25,000 War Widows In Batticaloa

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‘Estimates reveal that there are more than 89,000 war widows in the North and Eastern provinces and more than 25,000 of these widows are in Batticaloa district in the Eastern province,’ Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district MP, P. Selvarasa said in a meeting of the War Victimised Women Association in Batticaloa on Wednesday.

‘Women have been victimised by war even more than by natural disasters and the Sri Lanka government has failed to do anything constructive to improve their miserable living conditions though thirteen months have passed since the end of the cruel war,’ Selvarasa said.

The MP added: ‘The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is mainly to be blamed for the victimisation of these women.

‘Their husbands had been killed, disappeared without trace and imprisoned.

‘Young women have been sexually violated and many women arrested on suspicion are still languishing in prisons.

‘Even mothers detained with their children have not been released or any legal actions taken against them by the Sri Lanka government so far,’ he said.

Selvarasa complained: ‘The Provincial Councils are not given the power to make use of the so called devolution of power related to land, police, agricultural service, government schools and government teaching hospitals under the 13th Constitutional amendment though 23 years have passed since the signing of Indo-Sri Lanka Accord which claimed to solve the problems of the Tamils.’

He added: ‘The Sri Lanka government effectively strips the powers of the Provincial Councils overnight by gazette notifications instead of devolving powers to them.’

Meanwhile, 1,215 uprooted civilians from Vanni brought from the camps three months ago in the name of resettlement are held without any help in Visuvamadu area in Mullaiththeevu district, Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, who visited them Monday told media.

Mullaiththeevu district Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities do not allow them to settle in their own lands in the district and the people abandoned by government authorities and humanitarian organisations are subjected to untold hardships.

The families say that they will look after themselves if only they are allowed to settle in their own properties, the MP said.

Two hundred and fifty-five uprooted families consisting of 1,215 persons belonging to Kumaarasamipuram, Mayilvaakanapuram and Kozhunththuppilavu villages in Visuvamadu area were brought from Vavuniyaa SLA camps in June 2010.

Sixty-nine families of Kumaarasaamipuram are lodged in Redbana area and the other families of Mayilvaakanapuram and Kozhunththuppilavu are staying in a school.

The destitute families are not supplied rice under the World Food Programme and without any source of income they suffer various difficulties in finding food, Suresh Premachandran said.

The SLA does not permit them to go to their own lands just a few metres away and those who go are severely punished.

Women are the most affected in these places without latrines or other basic facilities and the water in the only well in Redbana area is not fit for drinking purposes.

The local health authorities have done nothing to improve the conditions, Suresh Premachandran said.

Separately on Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry with immediate effect banned publishing news of all transfers and appointments of the military officers of the three armed forces, Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF).

Media institutions have been asked to report on such transfers and appointments only with the approval of the Media Centre for National Security.

Publishing such stories could lead to direct or indirect threat to national security and military officers concerned, according to a press release by the Defence Ministry.

Military sources further said this order has been made to curb the current trend of publishing military stories without necessary approval of the authority concerned.

On Tuesday, members of the confederation of citizens’ forums in Jaffna accused India of providing arms and logistical support to Colombo in the Vanni war.

They added that it didn’t make any effort to stop the war.

Even after one year of the war, India didn’t act on rehabilitating the incarcerated people, the Jaffna forums accused visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao.

Resettlement is a hoodwink in Vanni, said retired Senior Professor S.K. Sitrampalam of the University of Jaffna, expressing the strong sentiments of Eezham Tamils.

The Sri Lanka Army has occupied the Tamil lands and people have strong doubts whether India would be of any help in Tamils getting a political solution, the civil society representatives told the visiting Indian diplomat.

The civil society outburst visibly disturbed Northern Province Governor, Major General (retd.) G. A. Chandrasiri. However, when he wanted to react, Nirupama was seen stopping him.

Resettlement in small pockets in Maangku’lam, Mullaiththeevu and Ki’linochchi doesn’t mean much, pointed out the Deccan College trained archaeologist and Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) stalwart Professor Sitrampalam.

C.V.K Sivagnanam, former president of Jaffna district NGOs Federation and Joint Secretary of ITAK and S. Paramanathan of the Committee for Justice, Peace and Goodwill were also present in the meeting which took place at the public library of Jaffna.

The public was not allowed to attend the meeting.

Nirupama told the citizens’ representatives that she would convey the sentiments to the Indian government.

SLA soldiers harassed the civil society representatives after the meeting, asking for the phone numbers of those who spoke on the occasion.

The Indian Foreign Secretary was received at Duraiappa Stadium and was taken to Jaffna Secretariat where she met the Government Agent Imelda Sukumar, SL Minister Douglas Devananda and TNA MP Suresh Premachandran.

Before coming to Jaffna, Nirupama visited Vavuniyaa, where she was taken unawares when a TNA MP brought civil representatives of uprooted Tamil civilians from Shanthipuram, Thirumu’rika’ndi areas, whose lands were occupied by the Sri Lankan military.

The demonstrating civil society members and their strong sentiments irritated and confused the authorities. High Commissioner of India Ashok K. Kantha accompanied the visiting Indian envoy.