Despite recent presidential polls motivated announcements by Sri Lanka Government of releasing IDPs, several reports continue say there are re-detentions and further release of hundreds of thousands still in internment camps are being indefinitely postponed.
A report on the BBC Sinala Service, Sandeshaya - one such report mentioned of relocation of IDPs to another camp, on Jan 5, 2010.
The Report as follows:
Over two hundred internally displaced people (IDPs) had been relocated to a camp in Killinochchi instead of resettling in their homes, says one of the refugees who spoke to the BBC.
He told the BBC Sinhala Service, that they were taken from Vavunia to Killinochchi to be put in another camp.
“We were brought here from the Arunachalam camp in Vavunia. They told us that we would be permanently resettled in our own homes,” he told the BBC.
January 27th, 2010- This is day is observed as The International Holocaust Remembrance Day world- wide. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in 2005 the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 as an annual international day of commemoration to honour the victims of the Nazi era. The 2010 observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust will focus on a central theme that emphasizes the legacy that survivors will pass on to succeed- ing generations.
The United Nations states the fol- lowing about this year’s theme: “Holocaust Remembrance: the Legacy of Survival” highlights the moral messages expressed by those who have suffered from Nazi persecu- tion and denial of basic human rights. As there are fewer survivors to tell their stories today, it is of primary importance that these universal les- sons be shared with all fellow human beings. Only this will ensure that their legacy will continue to promote respect for diversity and human rights for generations to come. Monsoon Journal joins the world humanitarian community in remem- bering and paying tribute to the vic- tims of holocaust at the hands of Nazi Germany and in honouring survivors and to support the recognition of this day internationally.
In 2010 this day marks special sig- nificance to Tamils, seeing the escalat- ed military onslaught by the mono ethnic Sinhala Sri Lankan armed forces claiming the lives of thousands of Tamil civilians under the guise of a “humanitarian operation”. The aftermath is seeing the con- tinuation of Tamils in internment, sep- aration of children from their parents and in detentions under incommunica- do conditions. An electioneering frenzy has let off several token releases and politi- cally motivated announcements to win decisive Tamil votes by Sri Lankan presidential candidates, but the suf- fering of innocent Tamil civilians con- tinues and several questions are being raised about the conduct of the war by Sri Lankan Government. UN special rapporteur Prof. Philip Alston has said three independent experts had confirmed a video show- ing extra judicial killing by Sri Lankan soldiers was authentic, renewing calls for a war crime inquiry.
Sri Lankan opposition presidential candidate and ex-Army general Sarath Fonseka confirmed that surrendering LTTE Political leaders were killed along with their families in violation of inter- national humanitarian laws. And also of LTTE leader ’s octoge- narian father dying in military custody all highlight the conditions of what many other Tamils face today at the hands of the Government of Sri Lanka, apart from the electioneering conces- sionary gimmicks. Prof. Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor and Human Rights Activist remarked in June 2009 on the plight of Tamils in a statement. He said: “Wherever minorities are being persecuted we must raise our voices to protest. According to reliable sources, the Tamil people are being disenfranchised and victimized by the Sri Lanka authorities. This injustice must stop. The Tamil people must be allowed to live in peace and flourish in their homeland.” This year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is a time to remember Prof. Elie Wiesel’s words about Tamils’ plight.
A media briefing was held by The Canadian Committee for the Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (PTGTE) on 23rd of December 2009 in Toronto. V. Rudrakumaran, Internati- onal Coordinator of PTGTE speak- ing via video conferencing called upon the younger generation of the Tamil community to fully par- ticipate in democratic work towards meeting long term goals.
He pointed out that the geo- politics brings changes in the global arena time to time, and mobilizing and carrying out appro- priate political actions rapidly is important; he added therein exist the opportunities for the forma- tion of Independent Tamil Eelam. Dr. Ram Sivalingam, Chairperson of the Canadian Working Committee of PTGTE announced elections for the 135 member Assembly of TGTE will be held in April 2010. He said 25 members will be elected to repre- sent Canada.
Contd from Pg 1. Tamil inmates from Vavunia say that they are frustrated about the situation. “We had been here in this camp for over a month now. We were promised that we would be going home within days. Latest we heard is that it will happen in a month”. The refugee who spoke to the BBC from Killinochchi, said there are fifty two families in this camp situated at Killinochchi Central School. “Once we arrived, we were given dry rations, now we get cooked food like any other camp. The perimeter of the school is guarded by the Army,”he said. “My house is only 800 metres away from this camp
. We are kept in the school while there is an army camp where my house was. This is a new camp established since the end of the war”. The refugees are not allowed out by the authorities, he says. “After days of protest, they took us in a bus for a hair cut. The barber was only one hundred metres down the road. We were taken back to the camp immedi- ately after the haircut”. The IDPs in Kilinochchi are waiting to go back to their homes says the refugee who spoke to BBC Sandeshaya.
Global Tamil Forum (GTF), consisting of several Tamil organizations around the globe has been formed to speak with one voice on the plight of Tamils, according to a news release about the inaugural. A press release on the inauguration further states: The GTF will evolve as an independent, international organization which adheres to the principles of democracy and non-violence and derives its strength from existing grassroots organizations of the Tamil Diaspora. Working in solidarity with the Tamils in Eelam and other communities in Sri Lanka, the GTF will strive to restore Tamil People’s right to self-determination and democratic self rule in their traditional homeland in the island of Sri Lanka. The immediate goal of GTF will be to address the plight of the Tamils interned in the camps and have their resettlement in their homes and villages expedited by generating international pressure upon the Government of Sri Lanka. The GTF will also explore avenues to bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice. Tamil organizations from all five continents are represented in the GTF and have joined hands to further this mission. On the web: http://globaltamilforum. org
The government of Sri Lanka under President Mahinda Rajapaksa said it was going to war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with the battle cry of freedom. It spoke of a vision of a Sri Lanka where peoples lives would not be determined by the language they spoke. However, after the war is over, with a great deal of sacrifi ce of men and material resources, the emerging socio-political environment does not indicate the vision coming true; it may well remain what it was – just a vision. By now it is clear that the word ‘devolution’ has joined the rank of words to be wished away - like ‘federalism’ - into political obsolescence. And the word ‘minority’ also might join the list soon. That seems to be the new emerging order that is seen across the board not only with the ruling coalition but among the major political parties. This was best illustrated by the United National Party (UNP) presided over by Ranil Wickremesinghe. As Prime Minister he agreed to federalism as fundamental to the peace process in 2002 but now he and his party had no hesitation in jettisoning it at the altar of political expediency. And the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is no better. This comes as no surprise to Sri Lanka watchers as political parties, like many of their leaders, have done similar acts of political somersault more than once.(I should confess our own Indian political parties and leaders are no better. The latest in this genre was the Tamil Nadu political leader Ms Jayalalithaa’s sudden volte face on the question of Tamil Eelam on the eve of recent parliamentary poll. ) Apparently, it has become part of the political culture although it is extremely doubtful whether the common man is taken by such double whammy on the eve of elections. But in Sri Lanka in the past, the political double speak was the main reason why Tamil people lost faith in the political process. Ultimately Tamil youth took up arms to fi ght for their beliefs, right or wrong, because they saw only failed political process. President Mahinda Rajapaksa appears to be in no hurry to implement the 13th amendment of the constitution in full, despite repeated promises to do so after the eastern province election. There might be sound internal political reasons for this; the President appears to be getting ready to advance the date of Presidential election to early next year as indicated in his recent interview to cash in on his popularity to get elected as president for a second term. And probably he would like to retain his Southern Sri Lanka votes in tact. But does the President require a popular mandate to implement what is authorised in the constitution? In case a peoples’ mandate was necessary for the President’s course of action, parliamentary poll would be the true barometer. That would help his party gain a majority in parliament without the President sacrifi cing part of his present term. Of course, a strong presidential mandate fi rst would ensure the SLFP sweeping the parliamentary polls. Thus it would enable the President to do away with the dependence upon other smaller parties. It might also reduce the infl uence detractors of his policy who have migrated from various political parties to the SLFP bandwagon as well as the opposition - the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the right wing Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU). With nearly twenty percent of Tamil population living as displaced persons behind barbed wire in welfare camps, elections would be democratic if they are free. Would they be free before the presidential poll? That is a question the government has to answer because there are contradictory signals coming from different limbs of government. And there is also the traditional gap between intent and action of the government. The President has with equal alacrity turned the all party committee for devolution, which he constituted on assuming offi ce in 2006 with a lot of fanfare, into one more committee of irrelevance if not non-action, as recently confessed by its chairman Tissa Vitarana. His report submitted is said to cover a wide range of subjects that ail Sri Lanka from the executive presidency to revision of constitution to the rights and powers of people living away from Colombo. This well meaning effort is in the danger of consigned to the archives of history to company with President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s attempts at constitutional amendment that had almost everyone’s consensus. Curiously, India which had initially been speaking of devolution later to downgraded its desire to implementation of the 13th amendment. And when even that is in doubt India has become strangely muted, except that it came up as a point in the sidelines of the conference of non-aligned nations attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Rajapaksa. But all these are exercises in politics and not of the promised pathway to ethnic reconciliation. It is not good intentions that is lacking in Sri Lanka but their implementation. President Rajapaksa has sought to wish away the term minority as applied to non Sinhalese citizens of the country. This is an admirable sentiment but it does not appear realistic in the absence of political, structural, constitutional and social actions needed to make it a reality. Unless the vision of a minority free Sri Lanka is fl eshed out with appropriate missions to turn into a reality, it would remain a distant vision only. And sadly, this is what it is turning out to be, it appears. The ethnic divide has established deep roots of distrust between the two communities that are yet to bee uprooted. So when the state once again sidelines the basic issue of Tamil quest for equitable treatment there cannot be but a feeling of déjã vu among the people on this issue. These are partly reinforced by the continued presence of nearly 300,000 Tamil IDPs still in ‘welfare camps’ with no hope of returning back to their war ravaged villages “within six months” as promised earlier. Their doubts on the new dispensation increase further when Dayan Jayatilake, who turned in a stellar performance at the UN to save the face of Sri Lanka, was sacked overnight. Of course, he was ‘guilty’ of trying to sell the state’s own merchandise – the implementation of 13th amendment (plus?). Such actions only turn the feeling of discomfort of those who question government policy decisions into to insecurity. A nation needs conscience keepers to question and introspect. And a free media is the vehicle of conscience keepers; and they are ill served if the Damocles sword of Press Council keeps the media in tenterhooks. After decades of agonising confl ict Sri Lanka needs an ambience free of fear and suspicion, where all people will have a fair share of power in decision making. And that unfortunately is not happening. The process of polarisation of Sinhala and Tamil communities had been going on for over half a century. It had been clouding the emergence of a united Sri Lankan identity after it became bread and butter of Sinhala and Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. It has resulted in Sri Lanka going through a full circle from politics to extremism to militancy to insurgency to terrorism to war to politics now. Should Sri Lanka go through this agonising cycle all over once again? This is a question the people and rulers of Sri Lanka cannot afford to ignore.
While Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health has set up a system to provide initial treatment to the wounded and sick people in camps in the Vavuniya region following the conflict in the north, the needs remain immense and require around-the-clock medical presence in the camps to respond to all emergencies. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has the capacity to scale up surgical and medical care for the displaced inside the camps if authorizations are provided. An inflatable MSF field hospital is currently the closest referral hospital for the 220,000 displaced people living in Manik Farm camp in northern Sri Lanka. Along with six hospitalization tents, the hospital is equipped with two operating theatres and an intensive care room. The MSF medical team working in this hospital is currently treating war-wounded patients and patients suffering from pneumonia, other severe respiratory infections and dehydration caused primarily by diarrhea. The 100-bed facility received its first patients on May 22 and its first surgical cases on May 26. Ambulances arrive from the five zones of Manik Farm camp bearing some of the displaced people in need of hospitalization. Around 70 patients, lie on their beds under the white tents in the MSF field hospital, just across the road from Manik Farm. In the operating theatre, MSF surgeons are performing six to 10 minor surgical procedures everyday, on people suffering from injuries caused by shell blasts, gunshots or accidents. MSF surgeons remove dead and infected tissues from wounds - several times if necessary - to try to avoid amputations. “We have lots of infected war wounds that have been poorly treated,” describes Mike Newman, MSF surgeon. “For some wounds the treatment is coming weeks later, for others it is months later.” In the tent full of patients, a woman with a bandage around her head waits to be examined. Selva (patient names changed) was injured in the Vanni, the former conflict zone, on May 19. Her husband and oldest daughter were also wounded. They wrapped some clothes around their wounds to stop the bleeding. The next day, they managed to reach the Omanthai crossing point to escape the fighting, where the army told them to go to the onsite clinic. But Selva refused, afraid that in her absence her family would be loaded onto a bus and taken to the camps, effectively separating them. Two days later, once in the Manik Farm camp, she sought care in the overcrowded camp hospital. It took another two days for a doctor to treat her and refer her to the MSF field hospital, by which time her wounds were infected. Next to Selva’s bed, an 18-year-old boy has multiple injuries: three-month-old bullet wounds in his arm and shoulder and oneweek- old shrapnel embedded in his knee. With a home-made bandage around his knee, Dilan walked for two days out of the battle zone before being sent to the Manik Farm camp with a dressing over his knee. Still in great pain, he went to the camp hospital, where his dressing was changed and he was given some medicine. But over the following three days he received no follow up care. Though the medicine eased the pain, an infection was spreading. Eight days after his injury, Dilan arrived at the MSF field hospital. There are probably hundreds of people like Selva or Dilan who have not received the close medical follow up war-wounded patients require. Though Ministry of Health doctors working in the camps are doing their best to cope with the number of patients, there is a need to provide around-the-clock service which can identify, treat and refer war-wounded patients and medical emergencies to the field hospital as quickly as possible. MSF has the capacity to scale up these services in the camps and continues to pursue discussions with the authorities in Colombo.
Medical college students and doctors in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu organised a human chain on Gandhiji Road on Wednesday, July 1st appealing to the Central Government to urge Sri Lankan Government to release four Tamil doctors arrested by the Lankan police “just because they gave treatment to wounded Sri Lankan Tamils during the recent war.” The doctors in custody are Thambimuthu Sathyamurthy, Durairaja Vasantha Raja, Veerakathi Shanmugha Raja and Ilanchezhiya Pallavan. R. Venkateswaran, students chairman, Vijay Pandiyan, secretary, Prathiba and Preethi led the agitation. S. R. Marududurai, Professor, Thanjavur Medical College, inaugurated the human chain. Thanjai Ramamurthy, senior advocate, D. Mathivanan, General secretary of Transport Corporation Employees Union, offered felicitations.