By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS
New Delhi : The Tamil Tigers may have been routed in Sri Lanka’s eastern wing but the new found normalcy there exists “at the point of the gun”, a rights group has said, urging Colombo to rise above “ethnic or chauvinist interests”.
In a scathing criticism of the situation in the volatile and multi-ethnic region, the Coalition of Muslims and Tamils for Peace and Coexistence (CMTPC) has said the Sri Lankan government needed to bring about peace sincerely.
“The time has come for the government to stand high and clear above narrow ethnic or chauvinist interests and affirm the commitment to peace, where there is justice for all communities, inculcating in all of the peoples, a sense of belonging,” it said in a hard-hitting 10-page report released this week.
“The choice is not just between war and peace, but also between justice, democracy, a soul searching exploration on the part of dominant groups into the causes of the conflict on one side and continued violence and instability on the other,” it added.
The CMTPC is a Sri Lanka-based group committed to pluralism and social justice besides the peaceful co-existence of Tamils and Muslims in the country. Muslims in the island largely speak Tamil but consider themselves a distinct ethnic group.
The report is a strong indictment of the military, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the breakaway LTTE group led by Karuna.
Stating that the military defeat of the LTTE in the eastern province had brought respite to all communities, the group says that beyond the rhetoric of ‘liberation’, however, “normalcy has been restored at the point of the gun”.
It said that fear among people in the east, particularly the Tamils and Muslims, is real.
“While the Muslim community has been ‘liberated’ from the clutches of the LTTE, they are still to reap any benefits from that liberation,” it said. “On the contrary, they are left with a continuing sense of loss, deprivation and dispossession.”
It added: ” ‘Liberation’ has not brought an end to security threats to the civilian populations, especially for Tamils. The fighting is over, we are told, but the spectre of counter-terrorism and insurgency (haunts) the people in the eastern province.”
The CMTPC said the new alliance in the east – which has seen most of the fighting in Sri Lanka and accounted for most of the 5,000 fatalities this year — of the military and Karuna’s group had led to fresh problems. It accused Karuna’s men of forcibly recruiting children and committing human rights abuses including murder.
The report has attacked the government for treating widespread civilian suffering in a cavalier manner, forcing the internally displaced people to return to their original places of residence against their will and taking away people’s land and livelihoods.
In Trincomalee’s Mutur area, for instance, it said that fishermen had been told to catch fish within a mere two kilometres from the shore – a sharp fall from the previous 350 km zone – after the military declared the region a special zone.
“The loss of deep sea fishing takes a toll on the income of the (Tamil) community,” it said. “(But) they cannot speak of losses, of houses looted or cattle disappeared, land mines or other abuses.
“Resettlements of the people have taken place in blatant disregard of UN and other international standards.” It added that “the growing silence of humanitarian agencies and donors cannot be ignored”.
The group alleged that the government was attempting to let members of the majority Sinhalese community to settle in lands belonging to the Tamils and Muslims in the east, besides “militarising (the) civil administration”.
“These crude attempts at colonizing administration, with military personnel and others serving the interests of a partial and biased state are going to prove counter-productive for the state as it will pit minority communities against its control and persuasion.”
The report questioned the government’s commitment to devolution of powers to the minorities.
“The government seems more interested to present its peace making credentials to the international community rather than as a genuine effort to create a national consensus.”