{"id":97594,"date":"2020-01-10T13:03:45","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T20:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=97594"},"modified":"2020-01-10T13:03:45","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T20:03:45","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-10-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/10\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-10-g\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 10 G"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The Tamil Separatist Movement said the whole separatist\nNorthern peninsula was also a \u2018victim\u2019 of war, with the Sri Lanka army as the\npredator. The North-East was devastated and destroyed both by the Army and by\nthe LTTE, they said. At the end of the war the North-east was thrown back 30\nyears as a defeated wounded and disintegrated population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Master\nPlan for an Economic Development Framework for the North (2019) recalled,\nnostalgically, the happy life in the north before the war.  In the past, smallholder farmers\u2019 intensive\ncultivation of cash crops such as red onions and green chillies for Southern markets\nduring the import substitution regime and intensive fishing for domestic\nconsumption and exports, led to an agricultural boom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\naccumulation during the 1960s and 1970s was reflected in increased social\nmobility such as cement houses for the lower-middle classes in rural Jaffna,\nstrengthening of consumer and producer co-operatives and urban development of\nJaffna and many small towns in the peninsula. State corporations producing\ncement, salt and chemicals; small industries nurtured by the state including in\nthe Atchchuvely Industrial Zone and a textile industry built by the\nco-operatives, led to the emergence of a small industrial sector mainly located\nin Jaffna with a limited worker base. The transport\nof seafood, cash crops and textiles were facilitated by road and train service\nlinking Jaffna to Colombo and other national trading centres, continued the\nMaster Plan <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the war\ndecades immediately prior to the war, the North was characterised by\noutstanding educational institutions, a prosperous class of professionals, a\nbooming agricultural economy and a nascent industrial sector. The escalation of\nthe war disrupted this socio-economic trajectory with out-migration of youth\nand the professional classes to Western countries. Eventually, mass migration\nand internal displacement led to considerable depopulation of the North,\nconcluded the Master Plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then\ncame the war. Here is Sampanthan on the subject. What has been happening to\nthe Tamil people as a result of the war that is being waged in the North and\nthe East?\u201d Asked Sampanthan in Parliament in January 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dThere\nis constant aerial bombing, continuous aerial bombing, sometimes several\nbombings per day. There is constant multi-barrel rocket launcher fire, constant\nartillery fire, all into civilian populated areas. Is this happening in any\npart of the world? Are civilian- populated areas being bombed aerially and are\nmulti-barrel rocket launchers and heavy artilleries being fired into civilian\npopulated areas in any other part of the world? I got some statistics here.\nThey are short of food; they are short of medicine; they are short of shelter;\nthey are short of drinking water; they are short of sanitation facilities.\nPeople are undergoing immense difficulties in the Vanni. There are about 350,000\nto 400,000 people now in the Mullaitivu District,  running helter-skelter from one place to\nanother depending on where the bombing is taking place, where the shelling is\ntaking place.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no mention anywhere of the fact that\nit was the north that started the Eelam wars, never expecting it to go on for\nso long .instead, t is the government that stands accused. It is the government\nthat is in the wrong, coming into the north, where it had no right to be and\nengaging in military attacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war was\nillegal, they imply. And the damage done by the war was therefore also illegal\nand the government must now repair the damage. Tamil people, in particular,\nhave suffered a great deal, the Eelamists said. There is much development that\nis urgently required, particularly, in agriculture, fisheries, livestock\ndevelopment, industries and employment. Women, widows, ex-militants and ex-LTTE\ncadres who have come back to civilian life need to be looked after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is necessary to understand the sensitive feelings\nof the Tamils. Many were killed, others were displaced, moaned the Eelamists. Many\npeople were rendered homeless because of the war. And their livelihoods were\ndecimated. These\nspecial needs have to be met and have to be recognized as unique.    The fragility of people emerging from a\nprotracted war must be adequately addressed  said the Eelamists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post war reconstruction was essential.  There is an   almost total devastation of the infrastructure\nof Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi and the displacement of entire population of\nthese two districts, said pro- Eelamists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholic Bishops Conference observed that the\nday to day needs of displaced person need more attention, many of the displaced\nfarmers wanted to return to their old lands. Education facilities were minimal\nchildren had to study in makeshift huts and shed, bullet pocked wall and battle\nscarred buildings were not conducive to study, nor did it help children to put\nthe trauma of war behind. Some area had no electricity, and the land was snake\ninfested. Displaced families had little or not say on how their lives to being\nadministered. There was a sense of disappointment among the families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nDepartment of Census conducted its usual Household Income and Expenditure\nSurvey (HIES) in 2017.  The survey showed\nthat Eight years after the war ended there is persistent poverty in the north\nand east. Incomes remain far lower than in other parts of the country. The\nmedian income in Sri Lanka is now Rs 43,511. In Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and\nBatticaloa districts, it is Rs. 25,526, Rs. 27.050 and Rs. 28,297 respectively,\nthe survey said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such low\nincomes are reflective of the high levels of poverty in the war-affected\ndistricts particularly, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Mullaitivu and Killinochi,\nwith double digit poverty head count of 10%, 11.3%, 12.7% and 18.2%\nrespectively.  The poverty head count In\nKillinochi, was 12.7% in the earlier survey of 2012\/2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a need\nto re-start the economy in the field of agriculture, fisheries, livestock\ndevelopment, industry, in various other activities, employment generation and\nskills development to enable  our  youth,  our women, our widows\u201d to be able to\nrecommence life and lead a respectable life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sambanthan and Sumanthiran\nasked Minister of Finance, Mangala Samaraweera to start a special fund for the\nrebuilding of the North-East. We will start a North-East development fund with\nan initial allocation of Rs. 5 billion from the Ministry to which we add more\nfunds, said Mangala. We will ensure that more funds go in. The fund will be\ncalled “Palmyrah Fund”. It will be open for donations from the\nprivate sector as well as the Diaspora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017 TULF\nasked President Sirisena to return private lands occupied by the security\nforces to their owners in the North and East. TULF demanded the release of\nlands belonging to various individuals, at different places in the Districts of\nJaffna, Mannar, Killinochchi, Vanni, and at various places in the Eastern\nProvince as well. The movement to demand the release of lands is now fast\ngaining ground. Added to this, even the Catholic clergy is getting worried over\nthe new developments. Hence the Government should not loose time to concede the\ndemands of the people, concluded TULF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nreturnees faced the problem of land ownership. Many families\nhave been denied of their freehold land titles though they have been living\nthere for over 60 years. Tamil\npeople have not been issued permits for lands possessed by them for several\ndecades said Sampanthan. People were unable to receive various benefits for\ndevelopment of their lands due to this. This issue must be addressed at the\nearliest. Yahapalana said that issuing land deeds for\nthose people was a complex task and would involve the cooperation of several\nministries. “We however have decided to set up several special mobile\nkachcheris there and sort out the problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people are\nalso being greatly harassed by the actions of the Forest Department, Wildlife\nDepartment and the Archeological Department. People had been displaced from\ntheir land as a result of the war for several decades and the land is now grown\nwith jungle. The Forest Department and the Wildlife Department are planting\nboundary stones and taking possession of these lands. Actions of the\nArcheological department are also causing harassment to the Tamil People.Tamil\npeople have not been issued permits for lands possessed by them for several\ndecades, said Sampanthan. It is unfair for people who survived a brutal war<\/strong> to suffer\nagain owing to delays of departments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who return find that their houses have\nbeen damaged by the military, with no compensation from the state, said Amnesty\nInternational. However, when Jehan Perera asked them, the army   flatly denied that it had destroyed houses.\nThey said that the houses would have either been destroyed in previous rounds\nof fighting or had fallen into disrepair, but not purposely destroyed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The army said that the soldiers who now are\nstationed in the North and East were not those who fought in the war and they\nwould much prefer to be stationed outside the North and East than within it. They do not need to destroy houses when they\nvacate the land. What the army did not\nsay was that the LTTE had instructed the Tamil villagers to remove the doors and\nwindows of their houses when they left the village. LTTE knew that once the roof and doors were\nremoved, the building would crumble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Center\nfor Policy Alternatives said that the census on human and property damages done\nto conflict 2013 caused a \u2018lot of distress \u2018to northern victims of the\nconflict. This was not a standard census, the time period was too small, and it\nwas a census which relied heavily on collective and subjective memory, from\ntraumatized persons. The methodology was deficient, how could they record the\nentire families that died or went missing, who is to speak of them, there is no\nguarantee of completeness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nintimidation faced by the northern today, the militarization, the harassment\nand violence face by families of ex-combatants could have prevented them from\ngiving accurate information. Some household fear reprisals by the military if\nthey say that the killing were due to the military.  So they say \u2018don\u2019t know\u2019 one option given is\ndeath by the military and they will not want to admit this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 They should have been asked to state whether\nby army, navy or air force.  Air strikes\nis not included in the questionnaire.CPA says this is one of the ways in which\nthe public was killed.  And government is\ntrying to cover this up. CPA gives the example of air strike in       9.7.1995 where 65 people were killed and\n150 wounded taking refuge in St Peters church, Navaly, Jaffna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaffna is in\nseeming throes of death, said S.R.N. Hoole, not least because of the lack of\nwater. Teachers have fled. We have rote tuition, not education. Street killings\nare on the rise. That death shows even in the diminishing standards of\nEnglish.  There was a high rate of\nalcohol consumption in Jaffna. LTTE\ncadres found that they were not welcome in their own villages and no one wanted\nto employ them. There is refusal the part of the Tamil community to accept\nthese persons back into the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sword-wielding\nyouth have brought fear to the streets of Kokuvil, with internal gang wars and\nincreasing criminal activity, reported the media. More than five incidents of\nsword attacks by gangs were reported in Jaffna, Madduvil, Chunnakam and Manipay,\nwithin one week, with attacks on targeted individuals and households, with\nhouses and vehicles damaged. The youth are between17 to 25 years. They are now\nleading a an extravagant lifestyle achieved with money sent from families gone\noverseas during the war, and lacking any commitment or motivation to\nresponsible living, these youths have become addicted to drugs at a young age\nand are engaging in violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are\nconstantly living in fear every moment without knowing what would happen next.\nIt\u2019s similar to the wartime years. We don\u2019t feel safe, they said.\u201d Unemployment\nis highest in the Northern Province. Unemployment doubled from 5.7 per cent in\n2015 to 10.7 per cent in 2018.With no new industrial factories being built and\nslow-paced private sector investments failing to generate adequate youth\nemployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also the\nusual criminal violence. That, the police say, are not a sign of organized\ncrime, but random actions by notorious armed groups carrying out attacks on\ncontract\u201d for various vested interests. These include attacks on families over\npersonal petty issues, feigned attacks on which to build a case for seeking\nasylum in foreign countries on the basis of claimed death threats, and rivalry\nbetween armed factions, with most members being youths or school-leavers.   ( Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement said the whole separatist Northern peninsula was also a \u2018victim\u2019 of war, with the Sri Lanka army as the predator. The North-East was devastated and destroyed both by the Army and by the LTTE, they said. At the end of the war the North-east was thrown back 30 years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}