SL military in Batticaloa continues to exploit families returned from Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2015, 22:15 GMT]
The Sri Lankan State and its military intelligence in Batticaloa district continue to harass 1,080 families that survived the genocidal onslaught in Vanni in 2009. The families from Batticaloa returned to their native villages situated in 10 of the 14 Divisional Secretariat divisions in the district. The DS Secretaries in these divisions have also been instructed to refuse assistance to these families by the genocidal military. There is no change in the harassments on the ground despite the ‘changes’ taking place in Colombo, the families said. Even those affected by the recent floods have been neglected in the humanitarian assistance. Women-headed families continue to complain about targeted sexual harassments by the occupying Sinhala military in Batticaloa. Two of the 10 divisions where the families have resettled, Koa'ralaippattu South and Koa'ra'laip-pattu North are worst affected.

The DS secretaries have been instructed to maintain so-called lists for ‘excluding’ these families from assistance programmes by the military-run administration of Colombo in the East.

Even though the paramilitary operatives, who have been collaborating with the occupying military are gone fearing repercussions from the people of Batticaloa, the SL military apparatus and the civil servants are still following the instructions by the military intelligence operatives in the same manner as they were doing under the Rajapaksa, civil sources in the district told TamilNet.

Some of the individuals belonging to the affected families have been converted into informants through a long process of harassment, deprivation of assistance and exploitation. The genocidal SL military has labelled the process as ‘rehabilitation’ to the outside world.

The SL military intelligence unit at Ma'la-ma'ndi camp of Koa'ra'laippattu South is an example for the case, the civil sources said. The intelligence unit is using an operative, known as Maniam, to sexually exploit the Tamil women belonging to the families in Koa'ralaippattu South (Kiraan) division, the civil sources said. Ma'lama'ndi is located 75 km west of Kiraan and 98 km northwest of Batticaloa city.

Most of these 1080 families belong to ex-LTTE members, who stood with the LTTE leadership, confronting Karuna defection in 2004 and the SL military onslaught that followed (2006 -2007) in the East. Due to the threats by the SL military and its paramilitary operatives, the families displaced to Vanni after facing the war in the East.

After the 2009 genocidal onslaught in Vanni, the incarceration of civilians in Vavuniyaa that followed and the so-called SL military rehabilitation of surviving LTTE members, the families were allowed to resettle back in the Batticaloa district. They now live in all the Tamil administrative divisions of Batticaloa district, both in Ezhuvaan-karai (East) and in Paduvaan-karai (South) areas.

The 1,080 families are resettled in the following 10 DS divisions: Koa'ra'laip-pattu North (Vaakarai), Koa'ra'laip-pattu (Vaazhaich-cheanai), Ea'raavoor-pattu (Chengkaladi), Ma'nmunai North (Batticaloa), Ma'nmunaip-pattu (Aa'raip-pattai), Ma'nmunai Then-eruvil-pattu (Ka'luvaagnchik-kudi), Paddippazhai (Kokkaddich-choalai), Poaratheevup-pattu (Vellaave'li), Ma'nmuni-West (Vavu'na-theevu).

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