Photograph BattiNews The massacre of tens of thousands of Tamils during the end of the armed conflict six years ago was remembered in Trincomalee on Wednesday, reports BattiNews .
Mullivaikal remembrance event in Point Pedro, Jaffna (Photos: Tamil Guardian) The commemoration of the Mullivaikal remembrance week continued today in the North-Eastern town of Point Pedro, on the Jaffna peninsula. Several members of the NPC, alongside other Tamil officials and locals attended the event at the light house in the town on Thursday morning.
Major General Jagath Dias, who is thought to be responsible for large-scale mass atrocities against Tamils, has been appointed as the chief of staff of the Sri Lankan Army. Mr Dias, who is also the commander of the security forces for Mullaithivu replaces Major General S. Samarasinghe, after his retirement on May 7, military spokesperson Jayanath Jayaweera said. The major general was in command of the 57th division during the armed conflict against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He is suspected to be directly responsible and hold command responsibility for mass atrocities committed by his troops, especially during the final phase of the war.
The Sri Lankan government is “duty-bound” to celebrate the “war victory” on May 18, the National Movement for the Protection of Liberated Land (NMPLL) said, according to the Daily Mirror . The movement’s Bengamuwe Nalaka, a Buddhist monk, said the government had allowed the TNA to commemorate the memory of “LTTE terrorists”. “LTTE activities have not stopped completely even today. While the LTTE is banned internationally, the government has allowed the TNA to commemorate the memory of dead LTTE terrorists. The TNA considers LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran as its hero,” he said, adding that his organisation would commemorate “war heroes” alongside some opposition parties at Independence Square in Colombo on May 18.
The United Nations Refugee Agency called on Sri Lanka to resume ferry services between India and Sri Lanka to help Tamil refugees in India return to the North-East of Sri Lanka. A representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Golam Abbas, commenting on the need for Tamil refugees in India to return to their lands in Sri Lanka, said, “We look forward to the resumption of the ferry service between India and Sri Lanka that would be of enormous support to those who wish to return.” The statement comes as 40 refugees left for Sri Lanka from Chennai with the help of the UNHCR on Wednesday, reports the Economic Times. There are an estimated 100,000 Tamil refugees who fled the North-East of Sri Lanka to seek asylum in India.
Sri Lanka’s finance ministry has been directed to apply for a US $165 million load from the World Bank for water supply, announced cabinet spokesman Rajtha Senaratne on Thursday. The funds are to contribute towards work done to improve water supply and sanitation facilities in 540 villages including Nuwara Wliya, Badulla, Kegalle, Moneragala, Tarnapura, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi, reports EconomyNext .
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera announced that an official spokesperson, MS Mahishini Collonne, will hold regular briefings with international media and the diplomatic to discuss progress in Sri Lanka. Mr Samaraweera made the announcement during a briefing to ambassadors from twenty four countries outlining efforts taken by Sri Lanka to restore democracy through constitutional, administrative and cultural changes. The foreign minister also spoke of efforts to build a “truly multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual society where diversity is celebrated.”
Sri Lanka announced recently that it would launch a domestic probe to investigate war time mass atrocities in time for the release of the UN mandated investigation due in September. The announcement, made in the wake of a high profile visit to the island by the US Secretary of State John Kerry late last month, suggests that Sri Lanka is responding to international demands. However, it is not clear that this new international engagement necessarily translates to real changes on the ground. The government’s behaviour is notably contradictory. While it reassures international audiences that it is taking accountability seriously and is committed to reform and reconciliation, it says quite another to domestic Sinhala Buddhist constituencies. This duplicity is worrying and suggests that the government is intent on continuing with business as normal rather than committing to the deep changes in governance that are needed to secure a just and lasting peace.
Tamil graduates protest outside EPC office in Trincomalee (All photos: Tamil Guardian) Graduates from the Amparai district complained of discrimination by the Sri Lankan government in providing job opportunities for Tamils. The graduates started a symbolic hunger strike outside the offices of the Eastern Provincial Council offices in Trincomalee on Wednesday morning. One graduate, speaking on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal, said the Sri Lankan government deliberately overlooked Tamils for job opportunities. “Although we achieve the same qualifications as Sinhala and Muslim people do, we are not offered the same jobs. The new government has not delivered any benefits for us yet,” she told the Tamil Guardian.
Tens of thousands of Tamil war widows in the North-East are still struggling to make ends meet, almost six years since the end of the armed conflict on the island, reports IRIN news . “It has been hard, very hard,” said 39 year old widow Yogeshwari Ramalingam from Mullaitivu. “I thought the war was the nightmare. Peace has been equally scary.” Roopavathi Ketheeswaran, a public official in Kilinochchi told IRIN news that the issue of war widows “has remained a huge problem since the end of the war”, with reports of up to 89,000 widows across the North-East. Though the Sri Lankan government has set up a centre to “to look after the needs” of widows, the issues if insecurity and unemployment still trouble the region. Female unemployment rates remain markedly higher in the North than in the rest of the island, reaching 10.9 percent in Jaffna, 29.4 percent in Kilinochchi, 21.6 percent in Mannar, 20.5 percent in Mullaitivu and 9.0 percent in Vavuniya.