Why are displaced Wanni civilians being penalised like this?
by Rohini Hensman
Throughout the gruesome finale of the civil war, the government of Sri Lanka claimed to be engaged in the largest hostage rescue mission ever, to release civilians in the Vanni who were being held against their will by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Yet the vast majority of these civilians are still not free. So what exactly has been happening?
[A model of the Menik Farm refugee camp-pic: indi.ca]
It is certainly true that the LTTE was keeping hundreds of thousands of civilians hostage and using them as forced labour, a source of child and adult conscripts, and a human shield from behind which they could engage in offensive operations against Sri Lanka ’s armed forces. It has also been confirmed that in general the soldiers showed compassion to the escaping civilians, and some even risked their own lives to enable civilians to escape to safety. Although it was clear that for the political and military leadership, the aim of finishing off the LTTE involved sacrificing the lives and limbs of civilians, there did not seem to be any deliberate targeting of civilians during the war. Even the claim by government spokesmen that shelling was necessary in order to free the hostages has some plausibility, given that the LTTE used the cessation of hostilities over the Sinhala and Tamil New Year to tighten its hold over the trapped civilians, not to release them.
However post-war, the picture gets more murky. Around 280,000 of the civilians who have suffered so much already have been kept prisoners behind barbed wire in camps where conditions are in many cases abysmal. It is clear that the government is unable to provide for them adequately, yet those with relations outside who would willingly look after them are being denied the right to join their families. This denial of the fundamental right to freedom of movement is especially cruel for families which have been split up, and are thereby denied the possibility of reuniting, or even finding out what has happened to their loved ones. It is lethal for those who are physically vulnerable; senior citizens were supposed to be released after a court found that many had died of starvation and more were dying daily, but the sick and injured, pregnant women, and mothers with babies are also vulnerable. With the monsoon, it is likely that gastrointestinal diseases will kill thousands. Why, then, are these unfortunate people being penalised like this?
Collective Punishment
Two reasons are cited by the government. The first is that it will take at least six months to make the areas from which they come habitable again, especially to clear away landmines, and therefore they have to be kept in the camps until then. This is a patently spurious excuse for denying them freedom of movement. Even if it takes six months to make the war-ravaged areas of the Vanni habitable, why can’t people who have homes or relatives in Jaffna or Colombo leave the camps? Wouldn’t this in fact reduce the burden on the government, and enable it to look after those who remain more adequately? Why can’t camp inhabitants go to other camps to look for missing relatives, or receive visits from friends and relations? Are there landmines in all these places? Indeed, even if they want to take a calculated risk and visit or rebuild their homes in the former war zone, they surely have a right to do so. Many people – mountain climbers, for example – take risks, and no one thinks of locking them up to prevent them from doing so! This cannot possibly be the real reason why civilians are being imprisoned in internment camps.
The other reason given for holding them is that they need to be screened to weed out LTTE cadres who escaped with them. It is true that after hostages have been released, they are often screened to find out if any of the hostage-takers are among them. But normally, this takes just a few hours, and the hostages are released immediately after being screened. Even if the large number of hostages in this case means that the screening process would take longer, there is no conceivable reason why it should take much more than a month. By now, all the civilians, or at least most of them, ought to be free. From Day 1, a steady stream of civilians should have been given the right to freedom of movement, as they were screened and cleared. Instead, some civilians from the Vanni who were displaced in earlier fighting have been detained without charge for more than a year!
Moreover, the reason why such screening is carried out is to prevent terrorists from escaping, rejoining their group, and carrying out future attacks. But in this case, the LTTE’s military capability has been destroyed, its top leadership wiped out; for a group that was identified completely with its supreme leader Prabakaran, and was defined by its military prowess, this means that it is finished. Furthermore, the hatred engendered in these Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) by the LTTE leadership’s utterly brutal treatment of them, especially at the end of the war, is the best guarantee we have that there is no chance it can be revived, regardless of what the pro-LTTE diaspora may think. In fact, as Anandasangaree has pointed out, their escape to government-held territory in defiance of LTTE orders was itself an act of resistance. If any militant group arises in the future, it will be a completely new one. So the benefits of apprehending a few hundred ex-LTTE cadres are far outweighed by the costs of detaining hundreds of thousands of innocent people without charge for an indefinite period and creating, possibly, thousands of future militants.
The fundamental rights petition filed on behalf of five IDPs held in camps at Kodikamam and Vavuniya makes it crystal clear that they are being held against their will, and that this constitutes appalling cruelty to individuals still suffering physically and mentally from the trauma they have undergone. The IDPs came out cursing the Tigers and positively inclined towards the government forces which had helped them to escape, but with every day that they remain in detention, their hostility to the government will grow; they will feel that they have jumped out of one frying pan into another. If the new Chief Justice hand-picked by the President delays or refuses to order their release, they will have every justification for feeling that the Sri Lankan state is holding them hostage.
Such collective punishment belies the government’s claim that it was trying to free the hostages, and makes it look as if it simply wanted to take them hostage itself. It contradicts Mahinda Rakapaksa’s statement that there are no longer any minorities in Sri Lanka by making it clear that there are minorities who do not share the right to freedom of movement and equal protection of the law enjoyed by the majority. As former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva pointed out, this lays the groundwork for a new war, since comparable discrimination against and persecution of Tamil civilians played a major role in starting the war which has just ended. It thus insults the soldiers who risked and in many cases lost their lives to free the civilians from the LTTE, and makes a mockery of celebrations of the end of the war.
Indeed, it looks as if this is already the start of a new war: a war against Tamils. The longer Tamil civilians are detained in prison camps, the more disappearances and extrajudicial killings are likely to occur. Given that they are in the custody of an army commanded by Sarath Fonseka, who thinks that Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese just as Hitler thought that Germany belonged to the Aryans, we can only fear the worst.
Moving Towards Dictatorship
There are strong indications that some elements in the government and armed forces do not want an end to the war but want to keep it going, or even expand it. The people of Sri Lanka were asked to sacrifice a great deal in the interests of defeating the LTTE, and we would expect that these sacrifices would now come to an end. We would expect at least two-thirds of the soldiers to be demobilised, so that the rest of the population does not have to pay for them any more; they could easily be employed at the same wages to do constructive work rebuilding the war-ravaged areas and upgrading infrastructure elsewhere, thus helping to attract investment into the country. We would expect the government to avoid practices which led to the war, such as discrimination against and persecution of minorities, and to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations which were used for the extrajudicial killing of thousands of Tamils as well as Sinhalese.
Instead, the very opposite is being done. Apart from the illegal detention of hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians and the failure to repeal the PTA and Emergency Regulations, we are told that the army, already doubled to 200,000 during the latter stages of the war, is going to be expanded by another 100,000! What earthly purpose could this serve? One purpose, clearly, is that it will enhance the power of military commanders and the Defence establishment, which would otherwise be reduced in peacetime. Presumably the military occupation of the North and East will be continued by the existing soldiers, treating citizens as aliens. But what will all the new soldiers do? Could they, conceivably, be deployed to the South, to crush any protests that might arise when people realise that far from being able to loosen their belts, they have to tighten them even more?
It would not be the first time this has happened. Let us not forget that the Sinhala nationalist regimes of Jayawardene and Premadasa, with some help from the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), managed to kill more Sinhalese in the space of three years than the LTTE could kill in thirty. Are some elements in the government and armed forces planning a repeat of the tyre-pyres and mutilated bodies piled up by the roadside, clogging the rivers and washed up on the beaches? There are disturbing indications that the Rajapaksa regime is moving in that direction. The murder of Lasantha Wickrematunga, the fact that his killers were never caught, and the justification of it in a BBC interview by the Defence Secretary, was an indication that the death squads which had been operating in the North and East have moved South. Other attacks on journalists, the fact that those who reported the assault on Poddala Jayantha were themselves detained, images of the President as a godlike king, and proposals to cancel the presidential elections and/or make Mahinda Rajapaksa president for life, all suggest a growing Sinhala fascist movement with support within the government.
If there are elements in the government and armed forces working to destroy democracy in Sri Lanka , it is incumbent on all those who love their country to resist. The lack of a viable opposition, given the United National Party’s (UNP’s) equally rotten record, is a drawback; but the courage of Anandasangaree and others in his Democratic Tamil National Alliance in resisting the President’s pressure to get the DTNA to join the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance gives us hope that one could be created. Tamil, Muslim and Left politicians who are part of a government that is detaining hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan citizens without charge are betraying their constituencies; they should leave the government so that they are in a position to put pressure on it, and stand in solidarity with the DTNA. What is required today is a strong grassroots democracy movement throughout the country, out of which a new political leadership could emerge. The first priority of such a movement should be to defend the democratic rights of displaced civilians.
12 Comments
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If Tamils wanted to take revenge against Sinhalese, the best way is to 'keep quiet'. Join the government, agree with the government, etc.........
Let the Sinhalese face the Rajapakse's.
:-)
The Sri Lankan government can of course rely on the second ground to delay the release of the civilians. Among many supportive reasons to do so, I wish to emphasize one reason and that is the treachery of the diaspora Tamils.
As you may recall during early part of this year when these people were caught up in the war zone there was not a single Tamil organization in this world that was ready and willing to release at least a statement requesting the LTTE to release them. Not only they did not release any statement in support of these innocent civilians but on the other hand the diaspora made various statements and released theories identifying these people with the LTTE and claimed that they do not need to leave the LTTE. In other words, like the LTTE, the diaspora was ready to sacrifice these people to save the LTTE from a military defeat, if possible. By doing this, the Tamil diaspora identified them as LTTE families. Now they are shedding crocodile tears and trying to gain a political mileage to show the world that the government is holding innocents in the camps. However, as these Tamils had been identified with the LTTE by the Tamils it makes their case weak.
In this context, I reproduce the letter that I sent to Tamil Canadian Legal Professionals Association [TCLPA] to which I never got a reply. But I understood that my request was summarily and unanimously dismissed by the Tamil members of this noble profession.
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20 March 2009 @ 1:15.p.m.
Dear President and the Members of TCLPA,
I am writing this further to my request in the last meeting asking TCLPA to send and/or to release a statement to the LTTE requesting them to release the Tamil civilians from its clutches.
I have attached here two press releases of Crisis Group; one was released few minutes ago this afternoon with the heading ‘A Slaughter Waiting to happen”. I wish to draw your attention to paragraphs 2, 5 & 9 of this press release. The allegations against the LTTE described here are not something new to me or to any of you. In addition to these releases, every international human rights organization had corroborated the allegations against the LTTE in the past and none had contradicted. However, for reasons obvious to all, my request was dismissed summarily and unanimously. I have expounded on this issue during the last meeting on March 18, 2009 and I do not wish to add more.
However, I wish to place on record that even at this late stage TCLPA SHALL release a statement requesting the LTTE to release the civilians immediately and without any conditions. Failing which I feel that I shall disassociate myself from TCLPA forthwith and I do.
I wish to remind you that it is heartbreaking to see that Tamil members of legal profession of this country are pretending to be ignorant of a serious legal implication to them in this matter. Morally none of you have the right to utter the word 'Genocide' hereafter!
Kumar Sriskanda
Barrister & Solicitor
209 - 3852 Finch Avenue East
Scarborough ON
M1T 3T9
T.Ph.: 416 321 9739
Fax.: 416 321 9651
Rohini
It is not penalising tamils, it is called
De-mining,
Finding hidden weapons
Eliminating the remaining LTTE psychpaths.
Developing infrastructure.
Yes, army should be expanded so that we will never have to fight this war again. The Sri Lanaka belong to tamils and sri lankans who want to co habit together, If you have complexities on that, There is always canada with vacancies for second class citizens.
The SARATH-GOTHA axis is in full operation as far
as Camps are concerned, without any doubt. The political beast in MR can be well manupilated by these two alone to suit their moral needs. (Remember their minds - after the failed attempt on thier lives and their attitude thereafter).
The settlement of 50,00 new recruits, a qualification
being that they move their dependents to the N-E is
the Agenda of the Army Coimmander who is vested with
new Authority recently. So camp issue will have to
wait till that Agenda is functioning - the excuse being mines and other infra-structure.
The moral debasement of Tamils is necessary to
prevent future witnesses.So even the higher rankers who may be witnesses (M.P and Doctors) will never be released, as with Tissanayagam - a minor point in the
present situation. Once the evidence that is to be
obtained from the UN Drivers in custody are all put
together,a Mohan Peries will OK matters in consultation with Sarath-Gotha duo. No High Court
will interfere nor any journalist in the future. The
opposition has lost all its teeth - even to think!
(This may be an arm-chair anaylsis)
Aratai's suggestion is absurd.
Tamils should join Moderate Sinhalese and defeat Mahinda's dictatorship to stear SL towards fair democracy. Please lets work to stop the blood bath in our motherland.
FREE THE CIVILIANS IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS.
I can see reemerging of Premadasa +JR regime very soon if the Sothern people not react now. I wonder people already forgotten the days young people were burned to death with tyres and there is talk about referendum to extend power.
aratai, that was actually a good response. rarely we see this kind of intelligence.
Now everybody will understand why LTTE was fighting. But its too late. The world helped to defeat a true freedom fight. Shame on this world. As a Tamil, I pray God this world should be distroyed by mother nature like Tsunami, heat waves, earth quakes, deadly virus, etc.
The lady sees the future clearer than many, methinks. As the old Chinese proverb says “we are into interesting times.” She knows the regime has no particular appetite for “traitors” - journos or any other variety. The doctrine in vogue is “if you are not with us you are a Tiger.” That you already have a Jaffna Tamil connection is sufficient to take you in. And, as to your call to “resist” attacks against the democratic norm, you are only tightening the noose around your neck in the atmosphere you are in. We are now – like in Sukarno’s Indonesia - “a guided democracy” and our kindly elder brothers (aiyas) and uncles (maamas) will decide what is good for you and me.
It has been clear for some years now there is a growing conspiracy in the South to bring in all the more influential Buddhist Sinhala groups together; an extension of the pancha bala vegaya of the 1956 vintage – the clergy, political, academic, commercial/industry, army-police and the Forces, the administrative service – to form a convergence to “destroy the Tamil menace and save the country and Buddhism from the Lankan Tamils – agents of India” They fear India and the world will generally be sympathetic and supportive of the Tamils and, therefore, “the need to act on our own” By various acts of kidnapping, ransom, killing and other forms of intimidation and harassment the strength of the Tamil business community in the Pettah and Colombo has been reduced to fractions of its earlier strength. By other forms of insidious threat a large number of Tamils have fled from the country in the last few years to various parts of the world. In a decade or two, the presence of the Tamil community in the Colombo District – business and otherwise – will be as insignificant as in today’s Burma (Myanmar) considering in the pre-1960s they were a strong and welcome presence in the social and commercial life of Burma. Such a scenario will be welcome by many
ordinary uninitiated Sinhalese who might think those doing this are doing it for the Sinhala Motherland. I quote from a controversial academic, identified as an extremist from this spectrum, in his most recent writing “Tamils must accept that the Sinhala language and culture as the most significant in the country” This is more a threat than a statement. We are all, of course, familiar with Sarath Fonseka’s already declared doctrine “the minority is allowed to live amongst us in this Buddhist country – provided they do not make any undue demands.” The undue demands can vary from the right to rule the Tamil areas of the North-East albeit within an undivided country; the right to continue with traditional agricultural farming and fishing; the right of freedom to travel, worship etc etc., So now we know why the army needs; and the Rajapakse Govt is keen; to increase the army’s strength to 300,000 – after the 30year “enemy” is dead and buried. Incidentally, the cost to maintain such an army on salaries alone calculated at a low Rs.25,000 per man is a staggering, unaffordable Rs.750,000,000,000. Can we afford it? So let the world not be surprised. The writer succinctly puts it in context “strong indications some elements in the govt and the armed forces do not want to end the war but to keep it going or even expand it.” The thought this inflated army strength could have external ramifications and is at the instance of others is disturbing. That this is probably a part of the game of regional supremacy is fraught with long term danger to the country and the neighbourhood. The fate of the country and the vast majority of the people will be decided when and how the Sinhala people wake up to the rude reality confronting them.
ISS
Do we have any other option Aratai?
The main flaw in this article is that the assumption held. i.e. Existence of democracy in SL
Freedom of expression, Freedom of movement, Freedom of religion and gathering are not there. No press freedom, no effective opposition. Pluralism does not exist at all.
Government is elected through democratic means, and a dictatorship is stored in the alter of power.
These people suffered thirty year war.Their children were forciblely conscripted .They are not allowed freely enter into government areas.Parents have to make pregnant their young daughters to evade from conscription.these tamil civilians were used as human shield.Vanni war started in september 2007 tamil civilians in captured ares were forced come with ltte.did the ltte provide beter facilities to them.Why didn't the writer criticise the tigers at that time.Because she liked them.Many ltte supporters including human right activitists who kept mum when tigers oppressed tamil civilians now come with all sort of suggestios telling what to do.I don't think government needs the advices of those people.They crushed the ltte which was treated as undefeatable by those people.Such a Government does need the suggestions of this type of woman.These people try to prolong the war and live on it.If they don't love these people they do n't write these foolish things.Consider the situation in Iraq.How many people die each day.That should be preventable.USA captured it but did not think how it could be controlled.Same situation is in Afganistan.Our commanders are much more advaned and patriotic.They need to avoid post conflict situation.Every factor for post conflict situation exist in the ground.They hid wepons,money,gold evry thing.This lady seems to be unaware of latest findings of warlike item by Sri lankan forces. if she knows or if she cares of lives of these civilians she doesn't right like this.Every body knows what sort of hardship suffered by tamil civilians during the war.Does she want put them in similiar situation again.It is easy ot write all sort of things because it is highly unusual to keep such a large number of people in camps.But these sort of things are nessesary for national security.I the second world war Japanese americans were kept in camps.Any body dare call them as nasi concentration camps.You can suggest everything but you will be not responsible for it.if the violence you simply say I told you military strategy won,t work.Govenment shouldn't allow such situation for the sake all the communities who suffered immensly from terrorism.