IsaiPriya – Thai Pongal
Thai Pongal is celebrated as Tamil New Year. According to the Tamil Thiruvalluvar calendar, Thai Pongal is the first day of the calendar. It is also a day of offering to the Sun for a successful harvest, and to give gratitude to the land that cultivates life. In Tamil Eelam, Thai Pongal has always been celebrated and tied to the true freedom of the Tamil people and the Tamil homeland.
Celebrating Thai Pongal void of politics is not only a contradiction but a disservice to our history of resistance against both colonial powers and the Sri Lankan state.
Our existence has always been political. One of the few days celebrated by Tamil people void of colonial and religious influence.
The woman seen in the video is Isaipriya. Isaipriya was a Tamil journalist who had worked as a media specialist with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and was producing a periodical video magazine Oliveechchu. The Sri Lankan Army claimed that Isaipriya had died during the final days of the war.
Years later evidence surfaced that Isaipriya was indeed alive after she had surrendered to the Sri Lankan State at the end of the war. She was detained under brutal conditions. Gruesome videos and pictures of physical, mental, and sexual assault have been released. Channel 4, TamilNet correspondents and family members have confirmed the identity of the woman as Isaipriya. Isaipriya was raped, tortured, and brutally murdered.
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