Captain Aquino – Heroic historical memories

Captain Aquino – Heroic historical memories

Captain Aquino
Kalaivani Rajaratnam
Kaithadi, Nunavil,
Savakachcheri, Yarlpanam
Birth: 26.07.1988
Death: 08.09.1991

Event: Heroic death in the battle with Sri Lankan troops in Manalaru.

Struggle. How many different waves of emotions are contained in the word. We, who lived as a few people and some feelings within the small area of family, have come to the vast area of the ‘liberation movement’. We have seen how many kinds of hearts, happiness, sorrows of separation, and the truths of life.

It is true that we, who are happy when we associate with noble hearts in our struggle life, are attacked the most when it comes to separation. Captain Aquino’s heart is also one of those noble hearts.

A very comfortable family. Aquino is the last child of a wealthy family who has never experienced economic hardship or suffering in her life.

Aquino has lived and shown those who say, “We were raised as pets, we cannot bear the hardships of struggle.” She has proven that no other worldly feelings can withstand the feeling of liberation.

The information about Aquino from those who saw and knew her during her school days makes you wonder, “How did she accept this life?”

Aquino’s strong appearance may have given us a wrong impression of her. “How is she going to get along with all the fighters without any differences?” But when we got to know her, we understood that there is no room for differences in her heart.

Aquino’s father is the great Netaji of Tamileelam. He firmly supported our leader in the early days of the Tamileelam liberation struggle.

IHow can children born to such a father not love our land? Not only Aquino’s father, but her sister is also in our organization.

Tamileelam has lost one of its best female fighters. We have lost a high and noble friend.

During her father’s life in hiding, and after his permanent disappearance, Aquino used her cheerfulness as a shield for her mother so that the impact of those tragic events would not affect her too much.

Today, my mother is carrying all the sorrows alone. One day, when Aquino was with us, she said.

“Please leave a place for my father’s picture to the left and my sister’s picture to the right, Mom,” she said.

Every one of our fighters has felt something deeply. Someday, it may be today, tomorrow, or some time in the future. It is the fact that we will face death for this land. That is why everyone fights.

Aquino also used to say what all the LTTE members say, “You have to be beaten well. You have to take a lot of weapons and only then die.”

The time she stood guard in front of the Katuwan Junction military minicamp. She is the second in charge of the group. Katuwan Junction is one of the main routes through which the Palali military often tries to leave. Our group standing guard in front of this minicamp often has to change members. Because when there is frequent attack or when leaving, many of our fighters would fall. Or be injured.

Five days before Aquino arrived, eight fighters including Sunthari were killed in a clash with the army that had just left the Katuwan position. Within four days of Aquino’s departure, the army left the area again. It seems that the loss on our side in the attack in which Captain Sunthari was killed had encouraged her, but the outcome of that day’s battle was different. Aquino’s gun played a major role in forcing the enemy to retreat that day.

Aquino had a considerable command of English. She also had the ability to grasp things in any field. She had a great desire to impart the knowledge she had acquired to her fellow fighters. That is why, even during intense training at the training camp, she would set aside an hour for them at night.

When the army came out of Vavuniya, her group was stationed on one side of the forest. Everyone must have known how to read a compass. She would mark a place among the falling and exploding shells at any time and use the compass to go to that place, and then she would show her group the same way and go back and forth.

If the forest changed during the war in the forest, it would be a major cause of the loss of the fighters. She was determined that she should not be responsible for the adverse effects on the loss of the fighters on the one hand and the military progress on the other.

As soon as she arrived from Vavuniya, the Anayiravu battle had begun. She was assigned to guard the area where the fighters were not allowed to die in the open fields.

There were successive battles. Our fighters had no time to rest. How could we rest? We had to move forward in the face of a three-armed attack. We keep walking. Wherever there is a fight in the country where there is no rest.

The fighting has begun in the Manalaru River, where the elephants have slowed down. Aquino’s group is also rushing to Manalaru River. The heart of our nation. Manalaru River is the mother hen that raised the elephants from our homeland. It caused them losses to the point of forcing a regional superpower to withdraw from our territory. Even when foreign armies set foot inch by inch, Manalaru River alone has the honor of preserving and protecting the leader of Tamileelam. The Manalaru River has gained strength by enduring the bombs.

It is a fierce fight. The forest is burning. The land of Manalaru River keeps shaking. During the first day of fighting, the army advanced towards the side where Aquino stood. A fight in which not even an inch of ground could move the enemy. Two fighters in Aquino’s group had fallen. One body was still to be captured.

Our history is a history of new fighters falling to retrieve the bodies of fallen fighters. The situation of war must be reported to the commander in charge immediately. Aquino announces. “It is customary, sister, to pick up the body. But I will pick it up anyway.” She crawls forward under the gun emplacements that are so close to the ground that she cannot lift her head. She picks up the body. A determination is born in everyone at that place. Until the end, we were all determined that nobody should be abandoned by us in this fight.

Due to the uncooperative jungle environment and the tightness of duty without sleep or bathing, many fighters get fever. Aquino also has a fever. She was in charge of distributing medicine, food, and semolina to the women’s unit in the Manalaru area with a fever.

As the soldier tried to advance to one side, Aquino rushed to the spot and explained the situation to the fighters. A plane took off from the side where her group was standing. Aquino ran to the spot to see the situation firsthand. The plane took off again.

Aquino’s pieces of flesh and blood splashed on the Manalaru trees. The Manalaru forest, which had known the last moments of hundreds of people like Aquino, has been restored today. This is the second battle after the Indian war, and it will stand firmer now than before. The Manalaru forest will stand firmer in the times to come.

(Translation by Tamilpriya)