There were heart-breaking scenes in the war-ravaged district of Kilinochchi last week, when the 10 year old daughter of an LTTE convict clung to her father after her mother’s funeral and climbed aboard the prison bus in a bid to go back with him
KILINOCHCHI: The tragic plight of two small children in the war-ravaged region of Kilinochchi made national headlines last week, after 10- year- old Sangeetha Sudhakaran climbed on board a prison bus begging her father, a convicted LTTE cadre, to stay back after he was granted three hours leave to attend his wife’s funeral.
Sachithanandam Ananda Sudhakaran, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Colombo High Court in 2017, after being convicted of involvement in an LTTE bomb explosion in Piliyandala in 2008. After his arrest in 2008, his wife Yogarani, who lived with their children Sangeetha (10) and son Kanitharan (12), maintained that their father was away working in the capital city, Colombo.
It was after Sudhakaran was sentenced to life imprisonment, that the relatives say Yogarani fell ill, which they attributed to a broken heart.
When Yogarani passed away suddenly on March 15, Sudhakaran was granted permission by the authorities to attend the funeral in Kilinochchi. He was brought to the former LTTE de facto capital in a prison bus, accompanied by prison guards. When the prison guards led Sudhakaran back to the bus after Yogarani’s final rites were performed, little Sangeetha who believed her father had finally come home to live with them, also climbed on the bus, refusing to let go of her father.
“Amma is gone, please don’t leave us,” the little girl cried, clinging to Sudhakaran who was also weeping.
The scene made onlookers, including the prison guards emotional, as the girl clung to her father who was bound back to Colombo to serve out his life sentence. In 2008 when Sudhakaran was first arrested over his involvement in the bomb explosion, Yogarani was eight months pregnant with Sangeetha. Their little boy was just two years old. Both children visited their father in prison in Colombo occasionally, relatives say. In the wake of their mother’s death, the sight of their father back at home brought the children great consolation, the relatives who watched the emotional scenes that day, said.
Yogarani’s sudden demise has thrown the little war-affected family into disarray, and the children are now in the custody of their grandmother. Unable to bear the absence of both their parents, the two children have penned a letter to President Maithripala Sirisena, begging him to grant their father pardon for his crimes and allow him to come back home.
The appeal is gaining momentum in the war-ravaged area, with Parliamentarian Angajan Ramanathan attempting to offer solidarity and support for their cause.