Winds of Change – Only Cosmetic for Tamils

By V Thangavelu

Those of us who thought that the government will dismantle the barriers and check-points in the Northeast, with the same speed and alacrity as was done in Colombo, are still waiting for that miracle to happen. What the government has done so far in regard to Northeast is to ‘effect cosmetic surgery to a deep-rooted cancer.’

The curfew, checkpoints, pass system, visa-system, registration at police stations, recording statements in Sinhalese, requirement to display prominently list of inmates in homes are still in place. These harsh measures were enforced by the previous government to demean and harass the Tamil people.

The changes so far effected is to extend the visa period, make it a little easier to apply and obtain travel permits, to increase the number of days to stay out after crossing Piramanankulam entry-point to/from Vanni and Vavuniya (4 days in a week as opposed to 2 days previously) etc.

The ban and/or restrictions on fishing in the Northeast are also intact. What has been done is to extend the fishing time by a few hours and also the distance from the shore to stay by another kilometre or two. In Trincomalee fishermen are now permitted to fish from 7 AM to 6PM, but they have to stay within 5 km from shore.

On the other hand government has been very liberal with one particular class of fishermen. They are the deep-sea fishermen who are allowed to stay out beyond the 5 km limit. Though they too should leave at 7AM and return before 6 PM, they can stay out at sea for several days at a stretch. The reason? More than 90% of deep-sea fishermen are Sinhalese!

Fishing in Batticaloa lagoon have been eased by extra two hours (6AM to 8 PM instead of 6AM to 6PM). However, the fact remains fishermen fish during nighttime, seldom during the day. While the government has lifted the embargo on essential items to Vanni, only 30 lorries are allowed per week to cross the ‘border’. This will still restrict the quantum of goods that could be taken into Vanni. Restriction on essential items like cement, pen-torch (AAA) batteries, remote control devises, iron-rods, barbed wire etc. (in all 10 items) continue to be enforced as before.

The Tamil political detainees languishing in prisons in the South have not been released. Most of them have been incarcerated for minor offences like failure to produce the identity card; failure to notify the police of suspected LTTE cadres etc.

What the government now intends to do is to appoint a special court to try detainees kept under the PTA. This Act as is well known was enacted to harass, intimidate, terrorise and punish Tamil civilians. The release of 10 POWs by LTTE has not been reciprocated by the government. In this respect the UNF is following the policy of the PA in toto.

Appointment of 10,000 Tamil teachers to the Northeast by the PA has been halted by the UNF government, when there is already a severe shortage of teachers. The Sri Lankan Armed forces continued to occupy hundreds of schools, hospitals, libraries, community centres etc., thus seriously disrupting education and medical care in the Northeast. There are no signs that the army will vacate these buildings in the foreseeable future. The normalcy the LTTE demanded is still a distant dream.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has rejected the homeland demand of the LTTE. He told this to Ven. Agga Maha Pandita Madihe Pannasiha Mahanayake Thera of the Amarapura Sri Dharmmarakshita Maha Nikaya at the Sri Vajiragnana Dharmayatanaya when he went to receive the Thera’s blessings. “We have never accepted the homeland concept. Our stand is that Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims are living in the North and East. This stand has been included even in the Indo-Lanka accord. Therefore the homeland concept will NEVER be accepted” [Sunday Observer; January 27,2002).

It is under this dubious slogan and glib talk that the Northeast belong to all the people equally that thousands of Sinhalese colonists were settled with state patronage by successive governments in the past. This has seriously altered the demography of the Northeast, reducing the Tamils in the East to a minority. While Sinhalese were settled in the Northeast, not a square inch of land was given to the Hill Country Tamils in any part of the island. Ven. Pannasiha Mahanayake Thera has given a memorandum urging Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe not to de-proscribe the Liberation Tiger and continue the colonization of Tamil areas in the Northeast. [Tamil Net, January 25, 2002 quoting the state-owned Daily News]. This demand should cause no surprise in the backdrop of past history. These are ominous signs of events to follow sooner than expected.

28 January 2002