Gale force winds destroyed more than 2000 temporary shelters holding internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) compounding fears that the situation could worsen with the onset of the northeast monsoon.
An average of eight men, women and children occupied each shelter, P.M.S.Charles, District Secretary, Vavuniya, said yesterday. She told the Sunday Times, that workforces have been assigned to hurriedly repair the damage caused.
These developments came as leaders of five political parties urged that the IDPs be released immediately to return to their homes. A statement by them claimed that the ‘forcible detention of hundreds of thousands of Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka in camps for IDPs is llegal.” Signatories to the statement are V. Anandasangaree (TULF), Mano Ganesan, (Democratic People’s Front), Rauf Hakeem (SLMC), Dr. K.Vigneswaran, (AITUF) and R. Sampanthan (TNA).
The statement said “We strongly urge that the camps, for as long as they exist, should be open to relatives, religious functionaries, parliamentarians, provincial councilors, civil society, UN agencies, journalists, national and international aid and humanitarian organizations”.
The appeal came as inquiries were underway by the Police into the September 26 incident in which two children sustained injuries due to reported Army firing. The official versions by the Ministry of Defence and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) over the incident varies.
The Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) which functions under the MoD said, “An organized attempt by a group of aggressive men at the Menik Farm Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) relief village to enter forcibly from the Zone-1 to Zone-2 was thwarted by the security forces personnel on sentry duty Saturday (26) afternoon.
 |
| File pix of Anandakumarasamy and (below) Ramanathan welfare camps in Vavuniya |
 |
When the troops prevented the forcible entry of the crowd which was swelling in numbers they began to attack the sentries with clubs and stones and turned more violent.
Meanwhile, one of them attempted to throw a hand grenade at the security forces members who opened warning fire to disperse the mob.
However, two among the crowd sustained injuries due to fire opened by the troops in self defence and were admitted to Cheddikulam hospital for treatment.
Police later arrested nineteen persons who motivated the crowd to violence”.
However, a statement issued by the UNHRC said “The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is deeply concerned about reports of security incidents taking place inside camps accommodating internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Sri Lanka.
The most recent incident took place on Saturday, September 26th in the Menik Farm camp, in the district of Vavuniya, when security forces reportedly attempted to stop a group of IDPs from moving between two zones of the camp. This angered the IDPs who subsequently attacked the sentries.
“Security personnel then reportedly opened fire to disperse the mob. Several people are said to have been injured, including a child who was hit by a stray bullet and is now paralyzed. There are also reports of several people being detained following the disturbance. UNHCR calls upon the government to ensure the protection and physical security of the IDPs and to undertake a swift investigation into the event.
“Additional efforts are urgently needed to decongest overcrowded camps, particularly as the monsoon season approaches. The rains will lead to flooding of low lying areas of the camps, causing further deterioration of living conditions and posing possible threats to IDPs' health and safety”.
Police who are probing the incident produced both, the IDPs and the Army personnel reportedly involved in the inicident before A.G. Alex Raja, the Vavuniya District Judge and Magistrate.
Nineteen IDPs were produced and were released on personal bail. They were charged for unlawful assembly.
The Army soldiers were also produced on the same day. They were also given bail and the case is to be taken up on October 20.
The Government on Thursday issued what they called the final announcement for persons who had direct links with the LTTE or those who supported them to surrender. The announcement was broadcast using loud speakers. They warned that those who failed to surrender would be arrested and prosecuted.
Earlier, some of the persons who voluntarily surrendered to the security forces were issued with a token number. They were expected to call over for investigations whenever needed.
This was after the government claimed that there were still LTTE cadres or sympathizers in the camps.
Meanwhile, IDPs were seen taking shelter in the Sivan Kovil in Vavuniya after they were being released from the camp. They claimed that they were not given any facilities to get home.
On Wednesday evening 200 people were dropped off in the town to find their way and on Thursday 300 people including a pregnant woman was told to find their way after being drooped off in the town. The business community moved into to help these people by accommodating them at the Sivan Kovil.
Meanwhile, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has also expressed concern about the plight of the displaced. Ramalingam Chandrasekar JVP national list MP told the Sunday Times “our concern is that the people are living under unhygenic conditions. Drinking water is being provided without any purification. The people are being provided dry rations and they have to cook their own meals. Some of those who went to gather firewood had entered into an argument and had been fired upon. This type of incident should not happen. When the rains come they will have serious problems”.
JVP MP Vijitha Herath said that the party has received 723 complaints from various persons, including from persons who are looking for information about the inmates in the camps. They claimed there were milk food shortages.
He called for an inquiry about the last Saturday’s incident.
However, the Vavuniya District Secretary Ms Charles said that before the rains come they were trying to release the maxium number of people.
“Before the rain starts we want to release the maximum number of people. The process of releasing the people from the camps is continuing. If the rains come we have an alternative plan to relocate them”.
U.L.M.Haldeen, Secretary to the Ministry of Resettlement told the Sunday Times; “So far we have released 34,000 persons from the camps. We are working with the Task Force appointed by the President. We are awaiting to complete the demining process to resettle the displaced. But we cannot give a deadline for this”.
He said he couldn’t comment about the plans in the event of monsoon rains, as the matter is being handled by the Task Force.
TNA MP for Vavuniya district Shiavshakthi Anandan told the Sunday Times, “If there are rains the government would be helpless as it rains heavily in this area. The best option would be to release them without delay”.
“We welcome our release, but the authorities should do it in a proper manner”, one of them told the Sunday Times
According to a UN report released this week 255,551 persons are currently accommodated in camps and hospitals. The breakdown is as follows; Vavuniya camps: 238,056, Mannar camps: 1,399,
Jaffna camps: 7,378, Trinco camps: 6,734 and Hospitals: 1,984
So far 7,835 have been released – most of them elderly people while 6,813 have returned to Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Trinco, Batticaloa and Ampara –uptodate. Another 3,358 have been transferred to their original districts – Jaffna, Trinco, Batti, Ampara.” |
E-mail