let.Colonel Mahenthi whether it was true or false ?
let.Colonel Mahenthi whether it was true or false ?
14.02.1970 – 10.06.2006
The news of Mahenti’s martyrdom reached us on a normal day during the peace talks. We were trying to confirm the news with concern, whether it was true or false. But the bitter was confirmed, it was true. Mahenthi is unique in the history of our struggle. In this land where thousands of people fought, in this land where thousands of freedom fighters died, in the liberation war, Mahenthi is unique to the extent that it is impossible to connect them with anyone in a common connection.
He was unique in his interactions with people. The cheerful smiling face and the familiar appearance were Mahenthi’s assets. He was well-known to all the people in the land of Yarlpanam and Thenmaradchi, where he was born and raised and spent a large part of the war period. Mahenthi was a man who treated everyone with love.
During the time when the Indian army occupied our land, I had met Mahenthi in the Yarlpanam district. Mahenthi was one of the trusted assistants of Tamilselvan (then Dinesh), who was in charge of the Southern Province at that time. Mahenthi and his elder brother Raviyannan were among the liberation struggle teams in the Southern Province. Mahenthi’s family was also associated with the liberation struggle. Mahenthi’s family was also one of the families loyal to the liberation struggle that were subjected to the pressures and hardships of the Indian army at that time. When I took charge of the Jaffna district, I had invited the fighters who were scattered to join my ranks.
At that time, Mahenthi, who was in the same team as brother and sister, and Ravi, who was in the same team, decided that it would be more appropriate for someone to come to me. And at that time, Ravi came with me to stand with Mahenthi and Tamilselvan and accepted the financial responsibilities. Mahenthi’s other brother, Sootti, also joined the movement at that time and had become maveeran in the battle to prevent the landing of Vetrilakeni during the Aanayiravu War. We sent the fighters selected for special weapons training to the base of the leader in Manalatru. Mahenthi was an excellent marksman in shooting and was also selected and completed his training. These are the early events that I still remember about him today.
Mahenthi also turned along with the long-term cycle of the struggle. During the struggle, he married his beloved wife from a family he met, had children and became a family man. Mahenthi was known for acting very bravely on the battlefields. He was a person who would return to the battlefield many times after being wounded many times. The enemy was always afraid of Mahenthi’s fighting ability and battlefield activities. Mahenthi had the habit of always telling everything in front of everyone. This can be considered a habit that arose from the freedom-loving nature in his mind and his natural heart.
I also know that he had to conflict with some of his superiors due to his habit of telling things directly without keeping the matter in mind. However, there was a certain honesty in Mahenthi’s criticisms that made them unable to think less of Mahenthi or to remain bitter forever. Mahenthi’s fighting ability caused heavy losses to the enemy. It brought great victories to our liberation movement. After the Suryakathir military operation, Mahenthi had succeeded in successfully standing among the troops occupying the Yarlpanam district and inflicting considerable losses on the troops. He had established himself within the tyrannical regime of occupation combined with the close military fences of the troops. He was sheltered and protected by the older generation there, and mobilizing the younger generation to fight was also an opportunity for Mahenthi to display his military leadership qualities.
The enemy tried hard to remove Mahenthi, who posed a real threat to the Sri Lankan government, from the battlefield. It was a time when peace was being spread over the fires of the liberation war and the siege fences that were burning in our homeland. At that time, one of our officers came to me with a sensational message. It was the news that Mahenthi was in a Southeast Asian country. And the fighter’s comment that he was expecting help from European countries was a covert message that Mahenthi was going somewhere. In fact, I think that is the inner meaning of the people who had spoken to Mahenthi in European countries hastily sent me that message. Upon hearing the matter, I immediately responded by speaking to Mahenthi on the phone and asked him to convey my good news and inquire about his well-being, and I had asked Mahendi’s friends in European countries to provide him with all the necessary assistance and to fulfill his needs. Later, when I got a chance to talk to the national leader, when we talked about Mahenthi’s position in a Southeast Asian country and his situation, the national leader also said that he would provide Mahenthi with the necessary assistance.
I see that as an expression of the high regard he had for Mahenthi. A couple of days later, the information leaked out and the Sri Lankan media started making a fuss. Sinhala military analysts started talking about Mahenthi in their columns. The articles of Sinhala analysts were long and expansive, writing that Mahenthi had fled the movement and that he was in a Southeast Asian country. They believed that the movement would be militarily defeated in the future.
It was an incident that revealed and made me realize how much of a threat Mahenthi’s fighting spirit was to the Sinhala nation. Upon returning home from abroad, Mahenthi and I had a long conversation with him, humorously and flexibly, about the above-mentioned news from the Sri Lankan government, and our telephone conversations with Mahenthi while abroad. The memories that have passed have become green memories that have not changed even today. In our minds, especially in my mind, he had instilled the belief that Mahenthi would stand at the forefront of the struggle, wherever he was, at any time. The incident that caused that stands as a painful memory at this time.
In the early 1990s, we had encountered internal betrayal that shook our people and all of us. The national leader has overcome many internal betrayals in his history of struggle.
However, in our time, when the struggle had expanded to thousands of fighters, we were all shaken by this problem. That was a time when we did not have a comprehensive view of intelligence and internal betrayal. A time when there was confusion that could not be distinguished between good and bad. It was a time when internal betrayal was being handled not as a one-sided decision but as a multi-sided decision to protect the national leader and our struggle. In that chaotic time, a situation arose where Mahenthi also had to be interrogated. Mahenthi was interrogated. Mahendthi had to face the interrogation so severely that I do not want to describe it here. Mahenthi recovered from that “tough environment”. Even when he faced and recovered from a tough environment, he recovered as a fighter who did not tremble.
We have seen that ordinary reasons are enough for an ordinary man to stay away from the struggle. But Mahenthi had many reasons to stay away from the struggle. However, the attachment and faith that he and his family had in the national leader kept him firmly bound to this struggle. The fact that Mahenthi did not get confused even after going through difficult circumstances showed that he was a determined fighter. But above all this, what weighs heavily on our minds is that Mahenthi faced us with a smiling face on all occasions after that. Whenever we stood in front of him feeling embarrassed, he would interact carefully with the intention of not making us feel embarrassed. He never held back in meeting us or interacting with us kindly.
During his conversations with us, he would behave in a way that would remind us of the times when he was detained. Not only him, but also his relatives have never shown any expression that would embarrass us. He will stand in respect in our hearts. I think that Mahenthi, in addition to being a fighter, has revealed himself as a very high-ranking man in this regard. Mahenthi, more than being a great leader and fighter, lives in our hearts as a sage with the above qualities. He will live as long as Tamileelam exists.
(Translation by Tamilpriya)
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