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.

Sri Lanka's military strategy to curb Tamil nationalist sentiments among IDPs under pressure

(Lanka Polity - July 20, 2009) International media reports and unofficial local reports say that Sri Lanka government's military strategy to suppress the nationalist sentiments among the Tamils displaced from the formerly rebel-held Vanni in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka is under pressure due to international human rights concerns, lack of resources to hold people for long period of time and also due to the unrest among the inmates of the military-run refugee camps.

The government tirelessly counters media and other reports regarding the situation in the refugee camps. Government officials presented facts last week to prove that the skeptical media reports on the mortality rate in the camps were inaccurate and the rates were within the accepted parameters. However, the government has pressed the aid workers to sign agreements to prevent leaking out information regarding the camp life to media. The government has to permit the aid workers to enter into the well guarded camps since they are a vital part for running them. The inmates of the camps are restricted to move out and the outsiders sans the permitted individuals are allowed into them.


The camps cost nearly $400,000 (over Rs. 45 million) a day to operate. The U.N. called for $270 million in aid to Sri Lanka this year, but only $96 million has been promised. "The lack of funds forced aid groups have cut back on fruit and vegetables for the camps, leaving many with little more than rice and lentils," AP reported.

In January, the government asked international donors to help build five camps — with 39,000 semi-permanent homes, 7,800 toilets and 390 community centers — to hold civilians for up to three years. This proposal came under heavy criticism from the Western nations. The government says to India and other international players that the majority of the refugees will be resettled within this year.


In June, chicken pox was rampant and cases of typhoid, tuberculosis, skin and respiratory infections, hepatitis A, scabies and diarrhea have begun cropping up, according to U.N. reports. The camps currently have only about 9,215 toilets while 15,000 are needed, UN officials said. There is not enough suitable land to build more toilet, they point out. 

More than 35 percent of children under 5 are suffering from wasting, or acute malnutrition, according to a July 3 government presentation leaked to the AP.

The Sunday Times reported on July 19 that 14 new encephalitis cases were detected in the Vavuniya General Hospital over the past week. With that, Vavuniya-based United Nations staff providing relief services to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been advised to keep away from the hospital due to the outbreak of meningitis and encephalitis, the paper said. Sunday Times further said while the fatality rate of meningitis cases treated in all government hospitals in Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2005 had dropped to less than five percent, the fatality rate in the Vavuniya General Hospital is about 50 percent.

"Tents meant for five are packed with up to 15 people, water is scarce and the seasonal rains expected in the coming weeks could create a health nightmare, several foreign aid workers said. Relatives are not allowed to visit, although many gather at the barbed wire fence hoping to get messages to their loved ones. Opposition lawmakers are barred as well, and independent journalists are only allowed in on rare, military-guided tours.
Signs of unrest are growing. Several weeks ago, inmates held a protest demanding they be reunited with family members in other fenced-off sections of the camp, aid workers said. Military troops shot in the air to disperse the angry residents," AP reported.

Several hand-written posters were put up in a part of the camps supporting the militarily defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) several weeks ago alerting military intelligence regarding the developments among the camp inmates.

Meanwhile, President Mahinda Rajapakse said in an election rally in Uva Province last week that the authorities released 3000 over 60 years of age people from the camps and a number of aged LTTE supporters got freedom with them.

Sinhala majority of the country widely support the government's policy on the displaced Tamils and the ruling party is slated a landslide victory in the upcoming elections.

Health authorities on high alert to control spread of communicable diseases in refugee camps in Sri Lanka

Due to fear of dangerous outbreaks of communicable diseases in crowded Tamil refugee camps northern Sri Lanka, surveillance by the Ministry of Health staff has been strengthened. The greatest disease outbreak reported so far was chickenpox, with more than 12,000 cases, but those numbers had since been decreasing, a UN report say. Medical officers working with the displaced suspect that most of the chickenpox patients contracted the disease before they arrived in camps.

The number of new cases reported is steadily declining and admissions to hospitals are 40–50 patients per day, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed on 19 June.

“In Vavuniya, the number of Hepatitis A cases is also declining. A total of 2,139 cases were reported as at 12 June,” the report added.

Until 18 June, 1,060 cases of dysentery and more than 5,000 cases of diarrhoea had been reported from the camps,the UN says.

Until 19 June, only 29 cases of malaria had been reported, but health officials initiated a high alert when two cases were reported on 18 June from zone 4 in Menik Farm.

Fate of the 10,000 insurgent suspects yet to be determined by Sri Lanka state

"Human rights watchers have estimated that close to 10,000 post-war detainees with suspected links to the Tamil Tigers are being held at government safe houses even as screening of war-displaced persons continues in camps in Vavuniya," writes Satarupa Bhattacharjya to Sunday Times of Sri Lanka on June 28, 2009. Over 270,000 displaced people from Vanni are held in these camps.



Sri Lanka state does not consider these persons as political prisoners or prisoners of war but terrorists. Their fate remains still undetermined while several thousands more persons suspected of abetting terror acts are languishing in detention or remand for years due to slow legal process.


"Between March and May 2009, ICRC delegates held private interviews with more than 6,700 security detainees in nearly 135 government-run places of detention throughout the country and provided them with clothes, toiletries and recreational items. The ICRC supported the families of some 1,400 detainees to visit their detained relatives," reported Relief Web.

The government granted amnesty to most of the rebels of 1989 insurrection led by People's Liberation Front (JVP) in a rehabilitation process that stretched for some years while some insurgents were tried for criminal offences. However, the top and middle level leadership was eliminated and the present situation is also similar to 1989 era.  

Six Christian priests among arrested IDPs of northern Sri Lanka

Six Christian priests, four from the diocese of Jaffna, and two belong to Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (OMI) are reportedly detained by the defense authorities of Sri Lanka following their migration to the government-controlled areas from the rebel-held territory more than a month ago. 

AsiaNews.it reported that the Bishop of Jaffna had requested their release but had not yet received any response from the Ministry of Defense.  


These priests remained with the civilians in the conflict zone until the last leg of the military operations against the Tamil Tiger rebels. They later migrated to the governemnt controlled areas where they were arrested with many others including doctors who ran the makeshift hospitals in the government proclaimed 'no-fire zone'. Nearly 300,000 intrnally displaced persons are held in refugee camps in Vavuniya.