SLA tears down Tamil Heroes memorial monuments in VVT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 May 2010, 15:28 GMT]
More than a hundred Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers deployed Sunday evening in Theeruvil in Valveddiththu’rai, the birth place of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V. Pirapaharan in Vadamaraadchi, are tearing down the memorial monuments erected in memory of twelve combatants including senior Commanders Kumarappa, Pulenthiran and another memorial monument of Col. Kiddu, sources in Valveddiththur’ai (VVT) said. Meanwhile, former TNA parliamentarian Sivajilingam told that he too had received complaints about the demolishing of LTTE memorial monuments.

During the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord in 1987, Liberation Tiger Commanders Kumarappa, Pulenthiran and ten other combatants who had been arrested by Sri Lanka armed forces on Sri Lanka marine boundary had ended their lives taking cyanide as they were about to be taken to Colombo.

A memorial monument called Theeruvil monument had been erected in Theeruvil where their remains were cremated.

In 1993, Col. Kiddu, a senior Liberation Tiger Commander and twelve combatants were killed in Indian seas. A monument in remembrance of these also had been erected in Theeruvil.

Another memorial monument had been built in remembrance of the civilians killed by Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) in VVT, in Theeruvil.

All these monuments were severely damaged by SLA when it occupied Jaffna peninsula in 1995.

During 2002 peace period the above memorial monuments, however, were restored.

All these memorial monuments are being systematically demolished by the SLA soldiers, the sources from VVT said.

LTTE Leader V. Pirapaharan’s residence in VVT which had become an important place of visit to Southern Sinhalese visiting Jaffna peninsula had recently been demolished by SLA soldiers.