It has been a year of violence in Sri Lanka after the failed peace efforts. Here are some stories of people affected by the violence - not stories of the government or the factions of LTTE.

Related Links
Sri Lankan Soldiers Kill Civilians, Government Covers Up
Is the Government Redefining Eastern Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka's Muslims: Out In the Cold
Sri Lanka Muslims: Caught in the Crossfire

July 2006. LTTE closes the sluice gates of Marvil Aru and triggers the War for Water, locking all of the societies in the region, Muslim, Tamil and Sinhala in the grips of an escalating and brutal ethnic war. So much water has passed under the bridge since then. The war spread down the eastern coast from Mutur to Thoppigala, between the government forces and the LTTE. That the war re-commenced over water signifies one of the crucial aspects of the current war, control of water, land and territory. It has a significance that goes far beyond that of military confrontation, military losses or gains for either party; goes in fact far beyond the need for a return to normalcy as proclaimed by state agencies.

Water turns to blood in this bloody war. The resurgence of full scale war in 2006, after a lapse of four years, brings on so much untold loss and dislocation to the people and polities of the region. Mutur and the surrounding regions turned into battlefield overnight: the artillery attacks against the Muslim and Tamil residents of Mutur, the killing of fleeing Muslims at Kinanthimunai, the cold blooded murder of 17 ACF workers in Mutur purportedly by the Armed forces, the mortar attack on the camp in Kathiravelli, the exodus of the entire populations of Sampur, Mutur, Verugal, Vakarai, Vavunatheevu  in quick succession. The war for the largely Tamil residents of Eastern Mutur began before with the aerial bombardments from April 2006.

In the narrative of the state, there is a linear story of the unending victories of its armed forces along the eastern coast, from Marvil Aru to Mutur, Sampur to Vakarai, Kokkadichcholai to Thoppigala. In a seemingly opposing narrative, the LTTE narrates the story of a suicidal politics that is not only plunging its own cadres and supporters into a permanent state of meaningless defiance, but also taking the people of the east, along with them.  But we seek to tell the tale of the people now, however partial might that story be.

HIS-tory of the State: The War of Conquest

Overnight, the Eastern Region became a  battle field, turning the land and its people inside out, as fighting forces moved across the land, using communities as human shields, be it in Mutur or Vakarai as the LTTE did, or bombing them into displacement and submission, as the government did in Sampur and Vaharai. The disingenuous claims of both sides that they were fighting a humanitarian war became clear as civilians were called upon to sacrifice their lives, homes and livelihoods for the great and rival causes of Sovereignty and Self-Determination. The government’s military blitzkrieg was accompanied by a propaganda machinery that has sought to minimize, deny and ridicule human rights abuses. “No civilians died in military operations” thundered the Defence

Secretary and brother of the President in January 2007; thus, officially no civilian was killed. Nature rained down upon the eastern territory, bullets, mortars and claymore mines, bringing on a number of deaths from ‘natural’ causes

Victimized communities are being forced to narrate officially sanctioned versions of history. This is nothing new, especially in the North and East, where internecine conflicts and the brutalization of the Tamil-speaking communities by Tamil militancy are phenomena only hinted at or spoken of in whispers. Today, elated by ‘victories’ won on the ground, and driven by a need to consolidate the advantages gained by the military expeditions on the political front, the government has embarked on a programme of justifying its military action and the ensuing violence in the name of sovereignty and the liberation of land and its people.

There are other stories to narrate. But there is no room for these stories in the heavily masculine discourse of territorial conquest. Instead these stories that people have to tell can have a life only in the nooks and crannies of the official versions. We turn to the untold stories of a large number of Muslims of Mutur who have suffered in silence these long 12 months. While the community has been ‘liberated’ from the clutches of the LTTE, they are still to reap any benefits from that liberation. On the contrary, they are left with a continuing sense of loss, deprivation, and dispossession. Although the community lost more than 50 persons in artillery attacks of that time, they are unable to speak out. They cannot speak because they fear for their lives. When they do speak about it, Muslim ministers chastise them for bringing up these violations, arguing against such expressions of protest at a time when there is compensation and assistance to be claimed. A watchful army presence makes it dangerous to speak out. The community is both baffled and alarmed by the increasing powers of the police in the region. The police in Mutur took a sudden interest in investigating the events of August last year by calling on a community leader claiming that they were investigating these incidents; that these investigations immediately followed a public meeting organized for the Commission of Investigation in April this year makes one wonder about the motive behind this visit: was it a characteristically superficial and belated attempt on the part of the police to investigate the violations of last year; or an attempt at coercing the community into silence through intimidation? The presence of military officers and representatives of the Attorney General’s Department at the COI meeting in Mutur exposed the victims and witnesses of the incidents last year to potential intimidation by the perpetrators of these crimes. This also demonstrates the impracticability of the much talked about victims and witnesses protection mechanism initiated by the COI.

The Bitter Fruits of Liberation

So much has happened and yet so little has changed. The military liberation has brought about a certain kind of peace to the region: a peace where the large guns including the dreaded multi-barrel rocket launchers are silent at least in much of the eastern territory. The repeated waves of displacement that characterized all of 2006 and the beginning of this year seem to have ceased now. There is an abatement in the frequency and high levels of killings as well, especially in comparison with  August 2006;  Sinhala Communities are far more secure from attacks by the LTTE, its massacres and its artillery fire. The Muslim Community has a reason to be grateful as the LTTE’s taxation and brutal dominance has seemingly lifted. The Tamil community has been liberated from the LTTE’s vicious control of its resources. So the liberation has brought some relief and it is now the turn of the communities in the North to deal with the daily barrage of artillery and multi-barrel rocket launchers.

But beyond the rhetoric of liberation and the appearance of security, violence, violations and a growing sense of fear pervades the East. ‘Normalcy’ has been restored at the point of the gun. But there are memories that haunt the dreams of the people making them fear for their future. Memories of how the Muslim and Tamil communities were forcibly resettled haunt the people; of how when those displaced from Mutur to Kinniya, were forced to sleep out on the road when the authorities, in their attempts to resettle the people, closed down the welfare centres and locked the people out during the holy month of Ramadan; of how the displaced from Vaharai, were caught unawares in their daily activities of camp life when the army came with buses to take them back home to make a case for ‘liberation’. The government is determined to rid itself of the international embarrassment of displacement; once displaced people are resettled they stop being a statistic, they stop being a problem.

But the people remember and have a story to tell. The resettled communities are highly vulnerable. They have lost so much, their tools, fertile land, cattle, a monsoon season; they face severe military restrictions on carrying out the tasks of their livelihood. For instance, the fishermen of Mutur have their access to the sea restricted to a mere 2 km from the shore from the previous 350 km, after the declaration of special zones by the security, following liberation. The loss of deep sea fishing takes a toll on the income of the community and leads to over fishing in the restricted coastal waters. From the communities of Vaharai and Vavunatheevu, there is only silence. They cannot speak of losses, of houses looted or cattle disappeared, land mines or other abuses. Resettlements of the people have taken place in blatant disregard of UN and other international standards. The growing silence of humanitarian agencies and donors cannot be ignored as they have increasingly danced to the tune of the government and proved unwilling to take it on even when it is clear that the massive resettlement drives are in contravention of the principles that supposedly guide these agencies and their work. Humanitarian agencies have become blind to the forcible resettlement of entire displaced communities, who have to confront the security forces responsible for carrying out the resettlement and the threat of having their rations cut if they refuse to resettle. Certification of areas as safe from mines is highly questionable and not necessarily in line with the standards set by the National Steering Committee on Mine Action. The de-miners of the Sri Lankan Army are forced to work long hours and it is unclear whether the mandatory random checking to be carried out by the UNDP de-miners is as random as it is supposed to be. People in parts of Vellaveli, Vaharai and Pattipalai DS divisions were settled before clearance certifications had been obtained by the GA. The untold story of the displaced who have been shut out from their homes is another serious matter. Other communities that live in fear and displacement will soon be forced back to their homes as a result of the closing down of welfare camps or the cutting off of rations. 

‘Liberation’ has not brought an end to security threats to the civilian populations, especially for Tamils. The goni billa (hooded ghost) has returned. In cordon and search operations in Trincomalee there is often a figure, wearing a hood, who accompanies the security force units and whose job it is to identify suspected LTTE members and supporters. With just one nod an individual becomes a suspect. The returnees to Eachalampattu transported via Vaharai had to undergo this goni billa treatment. At the Verugal crossing, a hooded man sat in a building identifying mostly young men who were then taken into the building where they were interrogated, photographed and then released. While the security forces need to conduct their security and surveillance work to prevent LTTE infiltration, for the affected civilian population the sense of fear and insecurity is intense. There are reports of human rights violations from Western Batticaloa including killings of civilians. In one incident a woman was killed and her chest had multiple stab wounds. The fighting is over we are told, but the spectre of counter-terrorism and insurgency continues to haunt the people of the Eastern Province.

Land of Milk and Honey: Militarization of the State and Territory

The promised freedom of liberation rings false as new configurations of political alliances are being formed, replacing the dominance of the old, that of the LTTE in particular. The new alliance of the government and the Karuna faction is militaristic in character. Civil administration in the region is characterized by the high percent of military personnel holding important positions within it. To begin with, the Governor of the Eastern Province is Rear Admiral Mohan Wijewickrema. The current GA too is from the Armed Forces, Major General (Retired) T.T.R. De Silva. There is a proposal for a mandatory military or police presence in village development committees. One might argue that, in fairness to the government, the current security situation demands a military scrutiny of civil administration; but militarization of civil administration will have grave short and long term repercussions. If the State fails to recognize the sense of fear and discrimination it is creating among the people it will drive the Tamil population straight into the arms of the LTTE. 

The people in the region are discovering for themselves the implications of these moves. As the D.S. of Mutur discovered recently, there is a price to be paid for increased ‘security’. The D.S. was in a meeting with a military officer, which kept being interrupted by repeated phone calls. Annoyed no end by this, the officer disconnected the phone and humiliated the D.S. in front of his staff. Subsequently on the 18^th of July, the state run television, which has become, at the moment, purely a voice of propaganda for the government, in its programme, ‘Medayamatapera,’ ran a story claiming that this particular D.S. was the only one among the District Secretaries not following the President’s orders. There is wide spread rumour that this D.S would be replaced by a Sinhala person, lending credence to the belief that these events are being orchestrated by the government to turn the region into a Sinhala dominant area, serving the hegemonic interests of the state. Such steps to ‘Sinhalize’ the administration coupled with the moves to militarize civil administration are greeted by minoritiy communities with a great deal of trepidation. These crude attempts at colonizing administration, with military personnel and others serving the interests of a partial and biased state are going to prove counter-productive for the state as it will pit minority communities against its control and persuasion.

In the east, the minority communities, particularly the Tamil and Muslim communities are under siege from the military apparatus of the TMVP. The TMVP has not only taken over the LTTE’s political offices in the East but has also been given the license to carry guns, which they tout openly, terrorizing the civilian population in their own efforts at ‘governance,’ through force and through taxation. The snarling tiger symbol might have been replaced by a singing fish, but the Tiger has not changed its stripes. Karuna, like the LTTE, continues to engage, with the government’s endorsement this time round, in the heinous practice of child recruitment and other human rights abuses. It is widely alleged to be involved in murders in the region and elsewhere. Rumours abound of the splintering and re-uniting of factions of the Karuna Group, in fact re-tracing the steps of the divisive and brutal Tamil militant groups that preceded it, increasing fears of further blood shed and internecine warfare. Civilians are forced to pay ‘tax’ to TMVP representatives who demand that no one should speak about it, especially to other TMVP members. The local TMVP representatives act like war lords, without any mechanism to ensure accountability. It is reported that members of the TMVP will also take on the task of policing the East both officially and unofficially. This contradicts the government’s avowed commitment to restoring democracy and re-enfranchising its people. The government may need the assistance of Karuna to keep the LTTE out. It may have used the Karuna Group to flush the enemy out; in the meantime, Karuna may be dependent on government forces for his survival. Such a deadly struggle for survival and security, waged over the heads of ordinary people, does not bode well for democracy in the region at all.  In this climate of repression and military dominance, one has little hope that the Karuna group will shed its ‘stripes’, and contest the election with a commitment to transform itself into a legitimate democratic body. The elections to come will be the ultimate test for the government to prove its commitment to the restoration of normalcy, democracy and peace. But we fear. We fear a repetition of the 2004 general elections where candidates and supporters were intimidated into submission or were killed. For the Muslim community, the elections may mean facing the ‘wrath’ of yet another Tamil politico-militant group, determined to assert its hegemony in the east.

Currently, the TMVP is trying to demonstrate its strength by assisting Tamils to resettle and relocate, including in areas where ownership is contested between the Tamil and Muslim Communities such as the Aryampathy D.S. division. There has been little response from Muslim politicians who fiercely defend the government in public and whisper their fears in private. Post-liberation housing and resettlement could well become the arena for conflict between the three ethnic communities as the State, Armed Groups and Ministers, all, try to assert the different communities’ claims to land.

Tigers and Lions: the Prognosis for Peace

The violence in the East is not over yet. The LTTE has withdrawn, into their pockets of jungle and into the civilian population, after creating all the damage they can. All the communities of the East fear the havoc they could wreak in their attempts to demonstrate their strength and destabilize the East. The killing of the Eastern Provincial Secretary Herath Abeyweera was a show of their continued presence and a clear signal to all those purported ‘collaborators’ with the state. Thwarted and cornered, its only weapon is that of striking out at the civilian populations in the east in order to create both instability and to exacerbate ethnic hostility.  And on the ground, people continue to experience various violations. We continue to fear.  For a movement that is weak, its power lies solely in its capacity to create instability and cause further suffering to the people

But the dominant feeling of insecurity has multiple origins and arises partly from the collapse of responsible and accountable governance as well. When the government unabashedly indulges in defensive and misleading accounts, the trust one would normally place on responsible state agencies is severely undermined. On June 28^th, four Muslims were killed in Polonnaruwa (Palliyagodelle) reportedly by the army. The Media Centre for National Security initially claimed that they were LTTE cadres and displayed their bodies, alongside suicide capsules and weapons. Later it released a story claiming that these four Muslim persons had been killed by terrorists. Nothing more was heard of the (four or eleven) dead LTTE cadres. Similarly, on May 13^th, the Buddhist priest of  Sri Pabbattharamaya temple, Ven. Handungamage Nadadarathane Thero Moraweva was shot dead which was condemned by the President and the National Bhikku Front. Later a fellow monk revealed to the media it was a soldier who had shot him. Again, nothing more from the President or from other state agencies.

Majoritarianism and Hegemony:  The Quest for Land

We narrate not only to remember; but to make sense of what is happening in the east today and in the entire country. The ethnic conflict is taking on a new form on the ground in the East as ethnic polities contest ownership of the land. The State has revealed its Sinhala nationalist agenda through its approach to the land issue under cover of development, national security and protecting the environment and cultural heritage. 

Sampur has been declared a High Security Zone, out of bounds for civilians. There is no resettlement in the area.  The residents are awaiting news of their fate, as it is still unclear as to whether they will all be denied the right to resettle in their homes and reclaim their property or be forced into new locations such as Raalkulli. A Government that claimed to fight a war to liberate the Tamil people from the yoke of the LTTE seems to have forgotten its own avowals; its motivation for liberation seemingly lies in consolidating its own repressive rule.  The cruel fate of the people of Sampur, who are still waiting to claim their right to return and re-build their lives makes clear that the Tamil people will not find the security and justice they seek under this current administration which has blatantly disregarded their rights, wishes and needs.

The eviction of 251 resettled farmers from Arafa Nagar on 10^th, August, without prior notice by the military, demonstrates that it is not purely security concerns that keep the Tamils out of their lands. Such actions lead us to believe that at least in some instances obstacles placed in the way of resettlement are prompted more by ethnic considerations and than by security safeguards. These Muslim families with permission from the then military commander began cultivation in March 2007. On the 10^th, of this month, the military commanded the families to move out, placed a board at the entrance of the village stating that the area was a HSZ and that anyone who entered would be shot. Though negotiations are under way over this controversy, we learn that the area has been fenced off and the people are allowed only to cultivate and not re-settle on the land. The Muslim community continues to live in a state of anxiety and vulnerability, reliant on the whims and fancies of the military. According to a recent newspaper report (Daily Mirror), the President’s brother Basil Rajapakse had informed a Muslim delegation that met with him to raise concerns about Arafa Nagar and other instances of dispossession, that he would look into the matter and that the government had initiated a dialogue with the World Bank to procure compensation for those affected by the conflict. This raises the question about the role of donors and international agencies in developing the East – will they help in the re-drawing of ‘ethnic’ boundaries and the shifting of populations too? 

Under the guise of national security – of protecting Trincomalee Harbour, the government has made plans for the development of Trincomalee. One of its development plans is to build a coal power station in Sampur, even though the Indian engineers, who were to be engaged in the project, have rejected the suitability of the site. The development of Trincomalee is important but it is increasingly clear that this is a development programme that pays little attention to local communities, and instead is formulated toward enticing big business. Local communities have been re-grafted onto the plan and shifted whenever they are ‘in the way.’ A massive highway has been constructed by the army, cutting across many paddy fields in Kinanthimunai, Perumpathu and Vellalanwetai. There is little evidence that any proper procedure was followed in acquiring this agricultural land. The farmers had no intimation of what was going on for they had been barred from entering their villages by the military as the area has been declared a HSZ. 

Furthermore, it seems that as a part of these developments a new and trustworthy work force and new communities (read Sinhala) will be moved into Trincomalee, dramatically impacting on the demography and the ethnic balance in the Trincomalee District. Already local communities are expressing fears that their areas are being marginalized and their needs and rights are being ignored in the proposed development plans. In the political climate that has evolved out of the ethnic conflict, where development has been deployed as a tool for advantaging one community over another, be it land colonization schemes or the Mahaweli Project, and thereby impacting, sometimes intentionally, on population ratios and patterns of distribution of ethno-political communities, this current development plan for Trincomalee or the soon to be unveiled Eastern Development Plan is viewed with deep mistrust. This concern of minority communities needs to be addressed and their fears allayed as speedily as possible.

Like in Pottuvil, where the Muslim community is facing a four pronged strategy to reclaim land through violence, national security, the protection of religious and cultural heritage and environmental conservation, the Tamil and Muslim Community seem to face similar threats in the region of Trincomalee. As a part of the BOI, Trincomalee Development Plan, a nature park is to be established in the district. In Seenanveli, north of Illankaiturai Muhattuvaram, a HSZ and a special fishing zone are being imposed on  the inhabitants of the area. The residents, most of them Tamils of Veddha descent, from about 8 villages, have been transported and virtually dumped in the open. They are prevented from going home on the pretext of landmines while their meagre possessions have been reportedly looted by ‘Sinhalese’ from the Mahindapura colony, acting in cooperation with the Army. The army is also engaged in constructing a Buddhist Temple, Samudragiri Vihara, in Seenanveli.

There have been recent efforts to claim a stone quarry site, the hill area of 3^rd mile post in Jabal Nagar, by the archaeological department, despite the fact that this very archaeological department had, twice in the past, carried out investigations and found nothing to prove by way of any existence of ancient Buddhist ruins. While the state is seemingly concerned about preserving ‘ancient’ history, the livelihood of people currently living in the region, of around 400 Tamil and Muslim families in Mutur, is being destroyed. There are also plans underway to settle some Sinhala families on a land that was allocated for about 60 tsunami-affected families of Mutur. ‘Emergency  Architects’ were  given the contract to build houses in this area, but we hear that  2 ½

acres of this land called ‘theatre land’ has been fenced off and claimed by a group of Sinhalese, who had not been affected by the tsunami, with help of military, police and a Viharathipathy.

July and August: A Time to Mourn

July and August have always been times of significant development in Sri Lanka’s history. In these months we commemorate a number of critical events that dramatically altered and darkened the course of our history; events that we want to forget and to ignore. It is the 24^th year since Black July – the state-sponsored pogrom against Tamil civilians which to this day is remembered mainly by its victims and some concerned civil society groups, while the mainstream media, general society and political leadership try to distance themselves from playing any part in remembering those dark days. Or it is remembered ironically as a month necessitating heightened security, particularly in Colombo as fears of LTTE attacks in the city intensify. The commemorations by the forces of death, however continue with Jaffna and Vavuniya once again becoming a killing field, with the government forces, the LTTE, the Karuna Group and other paramilitary forces acting out, determined to eliminate an entire generation of Tamil youth. During Black July, in the Wanni, the LTTE celebrated its festival of death in a roll call of the Maveerars.  Its commemoratory events have no space for the ordinariness of life: lives of these ‘matryrs’ who also died as daughters, sons, brothers and sisters. There is no space within the stranglehold of the LTTE for the ‘civilian’ to mourn her brethren.  At Independence Square on July 19, when the Government celebrated its military conquests and extolled the virtues of the armed struggle, there was no space to talk of the cost, no time to talk of reconciliation, no need to talk of human suffering, no reason to acknowledge the civilian casualties of this military campaign.   

July 2007 marked the 50^th anniversary of the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Pact and the 20^th anniversary of the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Agreement, both audacious, if inherently flawed efforts, that could have succeeded if there had been a genuine political will to push them through. Instead the duplicitous and cowardly politics of the Sinhala political leadership of the time – S.W.R.D Bandaraniake and J.R. Jayawardena – ensured that the agreement would be undermined and destroyed. We see this subversive and destructive tendency at play in the manipulative strategies of the current Government, which called for an All Party Conference to arrive at a Southern Consensus and has at the same time done its best to undercut those self same efforts. We previously lodged our protest at the regressive SLFP proposals that completely undermined all efforts at peace building and made a mockery of the intelligence and experience that has gone into previous attempts at negotiated settlements and of the tragic sacrifices made by people like Neelan Thiruchelvam, Kethesh Loganathan, Lakshman Kadirgamar, and so many other less prominent people, all of whom died in the name of peace and amity. It was in the months of July and August that these Neelan, Kethesh and Lakshman Kadirgamar were assassinated. We pray that this year we will not have to mourn another important figure. While we might contest and not agree with their politics or policies, in their lives they sought to bring about a peaceful and just resolution to the ethnic conflict through debate and discussion; their murders represent a decimation of Tamil society and intelligentsia by a group, the LTTE, that is paranoid and power hungry, and has failed to understand the irreparable damage it has caused to Tamil society through its violence and its failure to commit itself to negotiations. While Minister Tissa Vitharana struggles to bring  a consensus-document to the table, the government too compliant to supposed Sinhala-Buddhist interests, seems more interested in it as a device to present its peace making credentials to the international community rather than as a genuine effort to create a national consensus. We hope that Minister Vitharana and his committee will be supported in the defiant stand they have adopted and hope that the media will support them in their efforts, affirming the values of social justice and harmony, ethnic and otherwise.

The time has come for the government to stand high and clear above narrow ethnic or chauvinist interests and affirm its commitment to peace, where there is justice for all communities, inculcating in all of the peoples, a sense of belonging. The choice is not just between war and peace, but also between justice, democracy, a soul searching exploration on the part of dominant groups into the causes of the conflict on one side and continued violence and instability on the other. Our concerns about the east and the simmering situation prevalent there, in the wake of liberation, should be a wake up call for all those concerned about the future of this country.

August 2007

Coalition of Muslims and Tamils for Peace and Coexistence in the East (CMTPC) is a Sri Lanka based organization-comprising Muslim and Tamil identified persons who as a general principle are committed to pluralism and social justice in all its forms. Specifically, we are committed to the peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Tamils in the country, particularly in the north and east, and to a just and equitable solution to the ethnic conflict.

We can be contacted at:  peaceandcoexistence@yahoo.com

Please visit our website : www.ctmpc.blogspot.com