(May 15, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Maheswary Valayutham was murdered by the LTTE on 13th May 2008, when she went to see her ailing mother in Jaffna. She was a well known and was an involved person in the socio-political activities in Sri Lanka. She identified herself with the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) - a party that is most hated by the LTTE.
Despite her involvement with the EPDP, she took the courageous stand to help the Tamils of all walks of life. I came to know her when I was involved with the Tamil Detainees Support Group (TDSG) of which I was a founder member. This group was specially formed to help the Tamil detainees languishing in the Sri Lankan prisons under the emergency and terrorism laws. All the members of the TDSG were pro-LTTE activists and some of them were directly involved with the LTTE leadership in Vanni.
The group was formed in 2001. The office bearers were Murugesu Neminathan (Solicitor) – Chairman, S Shanthakunavadivel (Secretary) and Murugesu Sivarasa (Treasurer). The organisation decided to incorporate the activities and funds of another non functional Tamil detainees group.
At the initial meetings, two broader areas of work were identified. These were provision of legal assistance to the Tamil detainees languishing in prisons in Sri Lanka and to provide financial assistance to the family members of the detainees who were living in abject conditions due to the indefinite detention of the breadwinners of the families.
Two persons in Colombo were identified as ideal candidates who could assist the TDSG. They were Late Miss Maheswary Velayutham and the parliamentarian Appapillai Vinayagamoorthy. Both Neminathan and Shanthakunavadivel (Vadivel) made contacts with both of them and initiated the process to help the detainees. Vadivel is the cousin of Veerakathy Manivannan alias Castro of the LTTE in Vanni and had ongoing contacts with him. Vadivel’s son Ramesh was a Sea Tiger who died in a sea confrontation in 2001 off the coast of Point Pedro.
Funds for the TDSG came from donations from friendly organisations and individuals. Both Late Miss Valayutham and Vinayagamoorthy were entrusted with the tasks of filing legal actions for the release of the detainees. Based on the information provided by these representatives, funds were channelled to the detainees’ family members and for legal case work. There were many letters from the detainees and their family members thanked TDSG for the assistance provided.
Late Miss Velautham played a proactive role and was directly engaging with Vadivel and gave regular account of her progress on the work entrusted to her. It was reported, her engagement had resulted in the release of many detainees. The TDSG members were highly praising the tireless service provided by Late Miss Velayutham. I now recall the praiseworthy statements made by Vadivel and Neminathan about the services rendered by her.
I had a brief meeting with Late Miss Velautham at the Minister and my friend Douglas Devananda’s office in Colombo two years ago. She reflected the urgent need to resolve conflict in Sri Lanka.
Late Miss Velayutham was one of the very few Tamils who stood above board and tried to help anyone seeking her help. She provided her service with utmost sincerity even facing hostilities in many fronts. Her involvement with the EPDP gave her added comfort for her to reach places others could not reach. Many held under the Terrorism Law of the country benefited from her warm hand of help.
Her death in the hands of the LTTE criminal machinery speaks volume of hatred embedded in the progressively deteriorating body politics of this group. The evilness of the LTTE violence cannot be considered as liberation struggle in any way. LTTE by hijacking the genuine Tamil liberation struggle have waylaid the very meaning of the genuine Tamil struggle. The core values of the Tamils have been systematically and progressively destroyed by the terror mechanisation of the LTTE for the past thirty years. The foundation of trust that is needed to build a progressive society has been swallowed by the monstrous terror mechanisms of the LTTE and even the vulnerable and innocent in the society are not spared over its ignoramus conduct.
LTTE is not a liberation movement. It is a blood thirsty organisation thriving on the destruction of the very society it has to depend on. Even those LTTE men who had worked with Late Maheswary Velautham are maintaining dumbfounded silence following her death. The justice speaking Tamil lawyers and their associations are maintaining determined silence from expressing even their words of sympathies over the callous murder of their compatriot who has been killed by the so-called megalomaniac mission of the LTTE. This very silence is perverting the cause of natural justice for the vulnerable Tamils in Sri Lanka.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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