The Bishop of Jaffna has slammed the closure of the A9 highway, saying people in the Jaffna peninsula are living in an ‘open prison.’
Rejecting government’s claims it is sending food to the cut-off region, Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam said sea supply cannot cope with the demand.
Amid severe shortages, the bishop expressed outrage at the government’s insistence on charging the people to receive the rations rather than distributing them free.
A charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) responded to the Bishop’s protest by sending money to subsidise emergency food for the desperately poor.
In the face of renewed conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Colombo-based Sri Lankan government has effectively placed Jaffna peninsula under quarantine, blocking off communications by land, air and sea.
The blockade – which crucially includes a road-block on the A9 ‘Elephant Pass’ linking Jaffna to the rest of Sri Lanka – has plunged the peninsula into crisis with a dire shortage of food, electricity for only nine hours per day and spiralling unemployment.
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s administration says it has sent ships with emergency rations of rice, sugar and flour.
But in the ACN interview, Bishop Thomas denounced the aid relief as “inadequate.”
"Even though the government claims that the food they are sending to the north is sufficient, the people are facing a shortage of food and essential items," other reports quoted him as saying.
The only solution to this problem is opening the A9 highway, the Bishop said.
"The goods will come to the north without any problems if the road is opened as soon as possible," he said.
In response to his appeal, ACN has agreed an emergency aid package of €20,000 (£13,400). It will enable the Church to buy rations on behalf of people unable to afford it.
In his comments to ACN, the Bishop stressed the regime’s apparent disregard for the people’s suffering.
He said that many essential needs were not being met by the government’s relief effort including supplies of coconut oil for cooking, baby food and petrol.
“The government has banned access to many things in Jaffna for fear of them getting into the hands of the LTTE. They seem to forget that there are people here in Jaffna – not just Tamil Tigers.”
"The government is only sending rice and flour and claims that there is no shortage. People do not live on rice and flour alone. Prices of other items such as coconut, milk powder and baby food are very high. These items should be sent to us," he said.
The Bishop said the ACN aid would add to the Church’s existing emergency aid relief in which up to 7,000 people were benefiting thanks to a grant from Catholic humanitarian organisation Caritas.
He went on to say that rebuilding work following the tsunami had ground to a halt because as part of its blockade, the government had stopped the transport of building materials into the peninsula.
Separately, the Bishop has also faulted non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the Jaffna peninsula, both foreign and local, for having failed to anticipate and be prepared for grave ground situation now facing Jaffna residents.
Bishop Savundaranayagam also told ACN, that the Catholic community in Jaffna was “deeply depressed and discouraged” by the continuing silence over the fate of 34-year-old priest Fr Jim Brown, whom he now presumed was dead.
The priest disappeared at the end of the summer after his church was targeted by government forces who shelled it, claiming that Tamil Tigers had infiltrated the crowds taking refuge there.
