Report 12
CHAPTER 5
TRINCOMALEE: LOOKING BENEATH THE SURFACE
5.1. A Triumph of Ordinary People
5.2.
Signs of Disquiet
5.3.
The Assimilation of Terror
5.5.
Corruption and the Refugees
5.6
Resettlement or Colonisation of Sinhalese?
5.7
The cabinet decision on land in Trincomalee
5.8
Whither the Tamils?
5.9
Recent Developments
During early May 1993 the Buddhist festival of Vesak
was being celebrated in the lately Sinhalese dominated market area of Trincomalee.
Tamil music was first played over the public address system. The chief guest
invited for the occasion also happened to be a former Tamil member of the urban
council who belonged the TULF. Since very recently Tamil and Sinhalese
vendors have been selling their wares side by side in the market. This marks
a happy turn of events considering the brutal and tortuous history of communal
relations over the last decade and a half. It is also the culmination of initiatives
coming from and taking shape in the hearts and minds of ordinary people for
over four years. This is easily discerned in conversations with ordinary folk.
[See Ch.7]. But that is how this country had
been for dozens of centuries before the last four decades gave rise to a river
of blood.
Again, people are distrustful of the surface of calm.
They are powerless to determine their future in the face of power games played
from Colombo, Jaffna and beyond these shores. In Chapter 2 of our last report, we raised questions
pertaining to land, colonisation and administrative arrangements where the government
must find a just settlement to the grievances of the Tamil speaking people,
if a lasting peace is to be secured in the district. It is here that the real
intentions of the government in particular will be crucially tested. It is therefore
no exaggeration to say that Trincomalee will be a litmus test for the prospects
of peace. We will here examine in some depth several of the issues highlighted
in the last report.[Top]
Alankerni is a Tamil village adjoing Kinniya where
many mothers are widows. In many ways it is typical of Tamil villages in the
district. Its surviving inhabitants have been refugees for just under 3 years,
much of it spent in a wartime aircraft hanger at Clappenburg. [See 4.8].
Their houses looted and destroyed by the Sri Lankan forces are almost completely
rubble. People are just beginning to come back to clear their compounds prior
to resettlement. Some of the folk point to the remains of houses of middle class
folk that would have been worth more than Rs 5OO OOO/- at today's prices. "That
was the house of Manoharan, Electrical Superintendant. They are now in Canada.
That house belonged to .............. now living in Colombo. Those from that
house are in Trincomalee....." and so it goes on. What becomes clear is
that those in a position to give leadership are not going to return. Many of
these villages are going to be dominated by helpless widows, old men and farmers.
Some of the sinister purposes of the state and its forces in bringing this about
become apparent. The only person in Alankerni now in a position to provide some
leadership is a project officer representing the Trincomalee District Development
Association, a retired gentleman normally resident in Trincomalee town.
The most a refugee could hope to receive for his destroyed
house is a pittance of Rs. 15OOO/- from the government. But first they are to
receive Rs.5OO/- worth of cadjan to rig up temporary shelter and live on their
premises. Then comes along an official from the government's Emergency Refugee
Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) in a brand new Japanese pick up, the like of
which the earnings of a cabinet minister over ten years can barely purchase.
The vehicle has the markings `Donated By UNHCR'. The official apologises
profusely for the non availability of the Rs.5OO/- per family for cadjan sheds.
He promises to press the rehabilitation ministry to send the money without delay.
The refugees stare in bemused disbelief. At least vehicles were running about
in their name, which from their capacity may as well be F-16 fighter jets.
The head of a local NGO, not among the top elite, but
generally acknowledged as feeling for the ordinary folk as well as being hard
working, could not restrain himself: "One cannot help feeling deeply
sad when one sees the plight of ordinary people. A very large section of the
administrative hierarchy is living it up in their name. The place is stinking
with corruption. Even sadder is the fact that many Tamil officers are quite
at home in this set up. You see how difficult it is for these people to get
even cadjan to keep away the elements. But many government officers who were
not affected or were not in the district during the troubles have got themselves
money on all possible grounds - including Rs. 50 000/- for houses supposedly
affected. The refugees starve because their rations are systematically swindled
as part of an ongoing racket." Such are allegations one repeatedly
hears. What is really behind this and the implications we will examine in the
sequel. Some of these complaints come from refugees themselves. [See 4.1
& 4.4.1].
We raised in the last report some urgent questions
concerning land policy in Trincomalee town. Some veteran Tamil leaders met (late)
President Premadasa in Colombo on 31st January 1993 to raise these and other
similar issues. The discussion was cordial and the president was eminently reasonable.
He agreed with most of their suggestions. He asked his secretary to issue directions
to drop proposals to build 36 houses for Sinhalese on Theerthakkarai along the
Koneswaram Kovil approach road and for the land to be cleared. The proposal
to build houses had been agreed to at the Presidential Mobile Secretariat the
previous week. Sinhalese had lived in temporary huts at Theerthakarai following
the disturbances of October 1987. The president also agreed that the 42 Tamil
houses from the NHDA self-helf housing scheme in Love Lane, now occupied by
Sinhalese squatters, would be restored to the Tamil owners. Since it was a private
meeting with no stenographer, he asked the Tamil leaders to give their written
suggestions in point form so that the cabinet could act upon them and issue
directives.
Since the military is the highest authority in Trincomalee,
a leading Tamil townsman had a late evening discussion by appointment with a
key military official towards the end of April. The matter to be discussed was
land. The official began the session by picking up a sheaf of papers and reading
aloud. It went on about how the government is conniving at giving Tamil lands
in Trincomalee to Sinhalese and then dwelt on land concerns commonly voiced
by Tamils. He stopped at the end of the first page and showed the Tamil citizen
the front. The emblem showed that it was a document of the LTTE circulated
presumably from London. The citizen was nonplussed. He wondered with some trepidation
if he would be suspected of drafting the document for the Tigers if he said
what he had to say. He took courage and raised the matter of Sinhalese squatters
on temple lands. The official replied that alternative lands would be found
for them. The citizen then raised the matter of Sinhalese huts on Theerthakkarai,
which showed no signs of removal. The official said, "You come with
me I will show you. Even now someone will be putting up a hut there! "
The citizen pointed out that it was the problem they wanted the authorities
to solve. The official replied, "Yes, yes we will find alternative land
for them" On the matter of 42 Tamil houses in Love Lane occupied by
Sinhalese, the official argued that if Sinhalese had not occupied those houses,
they would have been destroyed, without of course mentioning who destroyed houses.
It was almost 3 months since the president agreed upon
solutions to some of these matters with Tamil leaders. Was it that none of it
had filtered down the line, the military was above the president, or was some
game being played? A cabinet decision taken about the beginning of March threw
some light on the matter.This will be discussed. It is also significant how
the military official dealt with Tamil concern through a mixture of disarming
frivolity that was necessarily accompanied by a hint of menace. How the system
works, if we agree to call this conglomeration of chaos such, cannot be understood
without the submerged experience of terror.[Top]
As recently as Tuesday 20th April 1993 the entire population,
effectively of Tamils, from Trincomalee town was asked to report at the St.
Joseph's College grounds for screening, leaving one person at home. Young, old
women and children waited in the sun from 7.00 A.M. without water. A number
of people fainted. A number of middle aged men were beaten by armed men including
soldiers and Tamils of unknown affiliation. An old man who fell down while being
beaten was bodily carried and thrown. A number of persons were detained and
taken to the police station or to the army camp at Plantain Point. A 70 year
old woman who had not drunk water since early morning was being conducted by
armed Tamils at Plantain Point. A soldier shocked by the state of the woman
screamed at the Tamil thugs. [According to senior political sources, the armed
Tamils did not belong to any militant group]
Thus the system bestirs itself now and then to thrust
home who is boss and to remind the people of their powerlessness. If one talked
to Trinco folk just before the incident or a few days after, one would have
been assured that things are normal and peaceful. The consciousness that under
this dispensation the worst they have been through could happen again is submerged,
as is the experience of 1990. In order to survive most people made a conscious
decision to know as little as possible about what happened. Although people
are dimly aware, it is difficult to get them to talk cogently about what happened
during the second half of 1990, the days when a white van went about abducting
people.
People are more aware of the story of half a dozen
or so Kumars. The army wanting to question one Kumar detained about 6 or 7 persons
with their name ending with Kumar - like Chandrakumar. All but one disappeared.
One of them was the son of a post master.
Less known in detail are things which happened in poorer
areas. When the army came into Trincomalee on 13th June 1990, several young
men from Anna Nagar through fear tried to hide in the hospital, some dressed
as patients. One was spotted through a window climbing into the ceiling. The
army took 35 or so young men out of the hospital and shot them dead. This is
what was behind the 38 bodies reported by a witness, recorded in our Report
No.4 of 9th August 1990. These young men were mostly from a community
of Indian Tamils who are hospital,sanitary and urban council labourers. This
incident was related by a medical officer.
A local activist of a political party related what
happened in Chelvanayakapuram, another poor suburb. Shortly after the army's
entry in June 1990 many of the women were raped. Women were forcibly taken away
in the nights and brought back in the morning. As the younger women left, even
50 year old women were taken. This stopped after the early weeks. A few months
later, just before December 1990, a group of soldiers came to drink illicit
liquor that was brewed in the suburb. Once drunken, the soldiers asked for women.
Some of the local men replied that nothing like that was available there. The
soldiers took away about six men, all of whom disappeared.
Throughout all this terror the poeple were powerless.
A dim consciousness of these events beginning from 1983 have been assimilated
in the form of certain taboos. Something that goes to make a wholesome being
had snapped. Instances of the effects of violence have been studied in several
parts of the country. A study was done on how Sinhalese in a part of Badulla
District have responded to violence, in particular that which marked the JVP
uprising in the late 80s. The study observed, "They are singularly reserved
about what happened in the late 80s. It is only now that they are willing to
open up and discuss what happened during the anti-Tamil violence of 1983. Also
surprisingly, their voting pattern during the recent Provincial Council elections
was not determined by a sense of indignation for what the state did to Sinhalese
youth. The pattern was rather determined by how best they could survive the
uncertainties of the near future."
One also finds similar patterns in Jaffna where in
order to survive people try to know as little as possible about the LTTE's
repression. There are several undercurrents resulting from the repression in
Trincomalee.
We are concerned here in particular about the effects
on the administration of Trincomalee. We mentioned the role of corruption in
the last report. When the North-East Provincial Council was a going concern
during much of 1989, the administration was relatively uncorrupt despite ongoing
killings. There was a sense of purpose and a hope that something could be done
for the people of the North-East. Today that collective elan is lost. The
administration is marked by enforced complicity in blatant administrative irregularities
that futher the state's ideological aims. This is accompanied by a resort to
individualisation and corruption for private gain that is the price of complicity.[Top]
5.4 Administrative Irregularities
and Corruption
There is little that is shocking about the magnitude
of corruption in high places in Colombo that runs into tens of millions of US
dollars. Nevertheless one sits up when a government official in Trincomalee
says sarcastically, "Do not think that we are poor over here, even brand
new automobiles are given as birthday presents!" This relates to an
event widely talked about in Trincomalee where a private trader who distributes
rations to refugees presented a key government official with a new car. The
purposeful looseness that prevails in administrative arrangements is best understood
in the context of irregularities that further ideological aims in relation to
land.
From 1st January 1990, following from the 13th amendment
to the constitution, land alienation was ceded to the provincial administrations.
The new system was that to alienate crown land in a division, the AGA (now Divisional
Secretary) must first make an application to the Land Commissioner of the Provincial
Administration and receive approval.
But this is not how things are being done in Trincomalee.
In the land controversies within town limits taken up in the last report, the
land conferences of 28th December 1992 and 6th January 1993, referred to, appointed
a committee of 3 to interview applicants and make alienations. One member of
the committee was the reputedly weak Acting AGA. The key member of the committee
whose influence was dreaded was a Sinhalese land officer. He was formerly a
surveyor, once interdicted for bribery and recently appointed land officer by
the central government. In reality the role of this land officer and the committee
above have no place or legitimacy in the current administrative arrangements,
since land is a devolved subject. The whole thing was a mystery.
Also mysterious was the appointment of a Sinhalese
lady from Kurunegala, the native place of the GA, as Assistant Land Commissioner
in the land branch of the provincial administration. She was previously a clerk
in the Trinco Kacheri. Her appointment is also said to be by recommendation,
whereas she does not satisfy established criteria for such appointments. Nominees
for the said position should come from either the SLAS (Sri Lanka Administrative
Service) or through departmental examination from persons who have a given length
of service in the land branch. (The positions in descending order are Land Commissioner,
Asst. Land Commissioner, Colonisation Officer and Field Officer. The first two
are SLAS appointments.)
The serving secretaries in the provincial administration
left in early 1990 for security reasons as the LTTE moved in, and later
the provincial council was dissolved. Subsequently new secretaries were appointed
to the six provincial ministries, who under the governor run the administration.
According to the principle established by the government, the appointment of
secretaries should conform to the ethinic ratio in the province. As it turns
out 3 secretaries are Tamil, 1 a Muslim (Education) and 2 Sinhalese (Land and
Health), whereas just about 10% of the North-East population is Sinhalese. (How
many secretaries in the Central and Uva provinces have been Tamil?) On land
matters thus, things have been rigged up to ensure that when needed, Tamil officers
can be bypassed. How else could one explain such methodical irregularity? [See
2.3 of Report No.11]
Also of interest is the position of the GA (Government
Agent). Appointments to this position in recent times have made the Tamils very
uneasy - Trinco and Amparai being the two districts in the island which never
had a Tamil GA despite their Tamil speaking majority. Following the appointment
of Divisinal Secretaries to former AGA's divisions in accordance with recent
administrative changes, the GA becomes redundant. It is learnt that the GA/Trincomalee
is to continue in order to co-ordinate rehabilitation and supervise public administration.
A senior Tamil administrator was asked
what would happen if he protested at the blatant administrative irregularities.
He was surprised that such a question should be asked. "You must have
heard about the white van that went about collecting people", he replied,
"Well, we got the message!"
What comes through is a picture where the central government,
the district administration and the military are executing a concerted policy.
Human rights in the purely technical sense may have imporved. Brigadier Siri
Peiris, who when in Mannar encouraged people to view him with some dread, may
have become an urbane gentleman in Trincomalee. The costumes may have changed.
But the show on the road remains the same.[Top]
Stories of corruption in Trincomalee are many, involving
building contracts, supplying of damaged laboratory equipment to schools on
money coming from the Asian Development Bank, the individual wealth of public
officials and so it goes. But in the case of refugees who depend on relief for
food and shelter, they suffer tremendously because of corruption.
Following on allegations of the head of a local NGO
quoted above, a respected official was asked about this. He confirmed the allegations.
He said, "If all the relief provided by the rehabilitation ministry
and donor agencies reach the people, they will be amply cared for. A family
for instance is meant to receive for a month 4x500 gram packets of Lakspray
powered milk, 8 kg of green gram and so on. But not one division is getting
the full amount. I would say they would be lucky to get half." He also
said that there has been discrimination against Tamil refugees, adding that
in 1985 all Sinhalese GS's divisions were supplied in addition to rations, oil,
firewood and water for displaced persons. He also gave the experience of a GS(Headman)
in the 80s who had supplied Rs.66000/- worth of coconuts on credit to refugees.
The ADSS wanted Rs 5000/- to pass the bill for payment. The GS refused and the
matter stands unresolved. The corruption today he said had vertical tie ups
involving huge sums of money. He said once while addressing newly appointed
GSs in the presence of superior officials, the GS above had told them, "If
you want to make money, make it, put into your pocket and keep quiet. But don't
get involved in making money for those higher up. When something goes wrong,
investigators will come from Colombo, who need to prove they are clever. Whom
will they screw up? Not those higher up, but only the poor GS!"
Another official described the racket involving cadjan
for refugees. The ministry of rehabilitation provides Rs 500/- for a family,
for which the family should receive 200 olais (palm leaves) of cadjan in 8 stacks
containing 25 each. Since coconut palm is available in the area, if some of
the money was utilised locally it would have provided employment for refugees.
But upto April most orders were said to have been placed in Kurunegala, the
GA's native place. What the refugees typically receive would be 5 stacks of
about 17 olais each. Each stack it is said would have good olais at the top
and bottom with defective ones in-between. The number of families to be resettled
in the district is more than 30000. Supplying cadjan to 10000 families would
therefore involve dividends in corruption of Rs 2 million or more to be shared
out. This practice was corroborated independently by other officers.
Regarding the supply of rations to refugees a typical
instruction given to a division is to distribute 60% through the local MPCSs
(Multi Purpose Co-operative Societies) and 40% through private traders. Where
the instruction originates is not clear. Some put it on the GA and the GA, it
has been reported, put it on the Governor. Others point out that this has no
meaning since the MPCSs are functioning and they had been doing this distribution
for a long time. Moreover they are more accountable locally. From our own inquiries
complaints of being served underweight have come from refugees who receive rations
from private traders.
One official described how refugees are cheated of
dried milk. A family say entitled to 4 packets of milk will be asked to sign
in duplicate for 2 packets at the beginning of the month. The trader will then
date the receipts, say 1st May 1993 and 16th May 1993. On paper therefore he
has supplied 4 packets in two serves. The total profits from this could amount
to considerably more than Rs 6 million per month spread among several persons
in the network. It comes as no surprise that cars could be given as presents.
Since the game involves some delicate diplomacy, even Sinhalese associated in
it have been suspected of having an understanding with the Tigers.[Top]
We touched on this issue in the last report and gave
some pointers. Attention was also drawn to acquisition of huge extents of land
by state bodies, including private and temple lands which served as a means
of unfair land alienation to Sinhalese (e.g. SLPA land). We expand on this here
with more concrete detail.
To term as resettlement or rehabilitation what the
government is doing is to put an undeserved positive construct on its activity.
What we have recorded starting from its destruction of civilian life and habitations
to what has been achieved to date is more fairly described as unsettlement.
We mentioned in the last report the problems of refugees in Muthur in contrast
to Sinhalese settlers who are readily receiving housing grants from the rehabilitation
ministry.
The
position of Muthur refugees and its implications.
Following displacement shortly after June 1990 the
position in early May 1993 was as follows: 11 836 refugee families were `resettled'
in 42 GS's divisions. This meant that they had gone back to their residential
premises and were living on rations in cadjan huts. 1388 families were living
in 6 refugee camps (St. Anthonys & Methodist Church, Muslim High School
(2 camps) & Pachchanoor among them). Out of 42 GS's divisions 10 have been
issued the SIA (Settling In Allowance - Rs 2000/- per family). Only 1 GS's division
has been issued the PEG (Productive Enterprise Grant - Rs 4000/- (US$ 90/-)
per family). This is the progress in more than two years considering that a
large number of them have been living on their premises from about September
1990. The Rs 15000/- per family for housing, also due from the ministry of rehabilitation,
will not come within the foreseeable future. A senior government official in
Trincomalee said in fact that they have been asked to go slow on rehabilitation
because the ministry faces a liquidity (cash) problem. That is the reality that
underlies the public relations about rehabilitation.
What then of the refugees in transit camps who have
returned from India? It would appear from the fate of internal refugees that
the UNHCR is in no position to give assurances. They will be resettled
in the sense of living in cadjan huts on their lands. But for the rest, as a
face saving exercise they may perhaps be given priority over internal refugees.
More attempts at unsettlement
The authorities evidently did not run short of ideas
to unsettle Tamils after the worst was over in 1990.
At Linganagar LDO (Land Development Ordinance) permits
were issued on a piece of land to 14 Tamil families. Adjoining this land was
a piece of land 47 acres in extent held by the army with a ridge running through
its middle. One day, sometime during 1992, the army advanced the sign boards
marking its territory and claimed in addition the land on which Tamil families
had their allotments. In the resulting dispute a survey was done and it was
established that the 47 acres belonging to the army did not include the land
first named. Using a piece of military logic, the army wanted 47 acres to be
measured excluding land on one side of the ridge in the piece acknowledged as
belonging to them. The dispute is still unresolved.
Interestingly there were plans to settle on the land
which the army was trying to capture, families of urban council workers of Indian
origin. Over 500 of them were being displaced as the result of hospital expansion.
Although many Tamil officials participated in the land conferences of 28/12/92
and 6/1/93, the minutes did not reflect the true position of the land. It was
merely recorded that the army wanted the land for use as a firing range. Other
officials said privately that a land so near the main road cannot be used as
a firing range.
The army's record for displacing Tamils began a long
time ago. Plantain Point, the army's main camp near Orr's Hill, has an interesting
history. The area was in occupation by Tamil squatters who were registered for
land alienation in terms of the circular of 1978 [Report No 11]. This
was then the general practice throughout the country. Shortly before the DDC
elections of 1981, Jayasuriya, a Divisional Land Officer, came with a police
party and ordered the Tamils to vacate within 24 hours. The land was taken over
by the army. Then Bandaragoda was GA and Nanda Abeywickrema, Secretary, Lands,
under Minister Gamini Dissanayake.
State aided
settlement of Sinhalese encroachers on private land
10 acres of prime land is owned by Tamils at Linganagar
within UC limits between Yard Cove and Kandy Road. The owners meant to develop
it as an industrial estate. During the disturbances of June 1983 the land was
occupied by Sinhalese squatters. Legal proceedings were promptly instituted.
On 11th December 1989 the Court of Appeal verdict (CA No. 229/84) restored the
land to the owners who put up a boundary wall at a cost of Rs. 360,000/-.
Following the outbreak of the current war in late 1990,
the wall was broken down, and about 25 squatters occupied the land. In due course
the ministry of rehabilitation that is keeping thousands of Tamils waiting for
their Rs 2 000/= SIA, released housing money for the Sinhalese squatters, and
the NHDA has put up houses for them. The present list of householders number
24 Sinhalese and a Tamil lady (Inthumathurakanthi) who is not in occupation
of her house.
A mere 25 squatters have been sufficient for the state
to formulate proposals to acquire 10 acres of Tamil land.[Top]
Multi-Ethnic Housing Schemes:
Propaganda and Reality
Shortly after June 199O in the wake of Tamil houses
being destroyed, the authorities came up with an interesting public relations
exercise to give their role a benign colouring. Every delegation going to Trincomalee
was told about multi-ethnic housing schemes around town where all communities
were supposed to contribute voluntary labour and houses were to be given to
the three communities according to the district ethnic ratio (roughly equal
numbers for each community). The government was thus it seems for equality and
national unity. The proposal itself was questionable.The population in the UC
limits of Trincomalee is 12% Moors & others, 64% Tamils and 24% Sinhalese.
Most Sinhalese in the district were in 4 AGA's divisions some distance firm
town where colonisation schemes were instituted.
The other questionable feature is this. There was a
need for new housing in Trincomalee and a large section of those needing them
are UC & health labourers of Indian origin who were being displaced for
hospital expansion.The principal problem of others whether Sinhalese, Tamil
or Muslim within town limits is not a need for new housing. Many of them were
displaced. They were meant by the government's procedure to return to their
former premises and resettle in temporary accomodation. They were then eligible
to receive rehabilitation aid in stages. What was then the rationale behind
these multi-ethnic schemes under wartime conditions, when the majority of those
displaced, mostly Tamils, were languishing in temporary huts for over two years?
Further, under present conditions of fear and the record of the forces, would
Tamils or Muslims wish to live alongside Sinhalese? The real intentions are
not hard to guess. We look at some of them.
The LEADS houses: LEADS', a church based NGO, first approached the provincial government in 1989
and proposed to build 1000 houses - 500 for Tamils, 500 for Sinhalese and Muslims
were, it is said, not mentioned. The provincial administration maintained that
houses should be built for each community in proportion to houses of that community
destroyed. According to a senior official LEADS did not make a commitment and
the matter dragged on. The governor is said to have expressed his displeasure
with the administration. The provincial council was later dissolved and the
war came. The late Brigadier Lucky Wijeratne was a strong exponent of multi-ethnic
housing schemes. LEADS reappeared on the scene and put up houses near Thambalakamam
as mentioned in the last report. The recipients up to that time were 58 Sinhalese
and 27 families of gypsies in Telugu Nagar.
We make a slight correction. These houses were not
put up in Palampottaru I & II as mentioned in the last report. The latter
are long the Kandy Road covering 2/3 mile from Palampottaru bridge towards Thampalakamam.
The LEADS houses start from here and cover a further 1/2 mile towards Thampalakamam.
To the East of the road is Jayapura, 125 allotments of 20 perches, and to the
west Sinhapura 75x20 perches. The project involves 200 houses. For Sinhapura
10 acres of forest reserve planted with teak were dereserved. Officials said
that this would never have happened if the houses were meant for Tamils. Captain
Nanayakkara, then in charge of the local army camp, was freely allowed to use
materials from the project to put up a Buddhist temple at the juction. Rs 15000
for each house was released by the ministry of rehabilitation.
So much for the multi-ethnic scheme. But how were these
Sinhalese settlers going to live? Some had jobs such as railway labourers. The
land alienation guidelines were a maximum of 20 perches of residential land
and 2 acres of low (agricultural land). There is no agricultural land in the
area for these families, even if there was land they could work in security.
They could be given agricultural land quite some distance away if the war ends.
So what do they do for a living now on 20 perches of land? One could hardly
blame them if they start stripping the nearby reserve for teak wood. According
to people in the area, this is going on.
Palampottaru I & II
: As mentioned in the last report most allottees were Tamils who are now refugees
and are unable to cultivate. According to official sources Brigadier Wijeratne
and subsequently his successors have asked for a cancellation of land permits
in order to institute a multi-ethnic scheme.
Ganesh Lane, Andankulam
(near 3 1/2 mile post, Kandy Road): Champa Lane and Ganesh Lane were Tamil residential
areas from which residents were driven out during bouts of violence. Now a multi-ethnic
scheme for 30 houses (10 for each community) has been instituted. The Rotary
Club is said to be in charge of 3 houses and Lions Club the balance. A Lions
official was asked how they could build houses on lands that were said to legally
belong to Tamil owners. He replied that they would check the deeds before building.
The other question is that if Tamil owners have so far been afraid to reclaim
their property, will other Tamils go there under the present circumstances if
there is a multi-ethnic scheme?
There is much more that could be said about settlement
and unsettlement. Some Sinhalese families living near the old Muthur jetty were
displaced in June `90 They went to Kantalai and are said to have received land.
Some returned to Muthur and stayed in vacated and partly damaged government
quarters. During the Trinco Presidential Mobile Secretariat in January they
submitted a petition claiming that they had lived in the quarters for 30 years
and that the Tamil and Muslim AGAs had not co-operated in giving them land.
Without any verification, secretary, ministry of Lands ordered that land should
be alienated to about 12 Sinhalese families. This has caused disaffection among
local Muslims, also in need of land and has been raised in parliament by the
SLMC.[Top]
It was mentioned earlier that on 31st January 1993,
the president met Tamil leaders and undertook to resolve most key grievances
in accordance with their suggestions. A few weeks later the cabinet met and
considered a Cabinet Paper (93/340/043) submitted by the Minister of Housing
and Construction dated 23rd February 1993. The title was "The aquisition
of land in Trincomalee". The decisions taken ran totally counter not
just to the undertaking given by the president. But they seriously vitiated
the authority and functions devolved to the provincial administration as a means
to resolve the ethnic conflict in this country.
We examine some features of the policies and procedures
listed. The two clauses running directly counter to the aims and the spirit
of devolution are:
(10). A Committee chaired by the Land Commissioner
and including the Government Agent, Add1. Director-General (Planning) of the
UDA, General Manager/NHDA, Provincial Land Commissioner and Surveyor-General
should be established, with powers to co-opt other members to examine and decide
on all requests for acquisition and alienation of land in Trincomalee.
Authority was given to
the Minister for Housing and Construction to establish this committee.
(11). All proposals for acquisition of land as well
as the alienation of state or acquired land, should be examined and approved
by the committee proposed under (10) above. The Committee will consult the Minister
of Housing and Construction as necessary.
Clauses (5) and (8) went
far beyond vitiating the devolved functions and established special rules for
Trincomalee.
(5). If an owner whose land has been encroached upon,
requests state assistance to resolve the problem, such requests sould be examined
on a case by case and pragmatic basis. For example, in agreement with the owner,
a land re-adjustment exercise, as undertaken by the NHDA in urban low income
land, can be initiated. These requests should be examined and decided upon by
the Committee referred to under (10) below.
(8). The alienation of state land to families in the
Trincomalee Town should be on the ethnic ratio of the District. However, the
allocation of land for commercial, industrial, recreational, tourist and other
development activities, should be based on the national policies and procedures
for similar allocation in the country.
Alienation of crown land was a function devolved to
the province. The disposition of private land is governed by the law of the
land. The Minister of Housing and Construction usurped not only the first but
also the law on these matters. (8) has been commented upon in connection with
multi-ethnic schemes.
This decision therefore effectively legitimises all
the irregularities that we had earlier dealt with. In fact the Presidential
Mobile Secretariat itself marked a usurpation which would have flared up in
friction if a North-East Provincial Council was functioning. The PMS avoided
these pitfalls only because all other provincial councils until recently were
UNP controlled and the NEPC was dissolved. The Muthur land allocation above,
ordered by the PMS, is a totally arbitrary action. The only motivating principle
is `settle Sinhalese wherever you can in the district'.
How sensitive or serious is the government about giving
confidence to the minorities and ending this war?[Top]
A dark cloud hangs over the future of Tamil speaking
people in the Trincomalee District. State aided Sinhalese colonisation so positioned
as to dominate major resources of water, brought mounting ruin to a significant
section of Tamil and Muslim farmers. Next came state instigated violence which
destroyed lives and homes. Military backed administrative manipulation placed
a legal stamp on their deprivation and insecurity. Corruption, an inevitable
concomitant of such manoeuvring erected more obstacles in the way of helpless
refugees created by the state.
It is a healthy sign that many Tamils are reflecting
on their own role in furthering this tragedy. The homicidal turn in the Tamil
militancy resulting from Tamil ideology aided their isolation. It further prevented
the Tamils from finding allies among the deprived Sinhalese brought in by the
government to corner them. Ironically many of the so called Sinhalese killed
were intrinsically Tamils who were not hostile to them. [e.g. the Kokkilai massacre
in December 1984]. A former MP reflected, "In 1970 some of them told
me, `Iyah, we are Tamils. The Catholic Church suddenly stopped Tamil services
and had only Sinhalese services. But we had to worship. They also stopped Tamil
schools. But our children had to study and only Sinhalese schools were available.
If you give us places in Tamil schools we are only too happy to remain Tamils.
But your people are also rejecting us'." The former MP added, "They
were people from around Negombo. Yes, we rejected them. And once our boys started
massacring them, we made enemies of them". Indeed the prospect of finding
allies among the Sinhalese had always existed, as the turn of events in the
market area described at the beginning shows.
True, an injustice was done to the minorities in the
manner in which colonisation schemes were instituted. But it would be wrong
to say that relations between Tamils and Sinhalese were always bad in colony
areas. This may come as a surprise to Tamils from elsewhere who only read about
these schemes. The former MP quoted above said, "We had no problems
with the bona fide Sinhalese farmer-settlers in the Allai scheme. In fact they
were very close to us. They used to come into the Tamil villages very freely
to buy fruit, curd and such like. My father was a registrar of marriages who
could write Tamil, but not Sinhalese. Even after a Sinhalese registrar was appointed,
most Sinhalese preferred to come to my father while he was in service. The violent
elements among the Sinhalese were seldom the farmers. One lot was brought into
Neelappalai by C.P de Silva during 1958 and settled over-night in alottments
meant for Tamils. They were known trouble makers".
Many reflective people see the ultra-nationalist politics
of the LTTE as incredibly insensitive to the plight of the Tamils. One
lady in a responsible position commented on the worsening position of Tamils
as a result of colonisation by the state: "The leaders in Jaffna are
not thinking at all about Trincomalee. Surely, it is unacceptably inhuman to
ignore ongoing developments and think complacently that one could solve this
one day by shooting Sinhalese."
A local TULF activist observed poignantly, "This
politics has only brought moral and physical ruin to the Tamils. It has made
it easy for one section to go to the West and talk Tamil nationalism, Tamil
valour and the purity and virtue of Tamil women. The reality of the position
of Tamils is forgotten. In the Tricomalee District, many Tamil women and widows,
left unprotected and without means by this politics, are being driven to sell
their virtue to non-Tamil men."
He then read out a letter from a colleague now in Canada,
"......Our people here are getting funds from the state for cultural
activities, forming societies and are trumpeting things Tamil. That is only
for this generation. The growing generation will not know Tamil and hardly anyone
cares. Mun(Land), Pon(Gold) and Pen(woman), the great vices of Tamil culture,
are only too easily and abundantly available here. Our community is going to
pieces. I am sick of all this hypocrisy. The only achievement of our community
here will be to add a shade of tan to the human species in Canada. I am only
waiting for some members of my family in Madras to get their visas and come
to Canada. Then I will lose no time in returning to Trincomalee."
That is a statement of the unresolved dilemma confronting
the Tamil community. In the face of internal and external oppression the Tamils
have also been given some long ropes. Will they hang themselves by taking them
or find life through prudence and humanity.[Top]
The foregoing reports dealing with Trincomalee were
compiled during the middle of this year. No major rehabilitation has taken place
since then. According to leading citizens only a group of refugees in Ichchilampattai
AGA' s division have since then received their SIA(Rs 2000/- per family).We
also learnt that a group of 80 Tamil families from Muthunagar ( now Ranmuthugama!),
presently refugees in the Thampalakamam AGA's division have been asked by the
army to return although the refugees themselves have reservations regarding
security. The Tamils in Kuchchaveli are to be resettled in January 1994. At
present a hospital is being built there with Swedish aid.
Land matters:
An interesting development is that top ranking officials based in Trincomalee
have called for the transfer of the Sinhalese Land Officer mentioned above and
in the last report. According to a Tamil party spokesman, they reliably learnt
that the transfer was ordered by the Lands Ministry and is being objected to
by the Security Council - namely the army. Leading officials including Sinhalese,
regarded his activities as creating discord in Trincomalee. He was said to be
breaking all regulations in alienating state land to Sinhalese (often from the
forces), issuing permits on his own initiative and putting people in possession.
He had also, it is learnt, recommended acquisition of Tamil owned lands to the
committee set up by the Minister for Housing & Construction (see 5.7),
claiming consent from the owners, without even having spoken to them. Although
Divisional Secretaries (DSs), who replaced AGAs were appointed early this year,
this officer is believed to be still issuing land permits and back - dating
them. (Since land alienation has now to be initiated by the DS).The GA who reportedly
said that he was unaware of the activities of this officer is said to have called
for all the files. Why this officer was so bold is also an open secret. Leading
Sinhalese officials have said privately that he was unstoppable because be had
the express backing of a key military official with wide powers - his namesake.
This goes to show how the military and sections of
the government have abused their powers over 3 years of military rule in Trincomalee.
Thampalakamam is another division where the government's attentions are directed
on land. According to the same sources, former Secretary, Public Administration,
recommended the appointment of a Tamil DS for Thampalakamam, which was over-
ruled by the Security Council. A Sinhalese was then appointed.
The Governor, NEP, according to Tamil leaders, has
been generally fair in his decisions. Only, they say, he may not have fought
back when directed by the central government.[Top]
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