Is this the democracy granted to the Tamils by Sri Lanka government?

Jaffna peninsula is in the hands of the Sri Lanka state security forces since 1995.

However, even after the Tamil rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) was defeated in two years back, still the normalcy does not appear to prevail in Jaffna.

Excessive military presence and their high handedness prevents people enjoying the democratic rights at least to the level enjoyed by the people of the other parts of the country.

Following report is from Daily Mirror:

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mavai Senathiraja accused the Army of dispersing a meeting they held at the Alawetti Mahajana College in Jaffna last evening using excessive force.
“More than 100 soldiers came to the College and said that we cannot hold the meeting here and subsequently began removing the microphones before assaulting the participants. When our bodyguards, who are also policemen, intervened they too were assaulted”, he said. “Several people had been injured and a complaint was lodged with the Thellipala police and also the Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe”, he added.
The TNA held the meeting to introduce their candidates to the public for the forthcoming Local Government Elections. Parliamentarians Mavai Senathiraja, Suresh Premachandra, M.A Sumanthiran, A. Vinayagamoorthi and E. Sarawanabawan participated in the meeting.

Bookmark, remember and visit us again: www.lankapolity.com

Jaffna sees millions of Sinhala visitors in addition to the Army but no real peace

Minister Devananda with a family member of slain Zonal Education Director Manikkam Sivalingam

(January 01, 2011) A senior official of Sri Lanka Army said recently to Sinhala daily The Divaina that 2.8 million people from southern parts of the island visited Jaffna before the final days of the year..

With the expected 200,000 year end holiday travelers, the official anticipated the total number of visitors that visited Jaffna in 2010 exceeded three million.

2010 set on Jaffna with same terrifying stories the cultural heartland of Lankan Tamils heard since years before the 'end of war.'

Jaffna sees millions of Sinhala visitors in addition to the Army but no real peace.

Walikamam Zonal Director of Education was brutally killed last week, perhaps to take revenge for opposing singing national anthem of his country in Sinhala at the National Safety Day commemoration on December 26 under a new directive of the cabinet that dropped the almost half a century practice of singing the national anthem in Tamil too.

A 26 year old businessman who went missing since December 27 was found stabbed and killed on the same day whilst anonymous caller sought a staggering eight million rupee ransom from the father of the youth.

Killings continue in strictly guarded Jaffna under the nose of the security forces. More Sinhalese will go there to enjoy their peace dividend of a pilgrimage to Nagadeepa, a place Buddhists believe Lord Buddha had visited.


Bookmark, remember and visit us again: www.lankapolity.com

Has Karuna or the government of Sri Lanka right to retain the houses built by displaced Muslims in Puttlam?

(July 05, 2010, Colombo - Lanka Polity)"If the Muslims displaced from Jaffna needed to resettle in their home town again, they would have to return the permanent buildings they have constructed (in the long term refugee camps they lived)."

Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, ex-Eastern Commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) 'terrorist' movement and now the Deputy Minister of Resettlement said to Sri Lanka’s Sinhala nationalist Divaina newspaper yesterday.

In 1990, the LTTE, in which Karuna Amman was a leader, ethnically cleansed the Muslims out of Jaffna and other areas in Northern Province that was under their rein.

The Deputy Minister said that 36,963 Muslim families were displaced from Northern and Eastern Provinces and 16,196 families of them have been resettled now.

What an irony the same terrorists that ousted these Muslims from their homes and robbed their belongings are now resettling them. But the Tamil racist minds appear to exist unchanged for the worse united with the Sinhala chauvinism.

These Muslims displaced almost two decades ago and lived in these places for a generation. Their lives are now inseparably entangled with the social fabric of the areas they have been living for decades. They built these houses amidst so much hardship. Don't they have a right to those houses? They have inalienable rights for houses they lived in Jaffna. Can the government or the ex-LTTEers lay conditions for them to retain their property?


You may also like to visit our Sinhala Blog W3Lanka

Railway to Jaffna and antics of a Sri Lankan Minister

(October 01, Colombo - Lanka Polity) "Tune in to any local TV channel this evening at 8.05 PM and watch as Sri Lanka makes history. A message from the Government of Sri Lanka." This was a message distributed by mobile phone companies via SMS alerts on 30 September and people were enthusiastic to see how Sri Lanka makes history on that time.

However, almost all the TV channels telecast an advertisement stating that a fund had been launched to raise funds from people to rebuild the northern railway line to Jaffna and to repair 27 railway stations.

Northern railway line dilapidated due to decades old war and needs complete reconstruction to ply the famous 'Yal Devi' train to Jaffna beyond Thandikulam where the journey ends now.

The 'creative' concept of mocking the phrase 'Sri Lanka makes history' belongs to the Minister of Transport Dallus Alahapperuma, one time journalist of a radical tabloid, and Triad, the non-official state advertising agent that is owned by the daughter and son-in-law of Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Cabinet Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning.

Unfortunately, the President Mahinda Rajapakse has got angry over the misuse of the image of state in this publicity campaign and rapped the 'creative' Minister Alahapperuma, media reported. Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Minister of Information and Media and Cabinet Spokesman, holder of an envied position, disowned the responsibility of the concept and asked the journalists that queried about it to contact those who conveyed the controversial message.

Meanwhile, in the advertisement, several compartments of the train is dis-coupled and the people belonged to all three communities push the parts difficultly to re-couple them. Some say that there is a hidden satire in the advertisement since it was not necessary the passengers to push train parts so difficultly and the engine driver could have reversed the train with the help of the guard to re-couple the dislodged compartments in the way it is normally done. Does the Minister convey the message that people need to fund this project since the pilots of the nation do not pay attention?

In fact the government levies heavy taxes from the countrymen from rice to petrol and from needle to motor vehicle. The state obtain massive loans locally and internationally to run the economy and for development projects and it is not necessary to burden the public further to pay off their hard earned money to build a railway line. At the moment, the government is developing the road network and other infrastructure in the Northern Province areas recently captured from the Tamil Tiger rebels with assistance from the states like China and India.

(Photo: dilapidated Jaffna railway station)

Restructuring of Sri Lanka's internal defence; new security forces headquarters in south

(September 25, Colombo - Lanka Polity) As another step of restructuring and strengthening the internal defence of Sri Lanka, the state has taken steps to set up new headquarters of security forces that are in the process of southern areas of the island.

The new headquarters set up in Panagoda military complex will coordinate the security of the areas other than the Northern and Eastern Provinces. These areas are dominated by ethnic Sinhala majority of the country and they are relatively free of revolts.

"This new security forces headquarters commands 11 Division in Panagoda, 112 Brigade in Polhengoda, four Area Headquarters in Kandy, Hambantota, Galle and Diyatalawa, two Sub Area Headquarters in Ratnapura and Kurunegala and Operation Command Colombo (OCC) covering the largest area of the country with approximately 77% of the country’s total population," says Army.

Sri Lanka Defense Ministry has already set up security forces headquarters in Jaffna, Vanni and East. Following defeating the Tamil Tigers two new headquarters of the security forces have been set up in Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu, former nerve centers of the rebels. Five of the six security forces headquarters are situated in Tamil dominated areas.  Tamils account to 12.7 percent of the country's population.

Sri Lanka ruling party defeated among Tamils liberated by the government

(August 10, 2009 - Lanka Polity) Nobody seems astonished with the massive victory of the ruling united People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) at the Uva Provincial Council election. The 'democratic'way the Rajapakse regime conducts election campaigns manipulating public property as unlimited party resources is a blatant daylight robbery of public consent. However, it is unequivocal that the UPFA is popular enough to register a landslide victory in an election in south in the aftermath of the defeat of the Tamil Tigers even if the elections are conducted actually democratically. Government needs not only victory but also the destruction of the opponents.

Writing to the The Island today, Dr. Dayan Jayathilaka says, "While a municipal election does not usually qualify as historic, the elections to local authorities in Jaffna and Vavuniya certainly are. They are the first elections to be held in the centers of Tamil political life after the end of the Thirty Years War of secession with the conclusive defeat of the Tigers."

In fact, in relation to remarkable developments of Sri Lankan polity, the elections for the Jaffna Municipal Council and the Vavuniya Urban Council are far important than the Uva Provincial Council election. The ruling party conducted the election campaign in north in the same manner it did in Uva Province. Political repression under the state power prevails same throughout the island whilst a military pressure is added in north.

Expressing disappointment over the polls results to The Island, Ealam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) leader and Minister Douglas Devananda regretted their failure to take the Vavuniya Urban Council despite the ruling coalition implementing a range of measures to alleviate the sufferings of the people in the districts. The TNA had done absolutely nothing for them, he said adding that people should have been grateful to the UPFA for liberating them from LTTE terrorism.

EPDP initially opined to contest the Jaffna Municipal Council alone but had to join the UPFA umbrella due to pressure from the government. Media reported that over 100,000 people came to watch 'Apsaras' music band play in Jaffna with local and South Indian artistes in an election-eve pageant sponsored by the government. However, mere 22% of the voters, i.e. 22,280, turned up for voting on August 08. Of them, less than 50%, 10,602, voted to the ruling UPFA.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that the government claims partially responsible for the misery of the Tamils obtained 8080 votes to become second in Jaffna. TNA recorded an outright win in Vavuniya where People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Ealam (PLOTE) placed second and the ruling UPFA fell to third place.

Now, various individuals are analyzing this election result according to their political agendas. Yet, one obvious point is that the regime that praises itself of freeing the Tamils from the grip of the terrorism is defeated among the same 'liberated' masses while the TNA that is branded as a paw of the defeated Tamil rebels is still powerful in a context their former mentor is no more.

The feeble voice raised by the defeated Tamils via TNA, PLOTE, Ananda sangaree who elected to the Jaffna Municipal Council from Tamil United Liberation Front and even the EPDP that helped UPFA to win Jaffna is not the one that the Rajapakse regime wants.

The signal given to India by Tamils through this election is significant in political future of Sri Lanka.

Civilian life of Sri Lanka's Northern Province normalizing slowly after military defeat of rebels

(August 07, 2009 -Lanka Polity) More than 100,000 of people reportedly flocked into the Duraiappa esplanade in Jaffna in Northern Province of Sri Lanka to see the Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil singers perform after a long time in the cultural capital of Sri Lankan Tamils.Duraiappa was a mayor of the city who was gunned down by the rebels, marking the beginning of the bloody civil strife that took around 80,000 lives in a span of three decades.

The musical show was organized by the government parallel to the elections for the Jaffna Municipal Council.The residents of Jaffna have limited freedom for cultural activities since the peninsula is under curfew in each night for years. Government has deployed 40,000 military personnel, 99% Sinhalese, to guard the Tamil dominated city. The Army to civilian ratio is one tenth there, sources say. Government media say that the tight security has been eased now for the benefit of the residents.

Following the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), that had a great influence over the Tamil populace of the country, Sri Lanka's Sinhala majority dominated government is trying to re-merge the Tamil polity to the socio-economic main stream, however without granting solutions for their long standing political demands of the minority ethnicities.

A process of gradual normalization is being taken place in the country and the government is slowly easing the sanctions that had been imposed on the Tamil dominated areas for many years. The major highway to Jaffna was once opened last week for the passengers to travel in buses. They have to make a long sea journey from Trincomalee in a ship otherwise. The affluent sections pay a high airfare to fly to Jaffna.

All vehicles to and from Northern Province are sanctioned to cross Medawachchiya checkpoint in the North Central Province and travel and transport is carried out end to end. However, the government said yesterday that the vehicles with essential commodities would be allowed to cross the checkpoint without a special pass.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the government allowed 1100 internally displaced people that were held in camps in Vavuniya to return to their villages in Jaffna, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara districts. However, no civilians of Kilinochchi and Vauniya districts have been resettled yet. The government has promised to rehabilitate and resettle around 80% of the 280,000 war displaced people by the end of this year. De-mining is carried out with the assistance of the government of India.

However, the screening for the Tamil Tiger sympathizers in IDP camps is still underway and the police last week arrested Kilinochchi District Secretary Nagalingam Vedanayagam for having association with the LTTE.

Traders of Sri Lanka seek freedom for trade to and from Jaffna

(July 19,2009) The traders of Sri Lanka seek freedom for trade to and from Jaffna peninsula. They point out that the producers as well as the consumers may benefit if the high transport cost can be reduced.The licensed lorries that transport between Jaffna and Colombo levy high charges. For instance, the transport charge of a 15 ton lorry is over Rs. 130,000 and the Jaffna - Colombo traders say this can be reduced to Rs. 75,000 if their lorries are given permits.

The government has provided limited access to the A-9 highway from Vavuniya to Jaffna after clearing the Vanni areas from the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The lorries to and from Jaffna are unloaded and checked at Omanthai check point and the operation costs tens of thousands of loading and unloading costs per a lorry. Further, it takes hours for a lorry to be unloaded, checked and reloaded.

All private vehicles from Northern Province are banned entry to the Southern areas of the country beyond Medawachchiya checkpoint in Anuradhapura district. The traders have to change lorries from there.

Jaffna daily Uthayan receives last warning

The newspaper office and the agents of the Jaffna-based Tamil daily Uthayan has received the following "last warning" on Saturday, June 26. Uthayan is an independent newspaper published since 1985 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It did not discontinue publishing and survived amidst severe hardships amidst civil war. The election campaigns for the Jaffna Municipal Council has now been kicked off.

"From the time Uthayan started its publication upto now, Uthayan

publishes news items to confuse the Tamil people and their Liberty.

Now after regaining the harmony and Liberty in the Society, "Uthayan"
News items are aimed at destroying the permanent peace and causes the
public to turn to terroists again. Further, these news items promote
communal feelings among Tamils and cause to destroy the peace. Your
news items are twisted from actual truth.

Your paper appears to be a mouthpiece of the Terrorists. Our earlier
warnings have been disregarded by you. Therefore, we are compelled to
take a decision not to allow the publication of Uthayan in Jaffna as

it publishes news that cheat the people.

Therefore all Employees, Agents, Reporters and Security Guards should
officially resign from the Organisation with effect from 30.06.2009

If this final warning too is disregarded, you will face capital
punishment (Death sentence) imposed by us."

Water for north from Iranamadu tank

Image by trokilinochchi via Flickr

Sri Lanka Water Board says that it will build a water supply system in the Northern Province areas that were recently captured from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam.

Iranamadu reservoir will be the source of water and areas north of Kilinochchi like Jaffna and Chavakachcheri will be supplied water by this project.

The feasibility study has already been done and the Asian Development Bank will provide 80% of the $ 60 million capital investment.

The purification plant that is to be located in Paranthan will have output of 11 million gallons.