Picture book takes fresh look at Eelam struggle

CHENNAI: The civil war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, but it left many unsettled. The uprising against the government, led by the LTTE to create an independent state for the Tamils in the north and east, lasted more than 26 years. It ruined the lives of many and much has been written about the war and its consequences, but a recent picture book takes into a decision its author says was horribly wrong.

Activist-filmmaker Pugazhendhi Thangaraj's `Eelam 87' portrays the events that took place during the

Eelam

struggle. If India had not sent the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka, according to Pugazhendhi, the Tamils there could have won an independent state much earlier. He said the

Indo-Sri Lanka

Peace Accord, signed between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka President J R Jayewardene in 1987 went against the rights of Tamils in the island.

“I want to convey to the people thorough my picture book how a wrong decision, and that from a trus ted country , ruined the lives of people in Lanka. The IPKF was acting according to the whims and fancies of the Lankan army . It was worse than the island's army ,“ said Pugazhendhi, director of `Uchithanai Muharntha Avargal,' an eight-minute doal' and ` cumentary on how the volunteers of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation saved the children in the bunkers, risking their lives during the civil war in Sri Lanka. Pugazhendhi's `Uchithanai Muharnthaal,' a feature film portraying the plight of a 13-year-old Tamil girl who was gang-raped by Lankan soldiers had evoked good response from connoisseurs when it was released in 2011.

`Eelam 87' tells the story of the Eelam struggle through illustrations done by a refugee who lives in a camp in Tamil Nadu. “I read many books on the Eelam struggle which includes `Intervention in Sri Lanka: the IPKF Experience', written by Harkirat Singh, the first commander of the IPKF in Lanka. I thought the tale of the Eelam struggle must be told with all the importance it deserves,“ said Pugazhendhi, whose first planned a a movie on the subject.

“I wrote the script but a second thought revealed that it was not easy to get clearance for a movie on this topic. That's how it turned out to be a picture book,“ he said.

Published by Thai Panai, the book has 143 pages with a sequence of illustrations followed by texts written by Pugazhendhi. `Eelam 87' is an attempt to see the struggle in a different perspective.

The illustrations complement the text in an attempt to revisit a struggle fought for the basic rights of the Tamils in Lanka, Pugazhendhi said.