Politicians and civil society activists have been condemning the brutal caste-based violence that took place in Jaffna in late September.
A gang of dominant-caste youth and men reportedly waylaid a pair of boys belonging to an oppressed community last month and assaulted them indiscriminately. The incident took place in Arasady, a village in Vaddukoddai.
Inbanathan, 60, father of one of the boys, lost a finger in the ensuing skirmish in which the aggressors reportedly started to swing a sword against the youth.
Inbanathan rushed to the scene in order to save the boys and was attempting to placate the aggressors when the latter suddenly picked up the sword.
Besides losing a finger, he has also suffered severe bruises in other parts of the body. Recounting the episode, Inbanathan said that the dominant-caste members not only physically assaulted them, but also abused them verbally. After Inbanathan and the boys fled the scene in search of safety, the assailants went on a rampage and set fire to houses and destroyed the fences in their neighbourhood.
“They break our doors. Are they made of iron? How long would it take to break it down and come inside? I was able to save my children by kicking down the fence in the backyard,” lamented a woman from the marginalised community, who is fed up with being subjected to caste-based violence repeatedly.
The New Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party condemned the incident in a statement. Others have denounced the attempt by mainstream media to portray the incident as a form of gang violence between two groups without considering the element of caste. The Jaffna People’ Forum for Coexistence said in its statement,“the incident that happened in Arasady cannot be viewed merely as an incidental use of physical force by one group on another or a conflict between two groups, as sections of the media try to portray it; it is a violent manifestation of deep-seated caste prejudices existing within caste-based hierarchies and socio-economic dimensions of caste oppression that characterize Jaffna society.”
Caste-based conflict has seen a resurgence since the end of the war in 2009, with some government-aligned parties suspected to fuel divisions within the Tamil community, sources in Jaffna said.
