Major Suruli protected the valuable weapons of the LTTE movement

Major Suruli protected the valuable weapons of the LTTE movement

The days when military vehicles were around and when tigers roamed the city streets hiding. The freedom fighters will wait for the night to come out. Suruli is one of the freedom fighters waiting for the night. His war life was largely secret and hidden.

Those nights were terrible. On any street, everywhere, military soldiers stand wide. Sometimes the silence of the night is broken by the sound of guns. A freedom fighter or a Tamil man who has gone to some work laid down on the street.

When Suruli joined the movement, he got the job of protecting the valuable military weapons and documents of our movement. At that time, we had only a few weapons. We are never ready to lose them. Because they are the best equipment to develop our freedom struggle. Every freedom fighter was ready to give his life to protect them.

Suruli also got such a responsible job. Pandithar was responsible for the various works of the movement in those days. Suruli was one of those who supported Pandithar in those times of crisis. Pandithar had great love for him. At the same time, he had also great faith on him. Suruli was the one who stood and worked close to Pandithar. He grew up in his arms. It was the flights of night birds like him that kept the movement going. Preserving movement weapons is not an easy task, it is a very difficult task. You must stay up all night and work like an owl. Protect from rain and sun. At the same time, it should be hidden from the eagle eyes of the enemy. Even the slightest mistake in this can cause the movement to lose a weapon.

Suruli gets along with anyone easily. He will gain their trust. That nature of his helped him a great deal in the work he was given. His friends make fun of him. Always smiling. It was at that time that Pandithar and some of our freedom fighters met a heroic death under a severe encirclement. Pandithar´s heroic death affected Suruli very well. He was by Pandithar´s side from the day he came to the movement and could not bear his loss.

For many nights since then, Pandithar’s memories have wet Suruli´s eyes. When Major Albert took charge of Pandithar’s work, he worked with Albert in the winding work. When the LTTE attacked the police station, Suruli also participated in the leadership of Albert. Those were the times when we brought the military camps under our control. On those occasions he took part as a spinner in many offensive operations.

Suruli was the son of an ordinary cigar maker. He was born in Sudumalai village in Jaffna district. He was a child who grew up running under the goddess temple there. The sense of liberation started to sprout in his heart as he played on the Koiladi road, in the fields during the rains and floods. It was the beginning of the armed struggle.

It is impossible to distinguish between what is a liberation movement and what is anti-social gangs. All the foxes dressed up as freedom fighters. A thirst for associating himself with a genuine liberation movement was etched in the twist. He was joined by some of his village friends. All they knew was about national leader Prabhakaran, about his bravery, about the restrictions laid down by him. They wandered in search of the freedom fighters. “One should not join the movement just for glory. We need to act, we need order and control, and we need determination and seriousness to carry forward the freedom struggle. Seeing all this, we should join the movement,” said Suruli, making sure that his friends do not go astray. Eventually he wandered off somewhere and met one of the freedom fighters. It was at that time that one day, the villages of Manippay were awakened by gunfire. At 6 a.m. green ghosts intercepted a passenger bus, made the occupants alight, made them stand in a queue, and shot them dead.

Students who had come to study in the morning, the bus driver, and some public – bodies were scattered and lifeless. The army beasts also intercepted a minibus which was unaware of this news and boarded it. The minibus took off from Manippay towards Mattakal army camp. It was a tragic incident. Every Tamil in that bus was brutally tortured. They were shot and thrown into the streets. The gangs of those green beasts ravaged the streets of our nation. After that incident, Suruli did not want to live outside. He has become a complete fighter.

Pandithar started working with him. Times passed. The liberation struggle continued. Rathitharan, one of Suruli’s younger brothers, also joined the movement. Thousands of people were killed all over our country when the Indian forces invaded Tamileelam and started a war. Many of the Tamil women were sexually assaulted at worst. Many who loved this land were taken away. They were tortured and killed. Tamileelam was full of Indians without any place to leave. In those stages, Suruli and other freedom fighters fought hard to secure the weapons and documents. In those days they defended the freedom struggle. They kept weapons for that.

A few days passed. Indian forces started searching for the document. Suruli’s house was frequently surrounded. An antisocial man stands with the Indians and begins to resolve years of hostility. Then one day Suruli’s brother Rathitharan and his companions were surrounded by Indian forces and anti-nationals. A little fight. Rathitharan’s body was also affected by some ravages. His companions fled. Indian soldiers dragged Rathitharan’s lifeless body down the road. A freedom fighter who loved this land was dragged through the streets of this nation by anti-nationals and Indians.

While the Indian army was stationed here, Suruli, who had stayed in Vanni for some time, came back to Jaffna and began to operate. Suruli and his companions had to be very careful during those dangerous times. The anti-nationals and the Indians camped from street to street, junction to junction. The people of Tamileelam lived at the point of Indian guns. At that time, the weapons needed for the attack had to be taken from hiding. Others had to be protected. For this Suruli and his companions had to wander in search of believers.

After the Indian forces left this land, Suruli worked with the intelligence wing of the LTTE. Suruli is responsible and completes any task given to him. One of the things that jumped out at him from Pandithar was simplicity. Suruli, who was running for some work on a bicycle through the village streets without paying attention to himself, met with an explosive accident. For three days, he struggled with death. However, on 30.05.1991, Major Suruli became maveeran.