Sunday, 18th May 2014.
By Camelia Nathaniel
Reporting from the Senapura Rehabilitation Centre
For Sahayanathan Jesurajan Cruz and Alahathurai Chandra Mohan the long wait is finally over and they will be released from the Sena Pura Rehabilitation Centre in the East this month. Speaking to The Sunday Leader these two rehabilitants, the last to undergo the rehabilitation and reintegration program, spoke of their long wait of five years to be united with their families and loved ones. For them although the war ended five years ago, they were the victims who had to pay a high price for no fault of theirs.
Alahathurai is a 36 year old father of three, and for him the bitterness and agony of war just ended, having been released from detention just last Friday the 16th. “My children are now 15, 13 and 11 years, and I have missed the best part of their lives and been deprived of seeing them grow up. I was forced to join the LTTE and after the end of the war, the CID arrested me on the 30th of March 2009 and I was detained at the Trincomalee prison for four years thereon. Every time my case was taken up in court, there was no one to represent me as my family could not afford a lawyer and my wife was going through immense hardships trying to bring up my three children on her own.
“Many people who promised to help me came to the prison spoke to me and took down my details, but nothing happened and I was left to languish in prison. The mental agony I underwent, no one will ever understand, as I watched victory celebrations taking place year after year and the rest of the country enjoying the benefits of peace, I was left to suffer in a prison cell forgotten by the rest of the country.
I never chose to join the LTTE neither did I believe in their ideology, yet while true criminals were enjoying freedom and living happily with their families, innocent people like us are the ones who had to pay a heavy price for their sins,
he said.
Eventually when Alahathurai’s case was once again brought up in court a year ago, he was finally given the option of following the one year rehabilitation program conducted by the Bureau of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation.
“Finally I saw a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel; I had given up any hope of ever seeing my family ever again. I was given the option of undergoing the government rehabilitation program for one year and then being free. I jumped at the idea and as I join my family, I look forward to being with them once again, and taking care of them like I should have been doing all these years. However that opportunity was snatched away from me for no fault of mine. But what has happened is in the past now and I only look forward to the future and the time I have left to spend with my family. For a man who had given up all hope, at least this is a blessing and an unexpected miracle,” he added.
Alahathurai has also acquired new skills while in rehabilitation such as house wiring and masonry which will be useful in gaining employment, while his knowledge of Sinhala too would be of great value even to gain employment in other areas in the country.
Meanwhile for 27 year old Sahayanathan Jesurajan Cruz, the wait is a bit longer as he will be released on the 27th of this month. Hailing from Mannar, he had been working for the LTTE political wing prior to being arrested by the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) on the 22nd of November 2011. “At the time we were all brainwashed and we believed that the LTTE was our only hope. But looking back now I realize how much they have taken away from me and many others like me. “I should have been married and having a family of my own by now, but instead I had to spend the past years, the best part of my young life at the Boosa detention centre. That was the only reward I received for having been part of the LTTE’s activities.
When we were there no one came to assist us, although many people talk about the LTTE and the liberation, we were just pawns in the greater scheme of things. Once we were arrested there was no one to even come forward to assist us financially to enable us to retain lawyers,” he lamented.
Cruz has three siblings and the first thing on his list of priorities is to find employment and support his family who has suffered immensely over the past years. “I used to work for a UNICEF project under Sarvodaya before I was arrested and hopefully I will be able to get my job back. Failing which I will try to find other work as I have been trained in house wiring while I was in this rehabilitation camp.
Just like many other young men my age I too would like to settle down and start a family once I get back. However I do not know what the future holds for me. Having gone through so much in my life, I no longer have the mindset to even imagine a normal life. But I too have dreams, which I have dreamed and longed for while in isolation in prison and the rehabilitation centre.
“Dreaming was the only way for me to hold on to my sanity and never give up on my desire to one day be free like the rest of the country. This war has taken away so much from us and for some of us who have had to undergo all that we have, it is more painful. Yet while at this rehabilitation centre, we have come to understand and know our Sinhala brothers a lot better and we no longer have that hatred toward them. My priority is to be united with my family and provide for them and live happily with them in a free country. I hope and pray that we will never ever have to undergo this pain and torment ever again,” said Cruz.
According to the Rehabilitation Coordinating Officer of the Eastern Province, Colonel Wasantha Wijewardena, Cruz and Alahathurai are the last two rehabilitants to undergo the program at the Sena Pura camp. Another 488 young persons are undergoing the rehabilitation program at the Kandakadu Camp also in the Eastern Province.
Many like Cruz and Alahathurai have had to pay a huge price for being part of the LTTE’s activities even though some were taken by force. However, many like them have already been released and have joined their families and are living amongst us.
Five years down the road of a free Sri Lanka, these young men and women should now be relieved of their tag ‘ex LTTE cadre or ex terrorist’ and be accepted by all as part of society in creating a united Sri Lanka where every citizen can live freely and without intimidation.
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2014/05/18/living-a-new-life/
