Silenced Jaffna
Jaffna peninsula has been under curfew for the fourth week in a row. The single border checkpoint into Jaffna has also remained closed for the same period. No goods have gone into or out of Jaffna for this period except one ICRC ship which took only a third of a week’s requirement for Jaffna.
 Food supplies are running low. Fuel supply is running low. Jaffna is not connected to the national electricity grid. Electricity for Jaffna is generated using fuel. The most critical aspect is the food supply. Four different voices have so far been heard about the situation. ICRC has raised its concern. The Bishop of Jaffna, Rev Thomas Soundaranayagam warned of starvation if something is not done. One senior official from the Government Agent’s office also warned about the dwindling food supply. Immediately following his warning the government sent a memorandum to all government employees ordering them not to speak publicly about food shortages in Jaffna. No one else has raised their voices. There is an audible silence from the people in Jaffna about the critical situation. Why? The order by the government to its employees gives away the answer. Government using its excessive military presence and its paramilitary forces is using fear to silence the people with great success. In effect, the government of Sri Lanka is denying the people their food by blocking the border and it is using fear by death squads to prevent them speaking out about it.
Jaffna – a besieged and blacked out city of 600,000 people
05 September 2006
|
Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
Print this
Email this
more
