Dr. Arulanantham's statement at Rights briefing

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 July 2005, 00:55 GMT]
Full text of the statement Physician Dr Karunyan Arulanandam gave during the Members' briefing organized by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on 27 July 2005 at Rayburn Building in Washington D.C follows:

Mr. Chairman Davis, Mr. Chairman Chabot, Members of the Congress.

Thank you for inviting me. I am a physician practicing in California, but for over ten years I have done medical work with Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in South India. More recently I have spent time teaching at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital in Northern Sri Lanka. I approach the issues we are discussing today, not only as an American Citizen but also as someone born and raised in Northern Sri Lanka.

The tsunami was perhaps the worst natural disaster in recent memory. I traveled to the Eastern part of the island, the part most severely affected, to provide medical assistance within days of the tsunami. Subsequently I visited the North of the island. My comments today, thus pertain mainly to these predominantly Tamil areas.

The devastation that I saw and the stories that I heard were awful. Children were sucked from the arms of their parents. Parents had to choose between holding on to One child and letting another go, and then watch helplessly as the sea sucked their children to their death. Whole communities were destroyed in minutes. It was a humbling experience to see this power of nature.

Northeast of the country, the area worst affected by the tsunami, had already been wrecked by a brutal war for over twenty years and economic dislocations and internal displacement with its associated stresses was already a massive problem in the area. As a Pediatrician I saw striking evidence of deprivation in the widespread under nutrition of children. Children remain shockingly stunted in growth. Sadly, the tsunami made these conditions significantly worse. These children and their families are not getting the help they need.

Photo images have conveyed to some extent the massive damage to physical structures. But what is more difficult to capture is the emotional and psychological damage to the survivors. Healing these scars will take time and effort. The challenge of delivering effective humanitarian relief has to be conceptualized as a task to create an environment that will enable normalcy and healing. This involves a vision bigger than erecting buildings and handing out medicines, though these are all part of the process. It fundamentally requires the empowerment of local Tamils communities.

A few realities have to be considered in working towards providing relief effectively.

One is that the tsunami relief and reconstruction process has become a victim of the dysfunctional politics in Colombo. There were early signs of this when former President Bill Clinton and Secretary General Kofi Annan were both denied the opportunity to visit the most severely affected parts of the country because of the petty politics. Today we see more pernicious effects of this problem: the government has imposed taxes on donated relief items shipped into the country, and relief efforts have faced a variety of other bureaucratic obstructions. These barriers have been imposed even while the victims of the tsunami languish in temporary shelters and depend on handouts for survival.

This politicization and bickering over genuinely needed assistance to the Tamils is yet another symptom of the dysfunctional political system in the country. Since independence the majority Sinhala Buddhist in the country who control the government have pursued identity politics and used the resources of the state to marginalize and brutalize the Tamils instead of focusing on economic development in the Northeast and elsewhere.

Thus, today Sri Lanka is a country dominated by a Sinhala Buddhist majority who run the country primarily for that constituency. We see signs of this everywhere – from the Constitution itself, which officially gives the “foremost place” to Buddhism and makes the protection and fostering of Buddhism a duty of the state, to armed forces that are composed almost entirely by members of the Singhalese majority. The occupation of Tamil homes and land by the armed forces and their behavior as an army of occupation, contributes to the impoverishment of Tamils and to its consequences such as child under nutrition.

Most recently, members of the Christian community have become victims of the country’s identity politics. A bill currently pending in Parliament would ban religious conversions. The bill comes on the heels of mob violence that has destroyed hundreds of Christian churches in the south, yet not a single person has been convicted. Given this context, a basic fact is that, the most effective and expedient relief and reconstruction in the Tamil areas would be done by the Tamils themselves rather than by the Sinhala government in Colombo. The Joint mechanism agreement between the Government of Sri lanka and the LTTE, termed the Post Tsunami Operation Management agreement made sense given these conditions. It gave hope to the Tamils. The Tamils see its negation as a pattern stretching back for over fifty years, in which the Sri Lankan governments and their institutions in Colombo repeatedly made and then broke promises to the Tamil community, under Sinhala Buddhist political pressure. It reinforces the wide spread perception among Tamils, that the Sinhala Buddhist governments are incapable of giving the Tamils a fair deal even now.

What should be done to ensure those affected in the Northeast are recipients of US assistance?

In supporting the joint mechanism, the US seemed to acknowledge the ground realities. This was encouraging. But it then it changed its position and announced that it could not participate because of legal constraints barring contact with the LTTE, while simultaneously encouraging other countries to participate in it.

Removing the legal constraints that impede the U.S. government and its citizens from providing direct relief to those affected in the Northeast is an urgent necessity. The US should be able to legally participate in programs that it promotes to other countries as being constructive and good. Tsunami relief must be allocated equitably and reach all those affected. Our government’s position makes it difficult even for NGO’s and private citizens in US to help people in Northeast Sri Lanka. This must be changed. Nothing less will ensure that those who have suffered most will receive the assistance of the world’s most powerful government and its generous citizens. The U.S. should also actively promote peace in the island. It should work to create a political arrangement where all inhabitants of the island can live as equals. This is essential for creating an environment in which hope can be restored and healing can occur. The victims of the tsunami deserve nothing less. Thank you. Karunyan Arulanantham MD.