The Displaced of Batticaloa
By Urmila
Bodinagoda
Batticaloa Distirict until
1987 had a well integrated population, just as did the rest of the Eastern
Province, until the LTTE (Liberated Tigers of Tamil Eelam) decided to claim
the Eastern province as part of their proposed homeland.
Batticaloa was home to a mixed community of Muslim, Sinhala and Tamil
people as was the rest of the Eastern Province.
All three Nationalities spoke both Sinhala and Tamil.
To my knowledge the Tamil
Tigers first attacked Batticaloa in 1987.
In this attack close upon 20 Sinhala civilians were murdered while the
rest escaped with little else than the clothes they had on.
For this report I take
specifically the Town of Eravur in the Batticaloa District as well documented
evidence of what has taken place to date was easily obtainable.
Seventy-two traders were
trading in the town center. All
trading stalls were stalls obtained from the Government under the LDO permit
scheme. Of these traders
fifty-two were Sinhala, one was Tamil and the rest were Muslims.
When the attack took place
the stalls were destroyed and the traders and their families most of whom were
living in rooms above the stalls, took refuge at the Police Station.
When it was safe enough to
do so, a camp of sorts was made at the Aligar School where these people
remained for two years as displaced people.
At the end of this time they were issued with the Family Card.
This card issued to all displaced persons is used more or less as an
Identity Card. At the time it was
used to give dry rations for six months, giving sufficient time theoretically,
for the displaced to get back on their feet.
No sooner had they
received their card the Principal of the school made it impossible for them to
remain there. He had bee pressuring them to leave for quite a while but they
hung on until they were officially registered as displaced. This second
displacement did not come through the LTTE. As it was no longer
possible to remain in the camp, the people who by now had organized themselves
into an association under the guidance of Mr.Elmis Walgama, a displaced
himself whom they appointed President, moved their camp to the adjacent
village of Habarana.
An interesting point to
note is that about that time internal regulations within the Department of
Rehabilitation made it necessary for the displaced to apply for aid from the
place displaced from. This was a
regulation made internally, within the department was not legislation passed
through Parliament. Upon inquiry,
I was informed that it was done so for easier administration of aid.
That may be so but it made the Sinhala displaced from the North and
East ineligible for Government aid, while the Tamil civilians in the North and
East affected by terrorism and the Muslim civilians similarly affected in the
East became eligible. The LTTE cannot be blamed for this either.
I first met Mr. Walgama in
1999. He came to me carrying a file six to eight inches thick.
He stands out in my mind as he was one of the extreme few and perhaps
the only one who documented every move he made, every letter he wrote and
every dignitary he met in order to rehabilitate himself and all others who
were in the camp with him. To
date neither he nor his group have received any assistance from the State.
Repeated requests made to
be established back in Erawur fell on deaf ears.
Repeated requests made to
be established elsewhere met with the same fate.
They, as I understand to
date has not received even what was due on their family card.
Ironically though
assistance for this group had been approved on paper in Parliament.
This was during President Jayawardene’s era.
When nothing came out of this approval, it was at a much later date
brought to the notice of the President Mrs. Chandrka Bandaranayaka Kumaratunge,
who also passed on the request to the relevant authority for approval and
action. Nothing happened.
All documentation of what took place and of the repeated requests for
action to be taken on both decisions are available.
On the 27th of
April 1994, The Sinhala daily newspaper ‘Dinamina’ published by Lake
House, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. – A semi Government
establishment, carried a news item given by the then Minister of
Rehabilitation Mr. M. H. M. Ashroff to the effect that 51 Million Sri Lankan
Rupees has been expended in the restoration of the Batticaloa District and for
the rehabilitation of its people.
To my knowledge,
in addition to Eravur, none of the displaced from the Sinhala villages of
Jayanthi Pura, Magammana, Seththi Maduwa Tampitiya, Kopawila and the Punnakuda
fishing village have not been rehabilitated.
Most of them are still living in self-made camps in Habarana,
Palugaswewa, Galewela, Dalugama and Dambulla.
Some have moved to the South.
Today these shops have been
rebuilt and handed over to traders mostly not to the original owners as per
regulation of the land but to others. These
decisions have been taken at the Pradeshiya Sabha level, contrary to the
existing law of the land. This
has not been the work of the LTTE but, of the Pradeshiya Sabha.
I got in touch with Mr.
Lankanesan, the Director at the time, of the Department of Rehabilitation
through a mutual friend. My
friend made an appointment for me to meet him in his office. We both sat with
him and discussed this problem. Mr.
Lankanesan was courtesy itself and over tea and biscuits he gave me all the
necessary information needed for this group to obtain and receive aid.
I must make a point here that Mr. Walgama had informed me that by this
time all Tamil and Muslim civilians affected by terrorism in Erawur had
already been rehabilitated. Mr.
Lankanesan confirmed this by saying that all those who had applied for aid had
received aid and had been rehabilitated in Erawur.
He in fact mentioned that for the past two years aid allocated by the
Government for the purpose of resettlement of displaced people was going back
to the treasury as there were no claimants.
Both he and my friend were of the view that the aid application was not
completed correctly. Having seen
Mr. Walgama’s file I had my doubts. However
I decided to return with all necessary documents at a later date and we took
our leave of Mr. Lankanesan.
I made my second
appointment with Mr. Lankanesan armed with all documentation.
There was no tea or biscuits this time but I had come for neither tea
nor biscuits. This was no social
visit. This interview did not
take very much time. I was
categorically told that he was unable to be of any assistance to this group of
people, as their application for aid had not been made from the place they
were first displaced from. I
pointed out to him that exception had been made with regard to the other
communities. He admitted this was
so, that it was only possible with recommendation from his Minister or from
the M.P. for the area. Neither
the Minister nor the M.P. would give me an appointment to discuss this issue.
The third time I went to the department of rehabilitation Mr.
Lankanesan did not see me.
With the change of Government and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe negotiating for peace, I met the new Minister for Rehabilitation Mr. Jayalath Jayawardene with the Secretary of our Foundation, Mr. Vasantha Senanayake. Nothing came out ot the discussion that took place. Again they were dismissed as being out of the conflict area.
I finally made an appeal to
the Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickramesinghe.
This was not in regard of the displaced from Erawur, which was a group
of 52 families, but for easier facilitation of resettlement a more manageable
group of 12 families, those displaced from Koppawila, Batticaloa.
Further more, I was not asking them to be given land in the North or
East where the LTTE is asking for a Separate State.
I had met with the Honorable Minister for Land Mr. Rajitha Senaratne
and the Permanent Secretary to his Ministry Mr. Kumarasiri and negotiated for
land in Polonnaruwa – area not under depute.
The Prime Minister passed
on my request to his advisor Mr. Paskaralingam.
Mr. Paskeralingam asked me to submit a proposal.
I submitted a complete proposal. It was approved and he agreed to
obtain the necessary funding from Norwegian Aid.
The Norwegian Counsellor
Mr. Tor kubberud requested for further clarification and documentation a
couple of times through the Department of External Resources.
I complied with all their requests. On the 6th of October,
2003, While Mr. Paskaralingam was out of the Island a refusal was hand
delivered to me. No reason for
the refusal was given.
I contacted The Counsellor
to discuss this matter further. He
said there was no need for further discussion as housing for the displaced
Sinhala is not within their par view. I
asked him why he wasted my time and his asking for further documentation and
clarification if housing was not within their par view in the first place.
He had no answer for that.
I need to mention here that
I presented the situation of these two groups of people to Mr. Neill Wright,
Representative, UNCHR on the 17th of February, 2003 through e-mail.
I have not had any kind of reply to date. I doubt if my mail was even
seen by him.
This report done on the displaced from Batticaloa is not peculiar to Batticaloa alone. This is good for most internally displaced Sinhala people from the entire North and East of our Island Nation.
Urmila Bodinagoda
Vice President
Sathsarana Foundation
13th February, 2003