TAMILNET reports that Pararajasingam Kanagalingam, president of the Vanni People Welfare Organisation (VPWO), last Wednesday sent it a recorded affidavit on the civil situation in Vanni.
In the affidavit, Pararajasingam told Tamilnet: ‘The right to live is the most fundamental right guaranteed by the UN.
‘How can a people trust a government that has instructed them to get into a safety zone and then kills, maims and starves them continuously for months.’
He adds: ‘But, even after assurances, people are killed here every day by government forces.
‘Is it a government that can’t guarantee fundamental rights? ‘If the government can’t care for us it should leave us free.
‘Why is it wrong for the Tamils to think of self-determination? Even now, the people of Vanni are firm in this aspiration for freedom.’
He continues: ‘None of the 30 basic guaranteed humanitarian rights is respected by the Sri Lankan government.’
He spoke at length without break, but with coherence.
He was insightful and was well informed of the happenings inside Sri Lanka, and the trends outside and the global perspectives of the whole issue, despite being herded into a pocket blockaded of everything, including information.
His tone was brimming with anxiety whether he would get another chance to tell the outside world of the plight faced by his people.
But, what he said reflected the calibre of the true civilian leadership emerging from the ground realities of Vanni and the determination of a people with which the entire world has to deal with, in resolving the crisis.
On the physical milieu of the so-called safety zone, he said that around 360,000 people are herded into an uninhabitable region in the hottest season of the year to live in tarpaulin tents, without adequate food, potable water or medicine, and amidst constant fear of getting killed en masse in SLA shelling.
He said: ‘There is no food virtually.
‘No supplies came in January and February. What was received later was just a token.
‘When they said a shipload was sent, it was just a boat bringing only a handful for each.
‘People, standing in long queues, were depending on the gruel (kagnchi) provided by the LTTE.
‘The quota of food stipulated by the UN was never cared for. When we appealed to our kith and kin in the diaspora and when there was an effort by them to organise direct assistance, then only 500 metric tons of food was sent.
‘This is enough for a week only for 32,000 families, whereas there are 81,000 families staying here.
The requirement is 1,500 metric tons per week.
‘Food is not merely the dry rations. There is no sight of vegetables. Onions, dry-chillies tamarind and cooking oil are sold for 5,000 rupees per kilo or litre, whereas a coconut is priced at 250 rupees.
‘One packet of milk powder costs 3,000 rupees.
‘But, there is no money and no work. People trusted the government and came to the safety zone abandoning all their savings.
‘They will not trust it any more.’
On medical conditions Mr Kanagalingam said, ‘The three make-shift medical facilities functioning in Puthu-maaththa’lan, Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal and Valaignar-madam are mere first-aid centres, without medicine or facilities for regular treatment.
‘But, it is an emergency situation. The injured have no facilities. The injured are getting again injured in these hospitals in SLA shelling.
‘53 patients evacuated to Trincomalee died. They could have been saved, had there been enough facilities here.
‘Around 25 per cent of the people here are suffering from heart ailments and diabetes, manifested by the stress of life. They need regular medicine but there have been no medicines for months for these patients.
‘If they can’t send medicines they should tell us why.
‘In the absence of hygienic facilities, the seashore is completely polluted with human excreta, causing contagious diseases.
‘Above everything, potable water – where to find it?
‘There are around 67,000 children among the civilians and about 7,000 of them are nursery school kids. They have no education. Five educational zones of Vanni have not been functioning for months now.
‘Yet, despite all hardships, there is a strong reason why people have chosen to stay. They don’t trust the government.
‘The Sri Lankan state cannot be said to be functioning by adhering to the UN Charter.
‘It is not prepared to assure life and livelihood to its people and it deliberately sabotaged UN assistance to its people.’
On the role of the International Community, Kanagalingam said:
‘War is not the way, the IC always says. But they contribute to this war.
‘If war can’t solve the problem why don’t they talk?
‘We trusted Norway, but it left us on the seashore now.
‘We were disillusioned. Eric Solheim was not neutral. That is our suspicion.
‘This is not the problem of our generation. It is at least 60 years old. We are not the only people responsible for it.
‘Nearly 100,000 Tamils have been killed already. Isn’t it enough to call it genocide? We are an ancient people of humanity. Why doesn’t the world give us an opportunity’ Mr Kanagalingam concluded.
Meanwhile, Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) faces a massive crisis due to the shortage of ministry funds and its unpaid dues to the Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) as the funds allocated to it by Sri Lanka Health Ministry have not been released.
SLEB Jaffna is reported to be taking steps to suspend the hospital’s electricity supply as nearly 50 million rupees in unpaid bills remain.
Meanwhile, JTH is also experiencing severe difficulties due to want of funds as its oxygen cylinder refilling machine and water distilling plant are in disrepair, besides the lack of medicines, x-ray films, all in combination, have seriously impeded the efficient functioning of the hospital, the sources added.
Construction projects intended to improve the standard of JTH, which caters for the needs of nearly 600,000 people of the Jaffna Peninsula, are feared to be cancelled as contractors who completed their projects for JTH last year have not been paid their dues which amount to nearly 86 million rupees.
The allocation made by the Health Ministry has not been released.
JTH has to pay nearly three million rupees monthly as electricity charges to SLEB Jaffna, but payment has not been made by the hospital for many years, including last year. Hence, the electricity supply to JTH may be suspended any time now.
Medical officers in JTH are forced to tell patients to buy preventive medicines as well as other medicines from traders in the open market as they are not available in JTH.
All building development projects of JTH have been suspended except the construction of a patients’ ward which is carried out by NECORD in keeping with the contract entered earlier.
Though the Ministry of Health has announced an allocation of funds to JTH it is unable to keep to its assurances due to the economic set back experienced by the government, the sources added.
