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People continue to displace from Jaffna

“We are scared even to see the military. It is terrifying. We are scared to even go to bed and get up. Young people going to work are beaten” said one displaced mother.

One man said, “They will knock the gate. They will stand at the gate and look inside. They cover their face with black clothes.”

In one family all the young people displaced to Vanni leaving the older parents back in Jaffna. They said there are always roundups. Army threatens and beats people randomly. They have not gone to work for one month due to these troubles.

Another woman said, “All of a sudden people will close the shops and there will be no one on the road. It is scary to even get out of the house.”

Many young pregnant mothers were among the displaced. The sole reason for their displacing is their age they said. In one young pregnant woman’s village a young man was beaten just because he was squatting to remove his bicycle chain. The Church father had to go and rescue him.

One older woman said that an army camp is not very far from their home. She said, “One day the army told us to cut our fence short. Next day they came and kicked the fence with their boots and broke it. Normally army traveled by the road. Lately they have started to roam the fields between our home and the camp. We saw boot marks near our fence that were left overnight. This has petrified the family and we left immediately.”

Many young people have left tertiary courses they were following at University and at other educational institutions and have displaced to Vanni. Some of them have completed two years of a three or four year course. Parents expressed sadness that their children had to leave their training after spending a lot of money on their education.

Some poor parents were sad that they could not bring their children’s school uniforms and now have to spend money to buy the uniforms again. Many have left their livestock such as chickens, goats and cows which brought them a substantial income.

All the people who have displaced say that they would have liked to bring more of their possessions but were scared to do so because at the military checkpoints they would be threatened if the military suspects that they are displacing.

09 January 2006

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