Gorilla’ around his neck. Two policemen stood on either side of Jungle-wild, and beat him with sticks until blood poured off his back.

  The policemen ordered him to tell the spectators, ‘Dear Ladies and Gentleman, I will never behave like a thug again,’ and Jungle-wild moaned the words out. Inspector Jesurasan walked up and down the bazaar majestically, telling the crowds ‘Hey, go see the Gorilla,’ and chasing them towards the police station.