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| Sunday, 26 September 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Life in the Jaffna peninsula : Old scars and new hopes
The Sunday Observer team, visited the Jaffna Peninsula and interacted with a random representation of the Jaffna citizens, civilians from the mainland and the islets of Karaithivu, Mandaithivu, Kayts, Punguduthivu and Nagadeepa (Nainathivu) to find out about life after the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The MOU had brought both good and bad to the Peninsula, say Naval Officers. While many residents are returning and having cordial relations with the armed forces, posters began appearing a week ago banning the residents from speaking with the officers of the armed forces indicating uneasy times ahead. by Vimukthi Fernando I suffered at the hands of despotic rulers; Yes. She suffered. For long hard years. Remnants of the hard times lay scattered almost everywhere. Skeletal forms of houses - a representation of the prosperity of a bygone era covered in wilderness. Bunkers and watch huts, by the dozen, anywhere and everywhere - on the beach front, school premises, church premises, in the centre of the town.
And yet, innocent eyes smile with us. A little boy, hanging on to his father with both hands, riding a bicycle. People, busy at their daily chores. A group of children inquisitive of the 'visitors' who have come to their school. Young women in bright saree, serene, as they cycle to work early in the morning. A tall building shines. Painted white - in the bright sunlight. Monumental. The peninsula's intellectual hub, Jaffna library. A reminder of suffering and recovery. Life in the Jaffna peninsula seems to be returning to its previous splendour. We swish past young men in modern regalia - bright T-shirts, denim jeans, sun glasses and cellular phones on trendy motor bicycles and in three wheelers displaying number plates of the latest H and J series. Vehicles of various new models, run side by side with ancient Austins and Volkswagens. Song and dance fill the air at some places. Speakers blare songs at eating houses or announcing the proceedings of religious processions. Cars decorated with green, red and gold ribbon proceed with a newly married couple and relatives accompanying them. Here and there stand new buildings. However, it is not an easy ride on long causeways, dotted with potholes. The road stretches dusty and sandy, upto the tip of Punguduthivu where the ferry eases the burden. Since the MOU, visits to the temple by both communities (Sinhala and Tamil) have increased, says Nawandagala Padumakiththi Thera, incumbent priest of the Nagadeepa Rajamaha Viharaya. An island occupied both by Tamil and Muslim communities, life is quiet here with residents engaged in fishing and palmyra tapping. Though content with their lot, transport and fresh water still pose major problems, says Padumakiththi Thero. Water, is a problem for the cultivator community in all the islands. Rain-fed paddy farming had started after the MOU. Small plots of tobacco can be seen everywhere. Chilly and vegetables are grown as well. But, marketing their products is another obstacle they face. However, marketing is not a problem for the fisheries community. A fisheries 'Sangam' helps in marketing their products say John Mary and Thomas Daniel, both fishermen from Mandaithivu. Income is good, after the MOU for the prices increased. Though the catch is less during the inter-monsoonal time, crabs are sold at Rs. 200 a kilogram. Consumer goods, though about five to ten rupees above normal price due to repeated taxation, are freely available in almost all the islets. The MOU had also brought back education facilities to the islands, though not in the same scale as it was before. Mandaithivu Roman Catholic College is an example. The school which was closed for 14 years had reopened in January 2003. With a total strength of 45 children, three permanent teachers and three voluntary teachers, the school operates classes upto the fifth grade. The school established in 1881, had conducted classes upto Ordinary Level at the time of closure, says the Principal, R.A. Xavierthasan. With hardly any furniture or other facilities the principal is not happy. However, the existing hospital infrastructure seems to be a going to waste, compared to the number of patients receiving hospital services. The Kayts District Hospital which services the whole archipelago houses a skeletal staff of 18, including a single resident medical officer. The 75 bed-capacity hospital equipped to treat 500 out-patients a day, however treats only about 10 in-patients and about 100 out-patients a day says Dr. Eliyathamby Kanagaratnam. Though, not operating at its former strength is a concern, the reason for the poor patient turn-out is the mass exodus of people from the islets says the head Nurse, who had been working at the Kayts hospital over the past 25 years. Mass exodus and displacement are still concerns of the Jaffna community. There is some good as well. Many had sought employment overseas and are now bringing a good income, says a resident. Since the MOU some have returned. Aruna Anita, a 22 year old who had spent most of her life in a settlement for the internally displaced at Mannar, had returned to Mandaithivu two years ago. Though she has come back to the place where she belongs to, they are still displaced, says Aruna. But, for Arul (not his real name) from Australia, MOU had given not only an opportunity to purchase a plot of land in mainland Jaffna, but another in the Colombo suburbs as well. Land value, is another concern for the ordinary Jaffna resident. Priced in millions for a ten perch plot, sold or bought by many expatriates, it is beyond the dreams of the ordinary citizen, says a resident. Land ownership, the emblem of 'dignity' in a caste system dominated by Vellalars, is slowly encroached by the non-Vellalar and those that are looked down as 'Untouchable' castes. Though freedom from servitude for some, a society wheeled on the controls imposed by the South Indian caste system until the early 1980s, the pace of change is far too quick, for the ordinary Jaffna citizen. "The servants are purchasing the property of their masters. And we do not even have someone to help us with our labour," she adds, reluctant to let go of a benefit enjoyed for generations. Hand in hand with the disintegration of the caste system is the degradation of the value system upheld for centuries, lament elderly citizens. Higher eduction, the epitome of the 'Jaffna Tamil' identity is traded by youth for quick money and easy life, gained through foreign employment, they complain. Modern information technology which had invaded the peninsula is another cause for this degradation. Weddings are dominated by video technicians. Even religious ceremonies have lost their significance. The rituals are followed without understanding the reason for its performance. It has become a form of showing off ones prosperity, says a resident. It is not all that great, says another. Freedom of expression is curtailed and opponents 'bumped off.' "When I have to have an armed escort to accompany me in my own village, where is the freedom?" questions Nadarajah Mathanarajah, former Member of Parliament and EPDP organiser from Kayts. While killings continue, citizens are bombarded with propaganda, taxes are raised and new taxes imposed. Ordinary citizens of Jaffna weary of a war raging for two decades and the cost of submission to the might of two arms-wielding authorities, keep mum bringing to mind a famous, and in this instant pertinent, saying by Martin Luther King. "We shall have to repent in this generation not so much for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling silence of the good people." And life goes on... |
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