This was a week of unprecedented celebrations for many, but for the mother of 17- year old Thiwanka Tissera it was a poignant moment.
Thiwanka along with seven other fellow students of D.S. Senanayake College was killed on February 3 when a suicide bomber blew herself up at the Fort Railway Station. Ramani Peiris, Thiwanka’s mother, said she felt relief when she heard the news that the war had ended because such a tragedy would no longer befall any other son of any other mother in any part of the country.
“No one can fill the void when one loses a child. But I feel a terrible pain when I think that this war could have ended a long time ago,” she said, explaining that if the war had come to an end earlier more lives could have been saved.
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| Little Vihangi with her mother |
“My son died on February 3 last year . If this war had ended before that, his life and that of his colleagues would have been spared she said thanking the present government for ending the war. “I don’t have any political connection with any party, but it’s a great relief that the present government finished the war,” she said.
“What I feel is both a sense of happiness and pain because we still haven’t come to terms with Thivanka’s death. But the relief is also strong. I feel it for all the sons and daughters of the country, regardless of their ethnicity,” she said tearfully.
“It’s not only we who were affected”, she said, adding that she feels for all the civilians who were trapped along with the LTTE in the no-war zone for months.“I was disturbed when I heard a father saying that the LTTE shot his son when they escaped. He said he couldn’t even recover the body of his son but ran for his life. It’s a dilemma no human being should face.
“I raised my son for 17 years and suddenly I lost him forever. Everyone feels the same when they lose a child. But what about the rights of the innocent, like my son, who lost their right to live because of a war that was dragged on for such a long time when the authorities of the past had the ability to finish it adding that it’s time for the country to come together to prevent such a war recurring.
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| Thiwanka |
Mrs. Peiris. |
Commenting on the post-war scenario, she said, that children will no longer be deprived of their right to live, their education, and their peace of mind.. “My elder son Sachith’s education got disrupted by one year because the shock was too much for him too. My eight year old daughter Vihangi still gets agitated if Sachith gets late to come home. She thinks if he gets late, he might not come home at all,” she said adding that Sachith can’t even stay overnight somewhere because Vihangi gets too upset and keeps calling him on the telephone.
“ By around 6 p.m. she starts looking for her brother and she wants him close to her when she goes to sleep as well. Vihangi still hides when she hears the sound of breaking news being telecast on TV,” Mrs. Peiris said.“But then, there must be thousands of children like her among those civilians who were recently saved from the LTTE-held areas. Their experiences may be far more frightening. But the loss is the same whichever part of the country it is,” she said.
Thiwanka’s elder brother Sachith said it was the time to savour freedom since the war is over and people are free. “They don’t have to worry about being killed here in the south or there in the north he said adding that amidst all the relief the pain would always remain. |
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