Guest Column

19th November 2000

Jaffna: lower in election fever then but not in headaches now

By a senior Jaffna citizen

In the war-weary city of Jaffna, the only remnants of the recent general elections are the fast fading posters touting little known candidates to an even less enthusiastic electorate. And even those posters are now being replaced by notices announcing 'Martyrs' Week' called by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and due to begin in a week.

For all the hue and cry about the recent poll in the South of the country, the Jaffna citizenry couldn't care less. Survival, physically and economically are uppermost in their minds. And anyway, the election has changed nothing for the vast majority of nearly a half a million people trapped in the peninsula.

To say that 'normalcy' prevailed in Jaffna during the election is to lie.

There were many security restrictions imposed on civilians anda a significant portion of the population who were displaced in May and June this year following the intensified war effort, remained displaced on election day. That of course effectively meant they could not vote. Even those who wanted to had second thoughts when news reached them that the security forces had launched operations at Colombuthurai and Ariyalai on election day, the tenth of October. It is not that they needed a deterrent to keep away from the isolated polling booths, but that news killed any prospect of a satisfactory voter turnout.

The statistics will say that twenty groups- including six independent groups and the south-based Sihala Urumaya- contested the Jaffna electoral district- among the highest in the country.

But in reality, there was no election fever as there was in the South. Campaigning, muted by perceptions of LTTE displeasure, was confined to the last two weeks before the poll and then too it was low-key.

Of course the ingredients of any Sri Lankan election were there even in Jaffna-catchy slogans, colourful posters and tempting promises. Some candidates were brave enough to visit welfare camps where the displaced civilians were housed and make their promises.

Some even tempted the voters with cash incentives and food and drink in return for their vote. But even then, those who responded were few and far between.

It is now five weeks since the election was over and done with. The candidates-both elected and defeated- took wing to Colombo in special Airforce flights just two days after the election carrying with them their votes and promises.

Most of them have not been seen since then. The promises have not been kept and the only reminders of those pledges are their posters which too are fading fast in the scorching heat of Jaffna.

In that sense one could argue that Sri Lankan politicians are the same whether they be from the North or the South: they come to woo their electorate with ample promises at election time, disappear with their winnings only to be seen again when the next election approaches. In Jaffna at least this has been the trend in the last few elections.

The issues that bother the Jaffna citizen remain, as cruel and harsh as ever. He is always under threat either from the LTTE or from the security forces. But that apart, foods and consumer goods- the soap, the toothpaste and the razor blade- are all with price tags that are two to threefold higher than in Colombo. The unofficial explanation is that the high cost of shipping pushes the prices up but needless to say, the middlemen must also be making a good profit.

If that is not enough, the essential services available are best described as 'skeletal'.

Transport, electricity, telephones and the health services are luxuries, to be enjoyed whenever they are available for one never knows when they will be interrupted, sometimes for days on end.

And, for anyone in Jaffna sleep is still a precious commodity for there is hardly a day of peace to catch forty winks without being rudely interrupted by the booming sounds of the Multi-Barrelled Rocket Launchers (MBRLs).

Since November the security forces also maintain a higher profile. New checkpoints have sprouted, there are restrictions on the movement of civilians within the different sectors of Jaffna with the ubiquitous cordon-and-search operations followed by the round-ups and interrogations. A night curfew is now being enforced by the security forces from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. and that doesn't help matters either.

All this is supposedly in preparation for the Martyrs' Week due to commence on November 27, and for the average citizen the tension and uncertainty is building up as he awaits a catastrophe- either a major LTTE strike in the south or a military thrust in the North. In either event, he may have to pay the consequences.

The 'boys' meanwhile are free to roam the areas they control. They openly and blatantly carry out propaganda and are confident about their role in the conflict. Perhaps for them, peace would be as unbearable as the war is for the average citizen.

The war meanwhile rages on in the nearby Thenma-rahchci and Vadamarachchi sectors. Its grisly reminders are the reverberating noise of bullets and bombs, mortars and MBRLs but Jaffna without those accompaniments is now unimaginable.

Despite this desolation and destruction hopes of the people were ignited once again when news reached Jaffna that Norwegian envoy Eric Solheim had met the elusive Prabhakaran.

And just as much as those in the South doubt Prabhakaran's sincerity, those in the North are suspicious of the government's good intentions.

They are aware that Sinhala hardliners are a force to reckon with and they wonder whether President Chandrika Kumaratunga has enough clout to carry her proposals through. Some do cast aspersions on the entire exercise, believing the talks are merely a camouflage for Colombo's preparations to intensify the war effort- the same doubt that the Sinhalese entertain about the LTTE, with the roles reversed.

But hope springs eternal, even in this arid war zone. And anyway, life must go on, specially if you are lucky enough to be alive in Jaffna.

The Special Report

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