Inflicting miseries on Tamil population and propagating it as a defeat of the LTTE

by Selva reporting from Wanni

(August 24, Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri lanka government forces, intentionally and on a pre-programmed agenda are targeting innocent Tamil civilian population in Vanni. Internally displaced Tamil people who were forced to displace again and again in their all life are once again chased from their habitations with bombings and air attacks. But the Sri Lankan propaganda machinery with its calculated false reports is depicting the agonies and miseries of the Tamil people as a defeat of the LTTE. Some media which are used to search tips to fabricate news to humiliate Tamils are relaying the propaganda with the prediction that the LTTE is to be finished off, with a convenient total blackout of the agonies of the IDPs.

Even when the Tamil IDPs in thousands live under trees, some Sinhalese racial media says that there are no IDPs but only fleeing tigers. Some bankrupt Sinhalese diplomats applaud President Rajapakse’s pledge to hold elections to the Northern Provincial Council within a year of its liberation, and talk about a common Sri Lankan national identity. There is no wonder. Sri Lankan state’s political and diplomatic efforts of destroying one nation for the sake of another nation have been systematic in the recent Sri Lankan history.

In terms of numbers of IDPs, accurate statistics are difficult to assess because of the volatility of the situation and access constraints.

According to the ECHO (EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AID) report of June this year “they are estimated to be around 190,000 people displaced by the ‘new’ conflict and a further 312,000 IDPs from ‘old’ phases of the conflict. 60,000 of this ‘old’ caseload are still living in atrocious conditions in government buildings or ‘welfare centres’ and are considered by UNHCR to be extremely vulnerable.

“In addition there are still 70,000 or so tsunami IDPs, bringing the total IDP caseload in the country to around 570,000.

“This ranks Sri Lanka along with Sudan, Iraq and Colombia as a country with one of the highest IDP populations in the world. Since the conflict is complex and fluid and spread over a wide area, patterns of displacement are recurrent and unpredictable. It is no exception to find IDP families in the north east who have been displaced more than 5 times. Vulnerable groups extend beyond the IDP and host population caseload. The everyday existence of all communities in the conflict areas has been severely affected by the current situation and due to the protracted nature of the crisis coping mechanisms of the population in the north and east are now virtually non existent. This is particularly true of around 800,000 people virtually trapped in Jaffna and the Vanni because of access and other restrictions.”

Thus said the ECHO in June. Definitely the numbers now have swelled. Sri Lankan government forces with daily bombings on civilian areas continue to inflict miseries on Tamil population and the government propagate it as a defeat of the LTTE.
- Sri Lanka Guardian