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Will they, won’t they and the LTTE’s role
While preparations have been made to hold the presidential poll in Jaffna, there appears to be uncertainty among the people who await instructions from the LTTE, report Anthony David and Chris Kamalendran from Jaffna
Government officials are busy in the North preparing for the November 17 polls both in the Security Forces controlled areas and the Tiger guerrilla dominated Wanni, but there appears to be little or no enthusiasm among the voters.

The reason - the LTTE is yet to tell them which way to vote. On the last occasion, the parliamentary general elections in April 2004, the LTTE not only told them to back the UNP but also engaged in a "special operation." They helped transport voters en masse to polling booths in government controlled areas. Special arrangements were made even for the differently abled. But this time there doesn’t appear to be any plan.

"It all depends on the LTTE, They have still not told us," says 56-year-old Govindrajh Munisamy, a farmer and father of four. “Though the people are interested in voting we have no option but to wait until we get a clear message that we can vote. Till they get a clear signal the people may not take the risk of voting.”

A vegetable vendor from Chavakachcheri, Thangavelu Nadarajha, 46, says that unlike the previous parliamentary elections there has been no keen interest among the voters, but there is a group which is interested in voting.
“Even if we like to vote, until the LTTE indicates whether to vote or not the people may not take a decision,” he said.

Expressing a similar view, Kanageshwari Thangamma, a 42-year-old school teacher from Jaffna town said there was little enthusiasm among the people because they doubted whether voting would help resolve their problems.

“In addition to the doubts of the benefits of voting, one of our main problems is whether the LTTE wants us to vote or not. Everybody knows the influence they have even over the government-controlled areas and nobody would want to take a risk by going against its wishes. But I am sure there are people who want to vote. We will have to wait for the LTTE’s orders,” she said.

Many people in the guerrilla-controlled Wanni or the Jaffna district are reluctant to openly talk about the upcoming Presidential election. These areas are without cutouts, banners, flags or any other indication that the election is less than two weeks away.

It’s not only the civilians who are unsure of what to do, even members of the TNA, the proxies of the LTTE, seem to have doubts. On Friday they were summoned for a meeting by the LTTE to discuss the situation including issues related to the election, but at the last minute the meeting was postponed.
The meeting has been rescheduled for November 10 – just seven days ahead of the polls.

But, inside the Jaffna District Secretariat, a buzz of activity is taking place in preparation for the polls. Jaffna’s Government Agent, K. Ganesh playing a key role in the preparations said all arrangements have been made to conduct the polls even for those living in uncleared areas.

Meanwhile, Police guards and army sentry points have been strengthened following a string of incidents where hand grenades had been lobbed into sentry points. Many of these have put up protective meshes to prevent the grenades from falling inside.

While security arrangements are being mapped out for the polls, arrangements are being drawn up by the administrative officers. On Tuesday, accompanied by photographer Ishara S. Kodikara we went to Muhamalai - the southern most point of the Jaffna peninsula held by the security forces-where arrangements are being made to put up the cluster polling booths for voters from the LTTE controlled areas. On the same day the Government Agent Ganesh accompanied by the Police and Major General Sanath Karunaratne (55 Division Commander) visited the Muhamalai point which is currently the exit - entry point between the LTTE controlled areas in the Jaffna peninsula.
The LTTE itself wishes to remain tight lipped on the election, after declaring that it will be taking a ‘neutral stand’ -allowing the voters to decide whether to vote or not.

The otherwise outspoken LTTE, political Secretary S.P. Thamilselvan backed out from a scheduled interview with The Sunday Times as the group has decided to speak only after the elections. But foreign journalists were being granted interviews before the elections.

“Since the leader will be making his annual address on Heroes Day, on November 26, we will not be talking to the local media”, LTTE’s media co-ordinator Thaya Master said. Both main parties, the UPFA and UNP, have requested official permission from the LTTE to carry out campaign programmes on behalf of the two candidates, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe in the uncleared areas, but both requests have been turned down.

The Sunday Times learns that the Opposition leader himself dropped plans to visit the civilian-populated parts of Jaffna and instead visited some of the army camps and bases in the north on Thursday and Prime Minister Rajapakse undertook a similar visit to the north on Friday.

Although the people in LTTE-controlled Kilinochchi or the government- controlled Jaffna are not sure whether an atmosphere conducive for voting would prevail, they appeared to have studied some of the policies of the two main candidates.

A majority of those living in Kilinochchi are not sure whether they would make the effort to travel the 33 kilometres to Muhamalai to cast their vote, as they would have to go through the hassle of getting up early in the morning, travelling in buses provided by the GA , undergoing security checks and returning home late.

Voters in the LTTE controlled areas of Mullaitivu, Wanni and Mannar would have to travel to the government controlled areas in the Vavuniya to cast their vote. In the Jaffna district, the voters are more enthusiastic about voting, inspite of the uncertainty over whether they would be allowed to vote. Polling cards have already been distributed through the postal department to the voters.

The Sunday Times learns that some of the residents had received instructions by the LTTE to enter the names of the voters including those living abroad and not to delete the names of voters who have passed away.
But, Mr. Ganesh said he was convinced that the names of the dead had been deleted.

The GA admits that though some 701,000 people have registered as electors the district’s estimated population was only 600,000. The figure of the actual population has dropped due to migration and displacement, but the number of voters in the electoral register has increased by about 30 per cent compared to 2003 figures.

In keeping with the requirement, ballot papers for the Jaffna voters have already been sent to the north, according to Mr. Ganesh. Though the people have not seen any campaigning, a small group of university students had visited some houses in Jaffna town, canvassing for Mr. Wickremesinghe.

Kandiah Sinnadurai (65) from Chavakachcheri who has been operating a taxi service for seven years says over the past three years he has been having more fares since the opening of the A9, and believes that the continuation of the ceasefire would help boost his income.

A Muslim trader, who has come back to Chavakachcheri after fleeing the area to Puttalam, 25 year old Zakariya Jehan says one of the priorities of the Muslims has been to return to their homes to run their businesses. “We have our votes in Puttalam as displaced persons. We will be casting our vote. But we will vote a leader who would address the issue of the Muslims,” he said.
Despite some of the latest motor cycles plying on the streets of Jaffna and satellite antennas ranging from Rs. 13,000 to Rs. 43,000 are being bought by those who have relatives sending money to them from abroad, the people living in remote areas are undergoing severe hardship.

Some of these people are keen to vote, since they bekieve some of their problems would be addressed. In Vavuniya 208 polling stations will be setup of which 76 will be for displaced voters from the LTTE controlled areas of Mullaitivu, Mannar and a part of Wanni district.

The 76 booths will be set up at Omanthai (61), Madhu (3) and Uylankuam (12). In the Wanni district, where 250,386 voters are eligible to vote, the government controlled areas are likely to see a higher turnout .
With the presidential poll predicted to be a close finish, the votes of the northern voter will be crucial for the two main candidates.

All set to go says G.A.
Jaffna Government Agent, Kandiah Ganesh has ruled out the necessity to bring in staff from other areas to conduct the election in the Jaffna peninsula.
Mr. Ganesh, with more than 30 years experience in civil service said, although suggestions had been made that staff should be brought in from other areas to conduct the poll there was no necessity to do so as there was sufficient staff.

About 10,000 staff will be involved in the polls he said.
He said all arrangements have been put in place for the election including arrangements for the voters in the uncleared areas to come to cleared areas and vote. Over Rs. 2.6 million has been requested to conduct the election, he said.

In the Jaffna district 701,938 electors are eligible to vote at the upcoming election with 96,328 of them living in the LTTE controlled areas of Kilinochchi and Pachchilapallai. One hundred and three polling booths will be set up in Muhamalai.

Robber gangs and unruly youth on the loose
The law and order situation in Jaffna appears to be deteriorating with the crime rate increasing especially after the assassination of Jaffna SSP Charles Wijewardena, which saw police cutting down on street-patrolling.
A police source said, robberies mainly by motor cycle gangs had increased within the past three months. He said the assassination of Mr. Wijewardena and the frequent incidents of grenade attacks on army and police sentry points had compelled them to reduce mobile patrolling.

“We used to patrol the streets on bicycles, but now we have stopped going on bicycles and we have also been told not to go out in civvies. However, despite the constraints we are trying to maintain law and order,” he said.

We were ourselves victims of an incident of lawlessness, when a youth who appeared to be under the influence of liquor charged at us threatening to attack us. The youth who lived opposite the SLFP office on First Cross Street in Jaffna town, came charging at us armed with an axe. He first swung the axe at our driver and then at us. He subsequently pelted stones at our vehicle, but missed the target. He then smashed up a push cycle on the road side.
We lodged a complaint with the police who came to the scene, only to find that the youth had fled the house he was staying in.

Subsequently, the suspect Dharmarajha Indu was arrested by the Police and has been remanded until Tuesday by Additional Magistrate Shrinidhi Nandasekaran.

Residents said our experience was not an isolated incident and that similar incidents had occurred without any provocation. In contrast to a few years back, after the ceasefire agreement, more restaurants serving liquor have come up in Jaffna with many of them being open till after midnight and being well patronized. The availability of money among the youth who get it from relatives living abroad, has been seen as one of the reasons for the increasing incidents of lawlessness.

Jaffna Vicar General Rev. Fr. Nichoals Jacob told The Sunday Times that discipline among the youth was deteriorating. “Traditional and cultural values have declined. Even in schools the authorities are finding it difficult to maintain discipline,” he said.

He said in addition to the youth getting money from relatives abroad, some of them were also working in foreign NGOs and earning a good packet, but not knowing how to spend it sensibly.

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