Asia

Asia
Sri Lanka's Disappeared: No closure
The wounds of Civil War remain raw.
“I Still believe he's alive,” says Tharsini Santhirabose with a glazed, fixed smile.She last saw her husband, a fellow guerrilla for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in the final days of the civil war that ended with the Tigers' obliteration in 2009.Up to 40,000 civilians were killed, according to the UN, along with most of the remnants of the 10,000-strong separatist army and perhaps 5,000 hangers-on.The chances that Ms Santhirabose's husband will reappear are virtually nil.No one knows precisely how many died or disappeared in the war.A fervently Tamil-nationalist Catholic bishop claims that, after the 26 years of fighting, 147,000 people, civilians and fighters, remain unaccounted for.The foreign ministry says that more than 65,000 queries about missing people have been received since 1994.A few thousand former Tiger “cadres”, as they are known, have re-emerged from government “rehabilitation” camps.Many Tamils believe that secret detention camps still exist.Others claim, bizarrely, that the government has sent thousands of defeated fighters to undisclosed destinations abroad.Many also say that the Sri Lankan army's reluctance to give back land now used as army bases is because they do not want mass graves to be discovered.One of 12 children of a poor fisherman, Ms Santhirabose, now 34, says she volunteered to join the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam when she was 15, along with three of her siblings, and married another fighter when she was 20.Her parents now live in Canada; several siblings are in France.As a registered ex-combatant scratching a living from farming, she says she is watched by the authorities and discriminated against.She still has shrapnel in her head from an old wound.Her loyalty to the Tigers' cause and to its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in the final battle, is unshaken.She says she has no regrets about joining up, despite Prabhakaran's record of brutality: the Tigers suicide-bombed buses and banks, forcibly recruited children and routinely assassinated any perceived foes, Tamil and Sinhalese alike."The war was lost only because he was betrayed," she laments, citing a close lieutenant who defected with several thousand fighters in 2004."In those days," she says, "life was good. We slept safely. No crime. We had our own economy."Like many Tamils, she suggests that foreign governments should intervene."Does the world think it is right for the Tamils to be treated as slaves?"
亚洲
斯里兰卡的失踪人员：尚未终结
内战之殇仍在作痛。

Tharsini Santhirabose目光呆滞、僵硬地笑着说，“我一直相信他还活着”。

她的丈夫是泰米尔伊拉姆猛虎解放组织的一名游击队员，她最后一次见到他的丈夫是在在内战结束前夕，但战争最后是以2009年猛虎组织的彻底失败而告终。

根据联合国的统计，多达四万平民死于这场战争中，猛虎组织中拥有一万兵力的分裂之一军队可能只剩下5000名残兵了。

所以Santhirabose女士的丈夫生还的可能性是微乎其微。

没有人准确地知道有多少人在战争中死亡或失踪。

一位狂热极端的泰米尔民族主义叛军声称，在他们与政府军长达26年的战争后，有十四万七千人死亡或失踪，这其中包括平民和士兵。

外交部表示自1994年起，他们已经收到了超过六万五千条询问失踪人口的信件。

据称，几千名前猛虎组织的“核心骨干”重新出现在政府改造营中。

许多泰米尔人认为这里存在着一个秘密关押营。

其他人绝望的声称，政府把这些数以千计的战败的猛虎组织成员送往到不明的国外某处。

也有人说斯里兰卡的军队不想归还用于军事基地的土地，是因为他们不像让人发现军事基地里的集中埋葬的坟地。

Santhirabose女士出生在一个以打渔为生的贫苦家庭，有11个兄弟姐妹。

现在她已经34岁了，她说自己在15岁时和她的三个兄弟姐妹一起自愿加入泰米尔伊拉姆猛虎解放组织，在她20岁时，她与战友结婚了。

她的父母现在生活在加拿大；有几个兄弟姐妹在法国。

作为一个登记在册的前猛虎组织成员，她现在靠务农来勉强度日。

她还说到，她现在被斯里兰卡当局监视，并受到周围人的排挤。

她的额头的旧伤口里仍然留着炸弹碎片。

她对猛虎组织以及猛虎组织的领导人Velupillai Prabhakaran的忠诚是无法撼动的，但猛虎组织领导人Velupillai Prabhakaran在最后一战中被杀害。

她说，她从来没有后悔加入猛虎组织，尽管Velupillai Prabhakaran的行为极其残忍：在公共汽车和银行里放置自杀性炸弹；强行招募儿童；刺杀任何一个对组织有威胁的敌人，无论是泰米尔人和还是僧迦罗人。

她遗憾地说，“猛虎组织失败的原因是有人背叛了Velupillai Prabhakaran，”，因为在2004年Velupillai Prabhakaran的副官率领几千名战士叛变了。

她表示，“在那些日子里，生活是很美好的，我们睡的很安稳，没有犯罪，我们拥有自己的经济体。

”Santhirabose女士和许多泰米尔人一样，她同时暗示，外国政府应该进行适当干涉。

“难道世界上的国家认为泰米尔人被当作奴隶是对的吗？”。