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By Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

Over 5,700 people have made a treacherous journey to Tamil Nadu to escape violence in the North-East of Sri Lanka. About 58,000 refugees continue to live in existing 103 camps across Tamil Nadu since the 1980s.

NGOs in Tamil Nadu say the conditions in camps for Sri Lankans are “appalling”. They fear that many parents in the camps simply cannot afford to send their children to school.

But many people particularly in Trincomalee continue to set their thoughts on sailing across the straits to Tamil Nadu.

Safety and security in Trincomalee seem to be their main concern for leaving and it surpasses any somber stars they may have to endure to continue their livelihood in Tamil Nadu.

The following Portrait of humanity at the Alles Garden Welfare Camp, Trincomalee was taken on July 2, 2006:

“I am pregnant. But I have decided to leave this welfare centre and go to India to settle down. My mother is living in abroad. She sent some money. I am going to make use of that money, and accompany my husband. He is a fisherman, but does not go to the sea. We do not have any income to run the family. I should be financially fit, once my child is born. I can stitch dresses and earn an income when I go to India” says Archchanthini Kumarakulasingham (18) of Alles Garden welfare camp in Trincomalee, East of Sri Lanka

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There are 109 families (360 persons) currently living in this welfare camp

The refugees of Alles Garden welfare camp complain that, they are refugees of war and peace

Most of the refugees decide to leave discreetly to Mannar and from there to India

“I have been living in this welfare camp for the past eleven years. I wish that, I would have continued my studies and working now.But due to poverty, I had to stop my studies.I am married now.My husband is a fisherman, but he does to go to the sea for fishing. I have also decided to leave this welfare camp and go to India by sea. It costs Rupees ten thousand per person to go from Mannar to India. There are more expenses involved such as transport charges from Trincomalee to Mannar, and food and accommodation. Since I do not have enough money for the expenses, I have decided to sell my jewelleries including my wedding ring and my husband’s. It’s sad to sell wedding rings, but I have no other choice. I want to take care of the lives of my husband and elder brother. Their lives are more important to me than my jewelleries. They have to live long” says Thevapriya Marsilian (18) of Alles Garden welfare camp in Trincomalee.

They parents are worried that the education of their children is disturbed, as they are on the move

“There is no privacy” the refugees complain

The refugees were displaced from Kuchchaveli, in 1985

Play time for the kids

Most of the males at the Alles Garden welfare camp work as fishermen

Source: humanityashore

Contact: Dushi.Pillai@gmail.com

by K. Arvind

“We have been wounded, but we have been healed. It is possible even with our past of suffering, anguish, alienation and violence, we can become one people again – reconciled, healed, caring, compassionate and ready to share – as we put our past behind us to stride into the glorious future.”– Bishop Desmond Tutu

It is 23 years to the day since the lives of tens of thousands of Tamils were suddenly shattered. Many physically, and perhaps, just as many, emotionally. It was a time, in Biblical terms, “when brother turned against brother.”

["Give peace a chance" - holiday makers on Galle Face Green, December 31, 2005]

Much water has flown down the river since then and the country has been dragged into a bottomless abyss by ‘dogs of war’ – as someone chose to describe those ‘patriots’ who roamed the lawless streets with their swords, knives and ‘polu in those dark days of July ’83, in various parts of Southern Sri Lanka.

[Sri Lankans prayed for peace on the new year's eve, Dec 31 2005. This is a street hoarding in Kolpetty, Colombo 3]

Many of the direct victims remain, though deformed in different ways; and still many have left the country for safety and in search of livelihoods. They have now become, involuntarily, part of that new breed – ‘the diaspora’. Those who remain are trying and re-trying to build what is left of their shattered lives, which successive governments have so far failed to make meaningful. In as much as it is difficult to forget those emotionally devastating days 23 of years ago, it is also a time when many Sinhala friends amongst whom we lived displayed the finest quality in the human spirit, which Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan was to describe “as that spark of divinity amongst men,” that manifests in trying times.

Seeing others turn to beasts and predators for no rhyme or reason, they took under their protective wings their Tamil friends who were totally helpless to effectively engage the state-encouraged danger that was to show up so suddenly and with such ferocity. I recall my friends Ranjith and Sandra who drove to save us, once the news of the attacks on our house and property reached them. In the many days we were with them, they showered great affection on us and went out of the way to ensure that my wife, who was totally overwhelmed by the disaster that had befallen our young family did not ‘break down’. The protection they gave us in their spacious home was done at much risk to themselves, surrounded as they were in a predominately Sinhala neighbourhood.

Ranji and Sarath spent two days to track us down, knocking at many doors in many areas where they thought we would have sought sanctuary. Dennis and Badra drove all the way from Kotte that day when the streets were the theatre of danger in many ways to ordinary motorists, to Talangama to fetch my sister and brother-in-law whose new bungalow and valuables were consigned to flames. The riff-raff there considered themselves compassionate and declared they are sparing the lives of my sister and her husband but said that booty was theirs.

When things in the days following looked bleak and I decided to send my wife and two children – aged 11 and 7 – to Europe for safety with immediate relatives; friends and relatives in London of my Sinhala friends here were asked to visit my family and comfort them. They opened their doors and hearts to us.

As months passed and my family relocated to Madras for the children’s schooling and to be closer to me, many of our Sinhala friends from Colombo visited them regularly and at much expense, bringing sweets, food, ‘achcharu’ and gifts from ‘home’.

These meetings were tear-filled as friends hugged and cried for what we went through. When a semblance of peace returned to Sri Lanka and my family would return for a few weeks stay, our Sinhala friends would go out of the way to make us feel at home. In many of these homes where we were guests, either for lunch or dinner, the word was out that no mention of the “trouble” we went through should come into the discussions. That was the degree of consideration that was shown.

No doubt July ’83 turned many men into beasts in many parts of the country but at the same time, it also saw the manifestation of the finest quality of the human spirit amongst us. As it eventually turned out, it was not only the Tamils that were ‘torched’ that day.

The sinister forces that engineered that pogrom only succeeded in injuring every man and woman in every community in all parts of the country – a wound which still is to heal. My Sinhala friends, some of whose names I have mentioned here and many which I have not, will always remain part of us – as we have been over many years fortunate to be part of them. I know there are many Tamils whose story and feelings coincide with ours. [Island]

Photos Courtesy of HumanityAshore.org

“Sri Lanka — the country will never be put together again”.

By H. A. Dias

I happened to come across the contents in a book written by three Straits Times journalists about Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and his Ideas. Herein, Lee Kuan Yew talks about his visit to old Ceylon in 1956 and how he wished to make Singapore like Colombo. He talks about our sterling reserves, the two universities and the educated talent and adds that according to what the British and American liberals used to say, Sri Lanka ought to have flourished. But it didn’t.

Singapore a resource less island is today a big economic giant, whereas Sri Lanka with all its aforesaid advantages has been doomed both politically and economically. Corruption and terrorism is spreading its tentacles and has now gripped and throttled the nation. What led to our downfall? According to this great man with a vision we have had weak or wrong leaders.

Our first Prime Minister, the Father of the Nation, had a mission and a vision. His untimely death started the division both politically and communally. Now these divisions are daily gaining momentum and have come to a stage that each one is trying to strangle the others neck. One political party does not allow the other to gain mileage and, it is this struggle that has divided the people, created racism and terrorism.

We are not short of able politicians and intellectuals who could work for the betterment of this beautiful country. But, most unfortunately, most politicians are only self-motivated. When will they acquire and gain wisdom to think of the country? They have forgotten the famous saying that there should be a country for one to do politics.

Ex-Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, who proved to the world his might, has now in his greying years, thrown a challenge to our politicians. He has said in no uncertain terms in the above-mentioned book that “Sri Lanka — the country will never be put together again”. It is a solid statement emphasised with a powerful word, “never”.

Now, will we allow him to prove his wisdom and greatness or get together with the ever-ready intellectuals to prove that we Sri Lankans are greater than what others think.

It is true that we have made enough mistakes. And it is through mistakes that one learns. Now let us not repeat the mistakes and allow the 74-year-old in his days of retirement to be proved correct again.

Get together in a common forum and take the challenge! Wake up, it’s our turn now to show the world our hidden, covetous acumen. My only wish is not to hear from even my neighbour, the utterances that our politicians are a set of barking dogs. [www.Island.lk]

[Photo Courtesy: sg]

By Easwaran Rutnam in the Batticaloa town

As darkness falls over the Batticaloa town stores pull down their shutters, passenger buses make their last rounds and civilians in the area rush back home. An eerie calm prevails over the war torn city.

While only armed soldiers are seen patrolling the streets after 6pm most of the time, a handful of Catholic devotees flock to St. Anthony’s church, adjoining St. Mary’s cathedral, on their way home to light candles and spend some time in deep prayer – possibly praying for peace and harmony.

Claymore explosions, grenade attacks and shootings are all but familiar incidents that take place in Batticaloa after dark as the low intensity war between the LTTE and the security forces gathers pace.

To put it in the words of Rev. Fr. Dominic Swaminathar the people of the Batticaloa town are “living for the moment” uncertain of what their future holds fearing that one day they may be direct victims of the brutal conflict.

“The people in Batticaloa are very disturbed and discouraged. We live for the moment. Fear grips the people more an more. After 6 pm the streets are deserted. There are no buses or people on the streets because anything can happen at any moment. All have a right to live. People who shout in favour of war have not really felt its effects like we have,” the priest said.

Adding to the tensions in Batticaloa town is the presence of the breakaway LTTE group headed by Karuna Amman which operates a political office down Govinda road surrounded by a school and several residences.

Known as the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP), the breakaway faction is making its presence strongly felt in the town. TMVP name boards are setup at strategic locations and the initials are painted on lampposts and walls around the city.

The Batticaloa police chief however feels the security situation is far better than what it was around three to four weeks ago with very few incidents reported in the town itself as compared to the recent past.

“Earlier there were many incidents in the town area. We had several hartals forcing shops to close but we haven’t had those in the recent past. There were also many shootings in the town and as a result the people were afraid to come to town to carry out their day to day activities. There was no normalcy in the town at that time, but now when you walk around you wouldn’t think this was a place where a lot of violence took place,” SSP Batticaloa Police Maxie Procter noted.

He admitted however as night falls an aura of unease is created as people start closing shops and rushing back home to avoid having to face night time police or army checks.

As the clock neared 6pm three wheel cab driver Mr. T. Thevathas (49) was among those preparing to drive back home thus throwing away his chances of maybe earning an extra few rupees before the streets become deserted.

“I never stay around after 6pm because I’m just too scared. The situation is such that anything can happen and I do not want to take my chances. The last two weeks have been relatively calm but that silence seems to indicate that something big may happen anytime soon,” he said after an initial hesitation to talk, out of fear.

Mr. Thevathas added that the tensed situation in Batticaloa has pinched his purse with a very few passengers to go on hire and too many three wheel cabs running the town streets at day time.

“People are very scared to move around these days. There are around 28 three wheelers operating from the stand I use. That is too much and with very few daily passengers and with that many three wheelers I hardly get hires,” he said.

The impact of violence is also clearly showing with lifestyle stores either full of unsold items or hardly any items to sell, an indication the town’s people cannot afford to spend lavishly.

“The income for most people in this area is very low so we hardly have any buyers. To sell our jewelry we usually trade them for items of the same value from our customers. People don’t have the sort of money to buy expensive jewelry so we have to make some arrangements,” Jewelry shop owner Mr. S. Nadarajah said.

Mr. Nadarajah added that although he too pulls down his shutters by 6pm he would be more than willing to remain open if stores around him are also open despite very little business expected to take place after dark.

One place, however, which is full of activity after dark is the Suvaraj Inn, a restaurant cum lodge which is frequented by workers from the many foreign NGO and UN agencies operating in the area.

The Suvaraj Inn is run by relatives of the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa MP Joseph Pararajasingham who was assassinated while attending Christmas mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral last December.

Rev. Fr. Swaminathar, who attended that Christmas mass, remembers the tragic events that unfolded on that fateful day and questions as to why the perpetrators have yet to be brought to book.

“There are a lot of questions to be asked here. We don’t know who is killing who. These incidents are terrorizing the people of Batticaloa,” the fairly outspoken priest said. He also noted that like in universities in the South where you get students aligned to various political parties, in the East too students have begun to align themselves with either the LTTE or the Karuna faction.

This, he says, is disrupting the academic activities of the area and adds to the already tensed environment created by the conflict between the security forces, the Karuna faction and the LTTE.

As is the earnest expectations of the whole of Sri Lanka Rev. Fr. Swaminathar says the people of Batticaloa are also looking towards the warring parties to initiate genuine dialogue and resolve the conflict peacefully with a solution acceptable to all communities. [Courtesy: Daily Mirror]

It is well known among academics and diplomats who have seriously studied the ethnic conflict in this island that the 1983 July pogrom was neither an isolated nor a spontaneous incident. Many more massacres have occurred without the international community bearing witness to it because they happened somewhere else in the island other than Colombo. It is also well known that the 1983 pogrom was well planned with mobs walking the streets with names and addresses of Tamils in Colombo. The collation of comments by some eminent academics about the ethnic problem listed below should be enlightening to those who do not have time for a serious study of the ethnic conflict and the tendency in Sri Lanka for violence against Tamils.

Sri Lanka: Lost in the wilderness?
Prof S. T. Hettige, Dept of Sociology, University of Colombo

People and politicians in Sri Lanka get together to seek divine help to deal with existential problems that in many secular democracies in the west as well as the in the east have been effectively addressed by rational state intervention, guided not by spiritual leaders, but by scientists and professionals.

[President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Madam Shiranthi Rajapaksa and others participating in religious observances. Pic Courtesy of Sudath Silva/Daily Mirror] 

Buddhist Monks and Ethnic Politics: A War Zone in an Island Paradise Prof. H.L. Seneviratne Anthropology Today, April 2001, vol.17, no.2, pp.15-21

Buddhist monks who in the 1940s played a leading role in bringing about a nationalist revolution which unfortunately deteriorated into a narrow ethnic chauvinism. They are now a major obstacle to peace, which can only be achieved by sharing power with the Tamils. ……the new monks have mobilized themselves against legislative attempts to accommodate the minorities by devolution of power, and they have done so on every occasion that such attempts have been made.

The Two Faces of Education in Ethnic Conflict: Towards a Peacebuilding Education for Children

UNESCO has recently concluded that the tendency of history textbooks to exalt nationalism and address territorial disputes correlates with the xenophobia and violence found in many countries today. What is taught in history class and how it is taught is highly political and can foster either animosity or peace. A review of the textbooks used in the segregated schools of Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 1980s, for example, found Sinhalese textbooks scattered with images of Tamils as the historical enemies of the Sinhalese, while celebrating ethnic heroes who had vanquished Tamils in ethnic wars. Ignoring historical fact, these textbooks tended to portray Sinhalese Buddhists as the only true Sri Lankans, with Tamils, Muslims and Christians as non-indigenous and extraneous to Sri Lankan history. This version of national history according to one commentator, has been deeply decisive in the context of the wider state.

Buddhist Nationalism and Religious Violence in Sri Lanka-Nick Gier

Recently the Sri Lankan people have witnessed more religious violence than ever before. It has spread from the conflict with the Tamil Tigers to Buddhist attacks on Muslims and Christians. A monk whose popular songs published by the government and sung as the Sri Lankan goes into battle:

Here we have the Buddhist equivalent of the radical Muslim Holy War. During 2003-04, 165 Sri Lankan Christian churches were attacked, resulting in the complete destruction of some, the stoning of parsonages, the smashing of statues, and the burning the Bibles and hymnals.

Community Conflict: Policy and Possibilities
Prof. Donald L. Horowitz Occasional Paper, Centre for the Study of Conflict, University of Ulster 1990

What I shall show is that Sri Lanka had the easier problem but political institutions that exacerbated it; Malaysia had the harder problem but institutions that ameliorated it – and the difference is cast in terms of incentives for politicians to behave moderately.

At independence, anyone forecasting the ethnic future of the two countries would have predicted far more difficulty for Malaysia than for Sri Lanka. Relative group proportions, conceptions of group legitimacy, recent political events, the relations of elites of the various groups, and the political culture of the two countries all suggested a Sri Lankan advantage.

But where are they now? Despite those favourable conditions, Sri Lanka is in the midst of an ugly ethnic war. Despite Malaysia’s unfavourable conditions, Malaysia is at peace……(He goes on about ethnic outbidding by Sinhalese politicians)……An entire half generation of recruits for Tamil separatist organisations was thereby created, and the seeds were planted for guerrilla warfare. [Courtesy: LTTEPS]

“Unlike rights, which are almost always attached to a legal anchor, duties need not have any legal basis.”

Extracts of a speech made by Nihal Jayamanne, P.C., President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka at the Prize Giving of Stafford International School, Colombo

I have on many occasions addressed adult audiences including lawyers, law students and the business community.

But this invitation was special; I was to address a younger generation of students of varying ages. This burdened me with a greater responsibility.

My first concern was to decide on a theme for my speech. After much thought and deliberation I decided that I will speak to you of duties.

Sadly, we find all around us, a general break down of law and order and an almost total lack of values and decency.

We have been told time and time again by religious leaders and self-proclaimed preachers that what sets apart man from other living beings is his intelligence. We consider ourselves (rather foolishly) to be better than the other creatures with whom we share this world.

But we know that this is far from the truth.

Remember always, that we are entitled to call ourselves civilized, only if we instinctively avoid doing any act which will hurt, harm or even inconvenience others.

We can only do this if we are conscious of our duties towards our fellow humans and all creatures of this world.

In recent times we have given excessive importance to our rights and the enforcement of such rights. How often have we seen groups of people screaming in public, waving placards on which strong and abusive slogans are written, demanding that they be given what they consider is rightfully due to them?

All this aggression is reluctantly tolerated by society because these are said to be ways and means of fighting for rights.

Clenched fists and angry faces and abusive slogans are now synonymous with the fight for rights.

There is something wrong in the affairs of men.

Now is the time to look at the present state of affairs in society in a different light, with a different eye.

Let us therefore unclench our fists, wipe the anger from our faces and replace foul language with smiles.

Let us place our unclenched hands with open palm against our chest and ask ourselves the question “What are my duties to my neighbour?”
Unlike rights, which are almost always attached to a legal anchor, duties need not have any legal basis.

Some of the duties of which I shall speak are independent of a corresponding right.

The duties which are important are not those which are sanctioned when breached, but those which are performed out of love and regard, we have for our fellow human beings and other creatures.

How many times have you seen a man screaming and protesting when some one has dumped garbage in front of his gate? And how many times have you seen the very same man dumping his garbage in front of someone else’s gate?

He is indignant and screams if his rights are violated, but he is totally unconcerned and oblivious to his duties.

A client came to me recently to get my advice as to what legal remedy he has against his neighbour, who carelessly obstructs the entrance to his house by parking cars across his gate.

While I was in my chamber with this client, I saw my wife Rohini going around speaking to my juniors and the other clients who were in the outer chamber and the sitting area.

Ultimately she excused herself and came to my chamber and inquired from this client as to where he had parked his car.

He just coolly told her that he had parked it across my gate, thus depriving my wife driving her car into her own house.

This is a typical example of fighting for your rights without performing your duties. This client did not even realize that he had done something wrong.

If you do your duty your neighbours rights are automatically looked after.

So let us take the trouble to structure our lives on a duty based regime.

Let us constantly be concerned of our duties. If we do this then there will be a dramatic change in our society, aggression and tension will give way to peace and calm.

It is when you are young and learning that these good values are best instilled in you.

The foundations of decency must be laid in young and enthusiastic minds.

We owe a duty to the younger generation to set an example.

It is a fact that your children will emulate your bad qualities more readily than your good qualities.

So let us parents set the standards. Let us take the trouble to do our duty by our neighbour. If we do that we will be doing our duty by our children.

You are required to save a damsel in distress and not to be the cause of her distress. You are required to give your seat to the elderly and the differently abled, not to rush and occupy it before they do. You are required to help those who are less fortunate than you, not to rob them of the little they have.

This school has a reputation for discipline. That is good, and you should be proud of it. Discipline is nothing but training people to do their duty.

So my dear students let us make it our duty to show concern for other people’s feelings. Let us make it our duty to be polite. Let us make it our duty not to inconvenience others. Let us make it our duty to be civic conscious.

Let us take pride in being decent. In today’s society there is no complement greater than to be referred to as a decent person. Remember no one is born noble. They only are noble who are good. So let us strive to be noble.

The speaker, a President’s Counsel, is the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL)