Jaffna University community marks Tamil Eelam Heroes Day with renewed resolve
More than 2,000 students along with lecturers, faculty deans and the staff of the University of Jaffna took part on Monday morning in an emotional floral tribute in front of the newly renovated Tamil Eelam Heroes memorial statue, which was destroyed by the occupying SL military after 2009. The event on Monday was equally emotional to the first event held 12 years ago when the statue was declared open. "The people of Jaffna will never forget nor pardon the desecration of the memorials," the vice chancellor at that time Prof Mohanadas told TamilNet after declaring the statue open in 2005. After 2009, the occupying SL military also destroyed the statue inside the University premises as it razed to the grounds all the Heroes’ cemeteries in occupied Tamil Eelam. The emotional event in Jaffna on Monday has passed a strong message to the world, student leaders at Jaffna university said.
The message was that Eezham Tamils would never forget the sacrifices made by the Tamil freedom fighters in the armed struggle under the leadership of LTTE and national leader V. Pirapaharan, a student leader told TamilNet after the floral tribute.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) declared November 27, the Remembrance Day of Lt. Shankar (Sathianathan), the first LTTE fighter to sacrifice his life as Maveerar (Heroes) day, to commemorate the war-dead Tiger fighters in the Tamil Eelam liberation struggle.
Lt. Shankar died on 27th November 1982. The first Heroes day celebrations were held in 1989 in the jungles of Vanni during the war between India and the LTTE.
The day was later upgraded as Tamil Eelam Maaveerar Day including also others who sacrificed their lives, such as Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran, the pioneering Tamil militant who sacrificed his life on 05 June 1974, Kuddi-ma’ni, Thangaththurai and other prominent fighters of early TELO and the militants of EROS who had sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Tamil Eelam.
The LTTE was also in the process of including other militants in the list of Tamil Eelam Heroes.
Thousands of war-dead LTTE fighters were laid to rest at Tamil Eelam Heroes Cemeteries (Maaveerar Thuyilum Illams) across the Tamil homeland.
The occupying Sinhala military has desecrated the Maaveerar Thuyilum Illams by razing to the ground the cemeteries, memorial stones and other structures.
The Maaveerar memorial statue that was constructed by the Jaffna University community in 2005 and opened declared by the then Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University Professor C. Mohanadas.
After 2009, the SL military destroyed the memorial statue inside the University and was consistently harassing the student community which was determined to lit the common flame of sacrifice within the premises on Heroes Day.
This year, the statue has been reconstructed and the Jaffna University community is openly marking the commemoration in front of the statue with a renewed resolve.
The floral tribute was held at 10:45 a.m. on Monday.
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