War is over. Are you comfortable now?

War is over. Are you comfortable now?- Can you wash your hand

(Under the above title written this article written by Inter University Students Federation is very sensitive and crucial at the time, but it is very controversial ideological approach done by the pro supported JVP Unionist today though is a tragedy as there was no political view with humanist and Marxist philosophy, so they always choose the very cheaper way to get power and to go to the people’s mind.
In that sense they already become the situation of a prostitute and even now don’t understand the reality and round of the Sri Lankan politics.
Finally we here publish this article as an important point in one hand and as a tragedy in the other hand of Sri Lankan leftist representatives)


War is over, war is over, war is over. That is the chant moaned by the government and its associates through the last 11 months. But we would like to ask one question. Is it all right now? Or is it comfortable now? The simple meaning of this is “you think it’s all over after the war is over?" We clearly remind you about one thing. Though the war is over, the problem is not over. It’s in its primary stage, or it is worse than that.
People made many commitments to defeat the separatist terrorist front. All the people from north and south queued up together for that. Tamil people from north left Prabhakaran alone and fled, trusting the government army. At that time the Muslim people from the east trusted the government too. All the Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim people from the south put up with a bunch of ministers extending to hundreds, their thefts, their rowdyism, with the price of goods, many kinds of defense taxes and also the so called strength of the government doing war. How did the government pay them back? What did the government do for the people who queued up for patriotism, and who thought of the country rather than their tummies.
Now the people of the east sigh as they look at foundation stones and light posts abandoned all over the place. The people of the south watch on television the way the next prince of the Rajapaksha generation is being dressed with kurahan satake by using the votes looted from them by hammering the dead tiger skin.
Today the people of north have been put into misery that cannot be explained in words. They have been made into beggars. They have been made into a situation where they are worse than the dust of the A-9 road.
Take this road….
We would like to request you to come walking along the A-9 road consciously if you want to see with your own eyes the sufferings faced by the people of the north. We especially have to refer “consciously”, because we have seen many times the ridiculous things done on trips by people who have been lost because of the synthetic dreams of government, like Uthuru Wasanthe. Our mothers who pose for photographs in many gestures beside the
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devastated Kilinochchi water tank would not think for a moment that because of the broken water tank, the children in Kilinochchi are without water to drink.
Think of when the female devotees who are overjoyed with Buddha’s enlightenment because of the opportunity to worship Nagadeepaya travelling to Jaffna through A-9 on their noses’ directions, and it would not come to their minds of the 15 year old mothers in the slums on both sides of the road who feed their children of three years with their under-grown breasts.
This is not a fault of our country’s people. This is the result of the hypnotism carried out on the people by the government. The Uthuru Wasanthe is on one side. The train for your hearts is on another side. An advertisement on the North showing massive developments is on one side. The news on the kethumathi reign is on another side. We would like to request from you again to come walking along the A-9 road not in dreams, but in reality. The government boasted of finishing the resettlement of the people in the IDP camps of the north by January in the election times. But all of IDPs who still remain our brotherly people are still suffering in the IDP camps including Settikulam. Their children do not have even the lowest facilities needed to study. And also many schools haven’t been opened. Or they are used as school IDPs. And also the devastated schools haven’t been built yet. And they are also used as schools for rehabilitation camps.
As an example, Periyakulam college of Kanagarayankulam is still a collection of four white walls. It hasn’t been built. And also Omanthai central college is still a rehabilitation centre rehabilitating LTTE suspects. Therefore school children have to study in the nearby slums made with coconut branches.
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The Periyankulam college of Kanagarayam Kulam still only has four walls.
The students of Omanthai central college who study under trees and slums of coconut branches for a year because of their schools have been maintained as rehabilitation camp.
Re orphaning alias resettlement
Resettlement is a mere bunkum. It is not a resettlement. It is re-orphaning. What the government did as resettlement is to leave the people of slums on the two sides of the road. They are given only 9 corrugated metal sheets and 10 pieces of wood in this so called resettlement. Some houses haven’t been given even that much. They have been given only a tent sheet by the NGOs.
Can you ever imagine the lives spent by these Tamil people in these small huts just like children’s playing huts. No economic mechanism is made related to their families. The protection of the children and women, and their confidentiality are still critical problems. The student called “Krishna” who met us in Kilinochchi said that some person entered into her camp many times in night and ran his hands on her body.
Both mother and child are children
A critical problem in these IDP camps is that many under aged children became mothers. “Sharmila” who we met at Mankulam was 15 years old. She has a daughter aged 2.5 years. Her husband and the father of child is 16 years old.
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This is not a misery inherited only to her. The reason is that they had been prompted to marry with somebody and make children, to prevent LTTE from taking them to their organization. The reason is pregnant women or women with small children were not taken by the LTTE. The result of this social conflict is visible in front of our eyes. There is a critical need of implementing a brisk mission related to them on education and health. But this problem has not even been identified properly by the government.
IDP camps without rehabilitation.
And also there are many centres introduced as rehabilitating centres of LTTE suspects are in Vaunia. Among them there are Pampalu, Punthottam, Nellukulam, Marambikulam, Vavuniya Muslim College and Omanthai central college. Especially many Tamil children still have been imprisoned in Pampamadu camp for 12 months.
University of Jaffna Government launched a big advertising process during the presidential election that about 1750 students in these camps had been released. But on April 8th, less than 500 had been released. Among them there were few students. Although there were more than 200 students of Jaffna University in the Pampamadu camp, only 43 female students were released. Not even one male student of the Jaffa University was released. Today there are still more than 150 male students who are imprisoned in Pampamadu camp. And no information was even revealed of those students.
The facilities in those camps are below standard. The students were sent to those camps from IDP camps. We asked those students what were the steps taken for rehabilitation in those camps. They said that they were trained to how to make rings using coconut shells. We asked what were the reason for giving training on making rings of coconut shells to people who have bee selected to universities to study commerce, arts, medicine and engineering degrees. The government should explain the rehabilitation coming out of it. Shouldn’t we go against the wrong doing of the government which is imprisoning, wasting and destroying young Tamil lives?
And also there are 12 disabled female students among those female students. Among them some are critically disabled who have lost their hands, legs. But no facility was provided by the university. A building is provided as the only facility to them for their living.
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But it is strictly forbidden for anybody of them to go outside university premises. They weren’t allowed to go out even on New Year days. Therefore they have been imprisoned in the university in addition to their imprisonment of a year.
Among the female students imprisoned in the Jaffna University, there are female students of other universities. As an example, a female student called “Peter Sathgunarasan Anusha” was chosen for Kelaniya University according to A/Ls. Her course was Peace and Conflict Resolution. But she is in a hostel of Jaffna University. Her course is not conducted in Jaffna University. Likewise there are female students who have been chosen for eastern University and south-east University.
Ranked 2nd in the district but the university is prohibited.
We got to know of better examples of lives of Tamil students being destroyed in this Pampamadu camp. She is Puwanenthitan Thasmida. She faced her A/L in 2009 in maths stream. Results came and she was ranked second in the Mullaitivu district. Therefore she was chosen for the engineering faculty. But she was not allowed to register in the university by the Pampamadu authorities. She is still in her camp.
All the factors show the misery faced by Tamil people. Many Tamil students have become victims of this misery. 5 students have died since the war in Jaffna district. 4 out of them are students of Jaffna University. And three of them died by hanging themselves.
Balasingham Karunanidhi who committed suicide on 2010/04/02 was a third year student of the management faculty of Jaffna University. The reason for his death was the harassment faced by him in the past wartime and after wartime. He and his nine family members had been suffering for months in IDPs and in those camps; Balasingham was not treated for his illnesses. After that he came back to Jaffna University and was not treated. And also his nine family members spent a worse life. All of them had been given only 07 tin roof sheets. That pressure affected them too. The last result was his death by hanging himself.
A male student of the management faculty of Jaffna University Ravindradasan Victor Aruldas and a female student called Velayandan Piruwali jumped to Kopali lagoon and suicide on February 10th. They were lovers. Ravindradasan was shot in the wartime and had a neural illness. But he was not given any treatment. At last they wrote letters and commit suicide themselves together.
And also Tiruchelvam Kapilanath of Jaffna was abducted for a ransom of 30 millions and killed on 14th of March. An LTTE cadre of Jaffna has been accused for that. And also three months ago a female student of Jaffna University died having Dengue flu. These suicides show the pressure faced by north and east Tamil people today. They happened because of the pressures got critical more than they could bear. The government should be responsible for this. These show that the government does not care about the Tamil people. And also about 10000 Tamil people are still detained in government prisons as political prisoners. It is a critical situation and also about 140 Tamil students in Jaffna and east universities have
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vanished. That is since the war but the government doesn’t reveal any information on that. Because of these conditions, Tamil people have to suffer many pressures. The pressure is so high that some persons choose suicide themselves. Therefore their rights should be given immediately. The development should be taken forward briskly. Devastated schools, buildings, houses, transportation should be restored.
But the government is playing the fool. The former transport minister Dallas Alahapperuma’s frauds like “A ticket to heart” to build a railway track to Jaffna should be stopped. Because they are deceived the Tamil people again.
In the last year minister Dallas couldn’t build a railway any kilometre beyond Vavuniya. The results will be terrible if no brisk intervention is made. The reason is the pressure among Tamil students before the year 1983 ended with a terrible terrorism. The prime minister is talking nonsense of terrorism’s three phase arrival. The youth problems should be solved to prevent youth conflicts from emerging. People’s rights should be given to prevent people’s rise. Therefore to prevent armed conflicts again, the problems of Tamil people should be solved by giving their rights.
Otherwise, the rise of the youth cannot be prevented by accusing all the Tamil youth in the prison camps that they are LTTE terrorists and keeping them in prisons or by addressing false arguments of keeping and curbing laws such as the law of emergency. The people should be given rights. The people should be given democracy. The people should be given freedom. That is the way to build real national harmony.
Udul Premarathne (0777-357124)
Convener, Inter university students’ federation
Email: udulpremarathne@yahoo.com