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| Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
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Jaffna report: Army rapport with people better by Rashomi de Silva The Army has made a remarkable progress in their Human Rights record during the two-and-half year old truce, civilians and NGO representatives from the North-East said. Speaking to the 'Sunday Observer' a senior military official from the North said, they were educating troopers on HR issues. "Seminars and workshops are conducted by experts brought down from Colombo at least twice a month, we do our best to help the civilians, specially those who are in the islets where they have lesser facilities than in the rest of the peninsular. "The Navy manning the Mandathivu islet is the major supplier of water for the civilians of the islet said the Parish Priest Father A.A. Amalraj of Mandathivu. "The security forces have been very cooperative, and the civilians depend on them in day-to-day activities as well as in emergencies such as taking sick to the hospital, they are more understanding now than during the period of war and considerate," he said. The islet with a population of 1,260 people had only 372 people living during the war. "And more people are returning, but the biggest problem they have is that most of their houses are occupied by the Navy. We would be happier if all the displaced people could go back to their own houses," the parish Priest added. High Security Zones (HSZ) and the occupation of houses by the troopers proved to be a one of the major complaints of the displaced and the ordinary public in Jaffna and the islets. Scores of people were being displaced and they lament they were considered as intruders in their own houses and lands. But the security Forces insists they pay a rent for the houses they are occupying if a request is made. Most of the houses were in bad state. They had them repaired and reconstructed and ultimately when they leave the families will have a better house than they had. If the lot of displaced is pathetic, the consequence of the lifting of the HSZ would be crucial. The main factor taken into consideration, when setting up the HSZ was the range of the 103 artillery, a powerful artillery supposedly possessed by the Tiger rebels. Explaining the situation in the North a senior military official said, "We are always trying to be cooperative. We often go out of our way to help the public in the North and East to lead a normal life. Except in the very sensitive areas such as in proximity to Kalmunai Point fishing is allowed without any restriction, but we are sorry to say the behaviour of some of the civilians is very provocative". Meanwhile the Police in the islets said the number of complaints they receive from the civilians is on the increase. The trend had started with the signing of the MoU and it is growing Police sources said. "This is a sign of their trust in us. They even prefer to have their problems solved by the security forces than by us," said the Chief Inspector Ranjith Kottachi of the Kayts Police. Kayts is a tricky place, due to it's large size and considerable population, a military official said on the ground of the anonymity. Both sea and land monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission make routine visit to the island, and those who were suffering largely by the LTTE activities were the EPDP members. They were provided Police escort and protection but occasionally they would ignore the Police advice, which could be a fatal mistake, he pointed out. |
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