Jaffna an open prison say visitors

Activists who visited Jaffna, in northern Sri Lanka, after years away, expressed dismay at it being an open prison with a need for ‘special visas’.

A group of 27 media persons from the Sri Lankan south made these observations as part of a visit to the Jaffna Peninsula.

During their stay, they spoke to many residents, journalists and politicians, who all described the tragic situation.

Nearly 14 years after Jaffna was taken under Sri Lankan Army control, the peninsula is still an ‘open prison’ they said.

"It was like visiting another country," says Ananda Jayasekara, who works for Transparency International Sri Lanka, one of the journalists who travelled to the northern peninsula.

The media and its functionaries in Jaffna peninsula continue to face restrictions and harassment, the visitors noted.

They also noted that residents of the peninsula have to obtain travel ‘pass’ to travel, like visa, from the military authorities to leave Jaffna.

"You need a special permit, it is like getting a visa, to enter Jaffna and it is only valid for a month," said Jayasekara.

The media group also noted that people are not allowed by the Army to freely choose their mode of travel to and from Jaffna, particularly travel through A9 road.

They also added that at night Jaffna residents feel unsafe outside their homes, citing ‘unidentified elements’.

The continuing internment of Vanni residents in the Vavuniya camps is also a source of concern for Jaffna residents, the visitors reported.

With respect to the Tamil civilians transferred from the Vavuniya internment camps to Jaffna, the visitors found they had no arrangements made for them in Jaffna, resulting in their continuing hardship. Further, nothing has been done to enable them to continue their livelihoods like fishing and farming in their own places, the newly ‘resettled’ said, which added to their troubles.

Especially for Jaffna residents who have been separated from spouses, sons, daughters and parents, who were taken away from the Vavuniya camps by the Sri Lankan military, their anxiety is compounded by the lack of news about their safety.

On the whole the people of Jaffna peninsula no longer trust the government, its visiting politicians and their empty promises, the visitors said. But they are still strongly committed to a permanent solution to the Tamil problem, they said.

Jayasekara also commented that the unusually high cost of transport made many suspicious over the motives of the authorities.

The return air ticket costs 19,500 Sri Lankan rupees, a price most in Sri Lanka cannot afford.

It seems as if the Government are actively discouraging Jaffna residents from leaving the peninsula, he said, claiming it added to the notion that the peninsula is in fact an “open prison”.

This is echoed in the fact that despite government promises of an ease on travel restrictions in Jaffna, residents have reported that they still have to obtain passes from the Sri Lankan Army in order to use the A9 road, he said.

Lorries owned by Jaffna traders were also not allowed through by the SLA, despite the fact they were issued with roadworthy certificates by the army, the visitors noted.

Even anti-LTTE activists, Nirmala Rajasingham and her husband Rajesh Kumar, also known as Raghavan, have been highly critical of the Government’s control of Jaffna.

"People in Jaffna plan for the future - trying to send their children for higher education, getting their children married or trying to build a house. Jaffna people go about it with such vigour, but I couldn't see that happening anymore,” commented Rajasingham. 

"… many say their friends and relatives who were with them the previous day suddenly disappeared the next,” she noted.

"Many people behave like deaf and blind as they no longer have a voice... In fact, people look like they are living day by day, as if there is no future for them."

"While travelling to Jaffna, all I saw was huge destruction," Kumar said.

"You need to wait at least three hours to board the plane. And all the buses only leave once a day, so that security officials could check the buses at once and relax for the rest of the day," he told the BBC.

Even pro government EPDP minister Douglas Devananda was refused permission to simply show IDPs housed in camps, to where they would hopefully be resettled.

The displaced were from Thenmaradchi and were evicted once the SLA took control of the area.

The Sri Lankan government has said it will be launching a massive development program for Jaffna, entitled “Northern Springs”.

Jaffna residents however, have been highly critical, claiming that there is a lack of any genuine effort for reconciliation.