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SRI LANKA: Will Tamils Have A Say In Reconstruction?
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, Jun 8 (IPS) - For people in Sri Lanka’s war-torn North, for many years life has meant virtually
living out of a suitcase while moving from place to place to escape the rigours of
war and bloody combat.
In the late 1980s when government troops were battling Tamil separatist
rebels for control of the northern capital of Jaffna, journalists from the Tamil
daily newspaper Udayan - who themselves were fleeing the fighting - printed
the newspaper, virtually on the run.
"We moved an entire printing press out of Jaffna and published the paper
while being among the displaced," said a veteran journalist of the Jaffna
newspaper, reflecting on a common problem faced by many northerners
during nearly three decades of war.
Weeks after government troops crushed Tamil rebels and their leader
Velupillai Prabhakaran, the government is pushing ahead with a massive
reconstruction and rehabilitation effort - prioritising resettling most of the
nearly 300,000 civilians who are housed in internally displaced person (IDP)
camps in the northern town of Vavuniya.
These civilians - held hostage by Tamil Tiger guerrillas for months, or too
frightened to flee rebel-controlled areas - are being housed in overcrowded,
government-run camps which U.N. agencies say need more attention in
terms of basic needs.
Central Bank (CB) Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said the immediate priority is
resettling displaced people as quickly as possible and providing them basic
facilities like roads, power and other infrastructure. "We will fast track this
work," Cabraal, part of a special Government Taskforce on Rebuilding the
North, told IPS.
Chairman of the Taskforce, Basil Rajapaksa told a group of Tamil
professionals in Colombo on Friday that they planned to resettle 80 percent
of the displaced by the end of the year.
Firzan Hashim, Deputy Executive Director at the Consortium of Humanitarian
Agencies (CHA), says northern residents have been displaced multiple times -
and in some cases, more than 10 times over the past several years.
"Whenever there was fighting and their lives were threatened, they had to
move on," he said, adding the hope that finally residents in the North will be
able to settle down in their own homes, permanently.
Thousands of people have died in the fighting over a separate homeland for
the minority Tamil community since 1983, when the conflict escalated after a
rash of attacks on Tamils by groups from the majority Sinhalese community.
The Taskforce led by Rajapaksa, Presidential Advisor and younger brother of
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is conscious of the need to consult the Tamils
in redeveloping the North where few Sinhalese and Muslims - another
minority - live. Friday’s meeting with about 30 Tamil professionals was aimed
at seeking their views and comments on the huge reconstruction programme
ahead.
"It’s good that the government wants to interact with others and get views
from the public on development issues," said a lawyer, present at the
meeting. This is a very different approach to how the government shut out
any outside observers from the nearly 2-year military campaign that crushed
the rebels. In spite of this virtual blackout on credible information the
government drew criticism from the international community and U.N.
agencies that civilians were dying as a result of the campaign.
The government has rejected the claims and snubbed many foreign leaders,
noting that the rebels were the main culprits - for herding the civilians while
on the move and using them as human shields.
The lawyer said Rajapaksa gave a detailed description of the plan and said
that the ‘return to normalcy’ in these areas was of paramount importance.
When asked whether the residents are being consulted, Rajapaksa gave one
instance - from the eastern development phase - where, when a bridge was
being built, residents said they were unhappy as it was not being built for
their purpose but for a tourism investor. "It was then explained to the people
that this infrastructure is for the people’s purpose," Rajapaksa was quoted as
saying.
Cabraal said with landmines strewn all over the North, intensive de-mining
has begun to clear the towns and then the outlying areas. Ten new de-mining
machines are being brought in. - each to work with 65 de-mining
professionals.
The CB is also planning to lend 200,000 rupees (about 1,740 dollars) per
individual for small business, animal husbandry, fisheries and other activity
under a 3 billion-rupee (26 million dollar) project to rejuvenate the former
livelihoods of the displaced - many of whom are farmers and fishermen.
"We want to get cracking on roads, schools, police stations and power
connections. In the first phase the government will focus on returning the
families to their homes, and will rebuild the cities, in the next phase," Cabraal
said. This stretch of the war has seen some of the worst fighting in recent
times as both government forces and rebels used all weapons at their
disposal, causing enormous destruction of property.
To fund the development, the government is relying on a combination of
support from friendly, non-western countries - including China, India, Iran,
Jordan, Libya and Pakistan - together with re-allocation of public resources
intended for projects in other parts of Sri Lanka.
Hashim said fresh issues would arise with new high security zones or no-go
zones being established in former rebel-controlled areas. Army camps, air
and navy bases and police stations will be constructed as part of an overall
security plan in the area. "While security is necessary it is also important that
these people are resettled with facilities that are equal or even better than
before," he said. "They should not be allowed to linger on roadsides for
handouts."
The CHA and other civil society groups are seeking representation on the
Taskforce. "There is a need for open discussion and engagement with civil
society on the needs of the people and it appears the Taskforce is amenable
to such a discussion."
Everything rests on how quickly the government restores normalcy in the
North. "There is a need to restore confidence and trust," the lawyer said,
adding that this was stressed at Friday’s meeting.
(END/2009)
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