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The Wanni strives to recover while the South erupts in strife
View(s):It’s a smooth ride for vehicular traffic from Colombo to the Northern heartland of the Wanni, on account of beautifully carpeted roads all the way. While there is no discounting the benefits of vastly improved infrastructure manifested in such things as the road and rail links, the path to recovery for the people of these war-affected areas may not be as easy as the physical journey for travellers in those parts.
Meeting with those who came out of detention camps and are now resettled in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi, the impression that comes across is one of resilience in facing the challenges that lie ahead in rehabilitating their lives. Selliah Bavanandan (37), for example, a former LTTE cadre who spent 43 months in detention and a year in rehab, now runs a tyre repair shop beside the main road in Mallavi, Mullaitivu. He earns between Rs. 1,500 and Rs. 3,000 a day, mainly servicing tippers heading for construction sites.
His hope is to get better equipment and build up his business to provide well for his children (aged 11 and nine) with his wife, a teacher. Asked what drew him into the ‘group’ Bavanandan, who lost his father, brother and sister in a shell attack, says it was the environment (“You would have done the same in my position”).
Bavanandan’s is among 800 families being helped to generate new livelihoods, or to consolidate existing ones, by the International Committee of the Red Cross. They are families from vulnerable groups such as ex-LTTE rehabilitees, the disabled, the poor and women-headed households. The ICRC’s cash grant of Rs. 50,000 helped Bavanandan buy tools to resume the garage work he already had the skills for.
If the nine hairdressing salons in the small town of Mallavi are anything to go by, Aloysius Pattikeil (32), another rehabilitee, must face stiff competition to attract residents in need of haircuts, shaves, shaping of beards, children’s haircuts etc. The rate card is up on the wall and the prices are fixed by the hairdressing society of the area. Pattikeil gives half his earnings to the salon owner. It appears he has a part-share in the business, having used his grant money to improve the salon. This former Sea Tiger says he learnt salon work while with the LTTE. During the 18 months he spent in Boossa detention camp too, he did haircuts for Rs. 50 apiece, of which Rs. 25 went into a ‘pool.’ Pattikeil would rather not talk about his militant past. He says that phase is over now and he’s part of ‘civil society.’
Not all smooth sailing
It’s not all smooth sailing for those getting help to rebuild their lives, however enterprising they may be. As in the South there is bureaucracy to deal with and it’s politicised, as Yogalingam Sivakumaran found out when he came out of a one year rehabilitation programme and tried to reclaim a stall he had in 2005, in the Kilinochchi market. The Pradeshiya Sabha chairman refused to give it, dismissing him as a ‘rehabilitee.’ Sivakumaran (33) showed documents to back up his claim to journalists travelling with the ICRC. He said he even complained to a TNA parliamentarian, whom he named, and spoke to his secretary. But all they were interested in talking about was “Geneva”. Sivakumaran said he ‘didn’t care about Geneva,’ but only wanted his stall back. He charged that supporters and relatives of the PS members are given market stalls. Sivakumaran runs a well-stocked grocery store in Kilinochchi and says the ICRC was the only party that helped him.
Sivakumaran’s experience points to a larger issue in Tamil politics where TNA politicians show a marked preference for engaging in the diaspora-driven battle taking place in the Human Rights Council in Geneva, to the neglect of the pressing needs of their constituents at grassroots level. The TNA’s complaints about ‘heavy military presence’ in the North, apparently directed at a foreign audience, do not seem to be borne out on the route into the Wanni. There was not a single roadblock or other visible sign of military presence except at Omanthai, Vavuniya, where vehicles are seen pulling up at an army checkpoint to be quickly waved on. There has been a 30% reduction of troops in the five districts of the North since 2009, according to Military Spokesman Brig. Ruwan Wanigasooriya.
Communal politics
Despite the challenges there is a sense of optimism and motivation among the resettled families, some of whom had been displaced repeatedly. They are eager to put the past behind them and get on with their lives. The question is, will their elected representatives let them? Communal politics is the order of the day, and the absence of alternative moderate Tamil parties and the failure of mainstream national parties to make an impact are factors that seem to have created a no-win situation in the North.
It seems ironic, if not tragic, that no sooner the war ended in the Tamil-majority North, ethnic strife has erupted in the South in the form of a virulent hate campaign directed against the Muslims. As if to justify it, some Sinhalese politicians have made vague allegations about ‘Muslim extremism’ based on the activities of a small maverick group called Thawheed Jamat, which has no support from the majority of the community. These are hardly excuses for the well planned violence unleashed by outsiders against Muslims in Aluthgama and Beruwela, where the two communities had lived side by side in peace for decades.
It is ironic too that the army-assisted rebuilding activity launched by the Government began in Pathirajagoda, a Sinhalese-majority area that was affected in the riots. It is shocking that the Government is yet to condemn the Bodu Bala Sena and disassociate itself from the group’s repulsive new brand of politics. Apart from statements by a few honourable ministers, there is no sign that the SLFP leadership has rejected the blatant racism of some of its coalition partners who, on the contrary, appear to be calling the shots.