This book contains interviews that I conducted over the last few years as a journalist with various people who have their own causes and reasons to make their lives meaningful. Most of them talked freely and expressed themselves with the facts that they felt were important. Some of those expressions were fantasy, while some of them were based on the illusion in which they were engaged.
It was no surprise that many
"specialists"
or "experts" on the subject believed that the LTTE would never be totally defeated and would never achieve the state of Tamil Eelam. However, one senior member of the TMVP, a break-away faction of the LTTE under Col. Karana Amman, who was later fortunate enough to deserve a ministerial post in the ruling party, told this writer several times that the total defeat of the LTTE would be possible when the government started fighting against the LTTE in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. He dismissed the belief, widely held by many, that the LTTE would never be defeated or wiped out as a myth and the result of media exaggeration, laughing as he spoke. "This is nothing other than psychological warfare," he added while recounting his experiences with the LTTE over 10 years.
The undeniable truth is that people who live on the ground and experience reality know the facts better than those who engage from a distance and articulate theories to fill their emptiness. Unfortunately, those who are on the ground rarely come forward to share their views. It is then that society needs to stir itself and search for the truth. I have no better way to express this than to quote the sage words of Edward Abbey,
"Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while, then a layer of scum floats to the top."
However, the country, which lost hundreds of thousands of lives for the cause of freedom, did not evaluate the real cost. There is hardly any research or factual analysis able to tell the story that we are forced to ignore by the 'power'. Attempts to publish a few voices from various fields will not fill that large vacuum, but it may be a small contribution to participating in the debate. This is the time for Sri Lanka to get rid of its political vulgarism and politricks. This is the time for Sri Lanka to restore a system based on justice and freedom for all citizens.