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Robberies, another face of the “law and order” in Jaffna - GoSL style

People live in fear of death squads. Why? Anyone who has raised their voice in support of the LTTE could be targeted. That is almost 90% of the Jaffna population that elected the TNA parliamentarians on an election platform of accepting LTTE as the sole representatives for negotiating the Tamil right to self determination. That is not all, as one international media reported on 16 September,

“In northern Jaffna, at least seven civilians were killed Thursday and Friday, police said Saturday. They did not want to be named because they feared they too could be targeted”,

even those who raise their voice against the current atmosphere could be targeted, including the police.

A new face of this freedom enjoyed by the Sri Lankan military is robberies on a grand scale.

On the night of 15 September, while curfew, imposed by the Sri Lankan military, was in force, seven large retail outlets were broken into and stocks worth millions of rupees were stolen. Six jewelry shops in Kasthuriar road and a pharmacy in front of the Jaffna hospital were targeted. In the fear ridden Jaffna, no one except the Sri Lankan military can dare to carry out something like this during curfew time.

How can words convey the atmosphere that exists in Jaffna to readers far away?

Is it a “law and order” situation? It is the responsibility of the state to maintain “law and order”. When a State’s military is implicated in the majority of these deaths, disappearances and robberies, can it still be described as a “law and order” situation?

Is it a humanitarian catastrophe? The deaths and disappearances averaging 4 or 5 per day and the economic blockade of food and fuel most certainly constitute a humanitarian catastrophe. In a non-political humanitarian catastrophe, it is the common conduct of the international aid agencies to rush in to assist the affected people. On the contrary most aid agencies have pulled out of Jaffna.

Is it large scale human rights violations? If one is to go by the United Nations human rights instruments it certainly is. However, the current situation in Jaffna did not arise overnight. There is one Sri Lankan military person (99% Sinhala), for every 10 citizens in Jaffna (99% Tamil). This military has confiscated 30% of civilian land for its use. This situation, although ignored by most except the Tamils, existed throughout the CFA period and grew worse over that period.

The result is seen in the current Jaffna atmosphere.

17 September 2006

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