Sunday, 18th April 2014
“That the government had not completely done away with the dual citizenship program and that due to security reasons it would be evaluated on a person to person basis.”
By Camelia Nathaniel - Reporting from Jaffna
The Northern Province especially Jaffna, five years after the end of the war, is a bustling city while the people here are visibly relieved that they can live freely without the fear of bombs and killings and losing their children. However it is not to say that the people in this region are not facing hardships. Indeed they are facing many difficulties; especially unemployment which is an issue that is affecting them in a big way.
A noticeable factor though, for a city that is suffering from unemployment and poverty, is the absence of beggars. The people here are proud and refuse handouts, but what they all seem to want is an opportunity to engage in work, be it farming, labour or clerical work.
The TNA who are the elected representatives of the people in the Northern Province have been accused of ignoring or being indifferent to the issues facing the people, and instead only focusing on the shortfalls of the government and the military presence. However, according to TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran the military interference is preventing the people from leading normal lives. He told The Sunday Leader that although they are in power in the North, they are unable to implement any constructive programmes for the welfare of the people due to government restrictions imposed on them.
Rehabilitation of ex LTTE cadres and contribution of the CSD
After the end of the war there were around 12,000 LTTE cadres who had surrendered to the security forces. Under the Bureau of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, these ex cadres had been rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
In addition to the rehabilitation of these ex LTTE cadres, the Civil Security Department (CSD) has recruited over 731 rehabilitated youth to be employed in several of their projects mainly in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.
The CSD personnel, who during the war had rendered a huge service to the security forces helping them to secure the border villages, are today engaged in a gigantic task of reviving the agricultural sector of this country as well.
Under the guidance of the Director General of the CSD Rear Admiral Ananda Pieris, the CSD has so far recruited over 4,074 personnel for their various projects run under 21 categories. Of this figure around 3,397 persons are currently actively involved in these projects, while around 2,406 personnel are deployed in projects such as agriculture, handicrafts, and brick making.
In addition the CSD also contributes immensely to the education sector in the villages which have no access to mainstream schools and in most areas prior to the CSD intervention children were left without primary education. However under the CSD after the conclusion of the war there are around 274 pre schools that function free of charge catering to over 6,519 students mainly in the border villages.
Even during the war the CSD personnel provided much needed security to the children escorting them to their schools and back through dense areas, where they were vulnerable to LTTE attacks and abductions.
These dedicated teachers also provide additional tuition to students who are unable to cope with their school work on a totally voluntary basis free of charge. Around 38 teachers have dedicated themselves to the betterment of these children and to uplift their educational standards by conducting additional after-school classes for students from Grades 1 to 5 at 38 centres. A total of 1,270 teachers currently render their services under the purview of the CSD.
Recruitment of Tamils to the Army
The recruitment of Tamil youth especially young girls has come under fire by the TNA in the Northern Province. They claim that these young women face many challenges in serving in the Army and that they are being exploited.
However for many young girls who have joined the Army, they seem very happy now that they are drawing salaries of over Rs 35,000 every month, and they are also given the opportunity of attending work from their homes.
So far the Army has recruited 120 women from the districts of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee and Jaffna. The women who have been recruited from Jaffna will commence their basic training from the first of June.
The Sunday Leader spoke to several of the girls who joined the Army regarding their decision to do so, and the challenges they faced from society as a result.
Kalaichelvam Luxmi who has just turned 18 had joined the army on the 17th of April amid much resistance from her village folk and some relatives who had made a huge effort to discourage her. “They told me that the army was not a safe place for young girls and that I would not be able to find a husband to marry me one day if I joined the army.
There is a taboo in our society for girls to join the army and this together with the various rumors being spread about the army and that girls are being raped, had deterred many young women. However my parents were not willing to believe these stories and also since the salary and the other benefits would be a great help to our family I decided to join.
I am the oldest in a family of three younger sisters and a younger brother. Both my parents are unable to work due to illness and therefore we are finding it really hard to make ends meet. I am also a first year arts students at the University and this job avails me the opportunity to continue my studies while working.
I will be receiving a salary of around Rs 35,000 which is a huge incentive for my family and this will certainly keep my family fed.
K.A Sharmini Perera
19 year old Sharmini is the eldest of three children; her father is a Sinhalese and her mother is a Tamil from Navatkuli. However after her father had deserted them and now has a family of his own, her mother had to face untold hardships in order to raise her and her siblings. “My mother as a single parent had to face numerous hardships in raising us and providing us education, food and clothing.
"When I heard of the news that the Army was recruiting females, I decided to join. Finding jobs in these areas is a big problem for the people, and especially in the case of females, there are hardly any employment opportunities available,” she added.
Amid many objections from neighbors and relations, she managed to obtain the blessings of her mother to join the Army volunteer force.
“The salary I receive will certainly assist my family a great deal and also I get the opportunity to come to work from home. In addition I will also be receiving medical benefits not only for me, but my family as well, which is a big help,” she said.
Arulambalam Nilandhini
This 25 year old from Keerimalai is the daughter of a retired sergeant of the army. “Not only my father but my younger sister too has joined the army and she too is doing very well. There were many stories being circulated that the girls who join the army are being sexually abused and harassed. This is a totally fabricated story being spread by the old fashioned people who are totally against the thought of young girls being employed by the military,” she said.
Nilandhini told The Sunday Leader that they have been working together with the male Sinhala soldiers and that in no way had they treated them with disrespect or sexually intimidated them. “They have treated us like sisters and have been very kind to us and even the officers and the other female soldiers have made us feel very comfortable here,” she said.
All of these girls are eagerly looking forward to receiving their first salary at the end of this month and are full of dreams for a bright future.
Land issues in the North and East
The issues of land especially the military occupation and the IDP’s have been a topic of discussion since the end of the war five years ago. After the war ended in May 2009, there were over 300,000 IDP’s that had to be resettled. However according to government statistics most of the IDP’s have been resettled and either provided lands or housing on their own lands or resettled elsewhere.
However, those families whose lands had been taken over due to the high security zone in Palaly, have been living in temporary villages in around 34 locations scattered across the North. The Security Force Commander of the Northern Province Major General Udaya Perera told The Sunday Leader that so far only around 1,223 families still living scattered in 34 welfare centres. He said that the land where these welfare centres are located belong to private land owners. Of these 1,223 families only 415 families own their land.
“However the government has taken a decision to compensate those who lost their lands and others will be provided alternate lands in a proposed well planned township. The government has taken a decision to give a portion of the cantonment area to settle those who have lost their lands to the high security zone,” he explained.
During a visit to the resettlement village in Mallaham Konapalam, many residents of this camp told The Sunday Leader that they faced many hardships due to the lack of employment opportunities. For most of the residents they consider it a privilege if they can provide two meals per day to their families. In most instances the residents said that they could only barely manage one meal per day in order to stay alive.
M. Kumari who runs a small grocery shop in the village said that her family had lived in Myladdy in Kankasanthurai, which has now been taken over by the military for the High Security Zone. “I remember as a child my father engaged in farming and the soil was so fertile that the crops were bountiful, and the fishing too was a thriving industry in that area. On the 16th of June, 1990 at around 4 p.m. we were forced to leave our village due to heavy fighting between the LTTE and the security forces. I was just a child of 11 years then.
We then moved out of that area and settled here, but this land belongs to private owners. Now we have been given just three months to move out of here. Where do we go to? Our lands have been taken over by the military and we have no place to call our own today. We have been displaced for the past 25 years and no one is paying attention to our grievances. We are a forgotten people in our own land. I am now married and have a daughter of seven years; when she asks me where we are from, I have no answer to give her,” she lamented.
Jayapalan too another resident of the same village was a young man of 25 at the time they had to flee the village. Now at the age of 48 he is still waiting in desperation for a place to call home.
These residents claim that in spite of many promises made to them during the elections by numerous politicians, so far no one has done anything about their plight.
However the SF Commander said that these people are not forgotten and the government has made plans to create a fully equipped township for these people to be resettled in and every family that is displaced will be resettled by the government.
Resettlement issues mainly in Muttur-Sampoor
Around 600 families including over 3,000 children are still in IDP camps and they are in four different camps in Kattaparichchan, Madalchenai, Killivetti and Pattithedal areas in the East.
According to TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran, people cannot live in those areas as their temporary houses are built using tin sheets. “They are long sheds with tin sheets and the heat is impossible to bear during the day and most of the children are suffering from chicken pox.
“During the rainy season this area gets flooded and water seeps into the camps as well. For the past three years they say that the government had stopped giving them dry rations and they prevent any outside source from giving them any assistance either.
“In all these camps there are army posts and they question anyone who enter these camps.
“The army prevents anyone from offering any assistance to these people. These poor people have no work and no facilities. The reason the government is depriving these people of all facilities is to force them to leave these areas and go elsewhere,” he said.
According to Premachandran, there was a case filed recently about Sampoor and the AG’s Department and it was revealed that the government had reserved Rs 300 million to resettle these people. “But the people said we don’t want this money as we have no place to go. They have been living here for so many decades and they have deeds to their lands and they want to return to their own lands,” he added.
According to hospital sources, most of the children and patients at the Muttur hospital are people from these camps. “This is a pathetic situation. There are around 300 people in these camps and it is not a high security area, but it has been branded as an economic zone,” said Premachandran.
According to the TNA this economic area is demarcated for a joint venture between certain powerful local parties and Australia, and for this a few hundred families are made to suffer, he said.
Muslim issue
Another issue that has arisen in the resettlement process especially in the East is the Muslims being given priority. According to Premachandran the problem in Mannar is mainly the Muslims. “Most of the people who are resettled are Muslims. But over 500 of the families resettled already have land and permanent houses in Puttalam. The same people want land in Mannar and they have applied for these lands and the Minister of Resettlement has insisted that these people should be given lands in Mannar.
If the people were original residents of a certain area then they definitely should be given lands, irrespective of their race or religion, but the people who do have permanent houses should not be given priority. For instance there is a fair amount of Christian Tamils in these areas as well but by taking over their lands to resettle the Muslims, a fair amount of tension has been created in these areas,” he said.
Demining
From 2002 to 30th April 2014 a total of 1,082,438 explosive devices have been recovered by demining organizations covering an area of 893,116,800 sq km.
The Sri Lanka Army demining team has cleared an area of 621,858,339 sq km from 2002 to April 2014, HALO Trust has cleared 24,881,665 sq km, DDG – 24,095,324 sq km, FSD – 35,735,880 sq km, MAG – 24,310,541 sq km, Horizon – 93,501,892 sq km, Sarvatra – 49,676,879 sq km, MMIPE – 1,295,792 sq km, DASH – 1,907,285 sq km, NPA – 15,760,704 sq km, and JCCP – 92,499 sq km.
Dual citizenship issue and investment opportunities
Unemployment is one of the main issues facing the North and in spite of the government improving infrastructure facilities the lack of job opportunities is having a huge impact on the people of the North.
Many believe that if the government had permitted the Tamils who fled the country during the war and settled overseas to return and provided them the opportunity to gain dual citizenship, they would invest their large sums of savings in this country creating many employment opportunities for the people in these areas.
Businessmen such as Thilak Thilagaraj who have obtained dual citizenship here and in the UK have invested large sums of money in this country, creating jobs for many locals. He told The Sunday Leader that he had brought in over a million sterling pounds and invested it in property on which he is constructing hotels and beach resorts in order to attract tourists to the North. “Until now there have not been any proper hotel facilities in this region and people did not want to come here due to that fact. But now that several hotels are being constructed people are arriving in this region. The North has some of the finest beaches and places of worship in the country. Surprisingly, no one had exploited the beauty of these areas for development the tourism industry,” he said.
According to Thilagaraj, the government’s decision to halt the dual citizenship program is a step backwards in the development of the North. “There is no point in the government constructing beautiful roads and other infrastructure. The people must have job opportunities in order to make full use of these facilities. There are many expatriates who want to come back and invest their hard earned money in this country, but they are unable to do so due to the government’s decision to scrap the dual citizenship program”.
According to TNA MP Suresh Premachandran the government should take the support of the Diaspora and use their funds to create jobs and employment opportunities. “The government should implement some legal mechanism where funds from the Diaspora could be channeled especially to the war widows to help them out of poverty. However when the Chief Minister had met the President and the Secretary and raised this matter, they had said yes but so far nothing has happened.
“The government looks at everyone as an LTTE supporter. Earlier dual citizenship was obtainable for a sum of Rs 100,000; now they may want to increase the fee. I don’t know what sort of criteria the government wants to bring in. Those who left the country during the war, especially the elderly want to return to their homeland from UK, Canada, US and other countries. They have a lot of money that they have accumulated over the years and they want to bring it here and invest. So the government must take advantage of this opportunity and device a plan to get them to come here and invest, which would be a good opening to create more employment opportunities. Some of them are also experts in various fields and their knowledge could also be shared with our youth in these areas,” he said.
Premachandran added that Minister Wimal Weerawansa had said that if the government allowed the Diaspora to invest in the north and give them power they will develop the area and again they will call for a separate state.
“If this is the mindset the government has and if they want to hold onto the past, then definitely true reconciliation cannot happen. What we are saying is – give us the power to govern freely and we will develop this area and create jobs for the Sinhalese as well. There is enormous wealth in the Diaspora who are prepared to invest in the North, East and even in the South.
“We are running out of skilled workers such as carpenters and masons and from other fields too, so if we are given the power to govern freely we will create opportunities even for the Sinhalese trained in these fields to come here and work. But the government does not want to allow us to develop this area as they are scared they will lose control and this area will develop far more than the South,” Premachandran noted.
He pointed out that according to government reports there are over 10,000 LTTE cadres in the North and they are mainly only O’Level qualified and are finding it hard to secure jobs. The government said training will be given but there is no proper way to give them opportunities to start self employment ventures, he charged. The banks have been instructed to give loans to people but the people do not have the required documentation so these rehabilitated cadres do not have the proper support of the government to start some livelihood projects
However, government media spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that the government had not completely done away with the dual citizenship program and that due to security reasons it would be evaluated on a person to person basis. “There are still many security concerns and we have to be cautious. The LTTE Diaspora is active out there and we have to be careful. Although the war is over we cannot take chances and have to proceed with caution,” the Minister said.
From : http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2014/05/18/a-glimmer-of-hope-in-the-north/
