Monsoon miseries of IDPs

"What about the IDPs plight? Human dignity is beyond mere supply of relief and construction materials. Will some of our worthy parliament members, who spoke eloquently about the agony of Tamilians in the run up to the elections, take up the issue? Or is it business as usual?"
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By Col R Hariharan

(August 17, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Menik Farm complex and its temporary shelters, showcased last month as model for camps for people displaced due to the war, has become camps of misery for the residents as monsoon rains are lashing the area.

Sri Lanka media of all shades of opinion have highlighted the terrible conditions created by incessant monsoon rains particularly in camp 2 and camp 4. Tents and temporary shelters are down or collapsed making them unliveable. Some camps do not have access to even water supply. Cooking is not possible and cooked food is not reaching the needy. Toilets are choked or busted. Storm drainage is either not existing or flooded. “As rain waters filled with sewage matter, maggots and human excreta rose in tents sheltering some 20,000 IDPs” is one description of the condition from the media.

And apparently the local administration and the NGOs working at these camps find the task of providing relief to those beleaguered in the flooded camps beyond their limited capability. And monsoon season is not yet over. The logical sequence of the tragedy would be outbreak of epidemic diseases like gastro enteritis striking the affected people. Another hidden danger is that land mines tend to get shifted due to flooding.

Everyone knew this was waiting to happen; monsoon rains have a pre-ordained regularity about them. The NGOs and the media spoke and wrote about it. The authorities and humanitarian agencies, who sited some of the camps in low lying areas, also knew the area was prone to flooding during the monsoon rains. Yet they went ahead and created the camps probably because they did not expect the residents of these camps to be stationed there indefinitely. Probably they were situated as they were for ensuring better physical security than any other reason.

In June itself the government had said the UN agencies were responsible for construction of drainage systems and flood preventive measures at the camp sites. So it was not surprising when the Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Management, Rizad Bathiudeen put the blame on them now. He said “The UN agencies involved in the IDP camps had taken the responsibility of constructing the drainage systems and flood preventive measures. So the Government cannot be blamed for the poor condition of the drainage systems which burst and failed.” But the issue is not who is to be blamed, but providing relief to the affected people.

Unfortunately this simple truth appears to have been forgotten as the release of civilians has become a political issue. The opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe recently asked the government to expedite the release of civilians held in these camps and inform parliament of the steps taken in this respect. The UNP leaders had strongly criticized the government for detaining innocent people.

And in his hard hitting repartee, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had a different take. He accused the opposition of playing politics in what was essentially a national security issue. He highlighted the danger of LTTE operatives living amidst the IDPs in camps. He also pointed out the problem that could be posed if they gain access to the arms and explosives hidden in Vanni.

This aspect cannot be ignored by the government as arms and military equipment caches of LTTE are being unearthed almost everyday and quite a few investigations have been taken up to uncover LTTE’s support network among civilians. But at the same time, the government has an obligation for the welfare of civilians at large. It is not clear how the release of pregnant women, small children and the aged would compromise security. Their continued stay in camps would be only an exercise in humiliating a population that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is clear the Sri Lanka government has suborned all other issues to the continued war against the LTTE. Unfortunately, the humanitarian issues have become casualties in this mix up of priorities. And politicisation of the issue has further messed up action.

A delegation of concerned citizens including Mangala Samaraweera, MP and leader of the breakaway group of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) recently met the Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and made a representation regarding the IDPs. The group sought India to pressurize the Sri Lanka government to demilitarize the camp administration and the rehabilitation process.

It is not clear what action New Delhi has taken on the subject of IDPs. They are likely to continue their stay camps well beyond six months. Indian High Commissioner’s message in Colombo on the occasion of the Independence Day conveyed to Sri Lanka that a "broad-based political settlement" of the ethnic conflict would enable the Rs.500-crore relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation package for the nearly three lakh war displaced to be utilised in a more effective and efficient manner.

Does this mean the relief and reconstruction package would come into play when a broad based political settlement is made? Given the political developments in Sri Lanka, India might have to wait a long time for that to happen.

In the meanwhile, what about the IDPs plight? Human dignity is beyond mere supply of relief and construction materials. Will some of our worthy parliament members, who spoke eloquently about the agony of Tamilians in the run up to the elections, take up the issue? Or is it business as usual?

(Col. R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence specialist on South Asia, served as the head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka 1987-90.He is associated with the South Asia Analysis Group and the Chennai Centre for China Studies. Blog: www.colhariharan.org E-mail:colhari@yahoo.com)

-Sri Lanka Guardian