Rain, once a blessing, now a curse

“This tragic drama enacted amidst the wind and rain reflects not just the tragedy of these people in the camps, it reflects the tragedy of all the people living under a political system that dares to tell any lie as an excuse for whatever it wishes to do, despite of the harsh consequences its actions may bring on the nation.”
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By Basil Fernando

(October 16, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) For ages the people of Sri Lanka have looked forward to the rainy season as it brings so many blessings. It brings much needed water to the paddy fields and thus assures food for the year to come. It also brings the water to fill the reservoirs. Many of the blessings for the year to come depend on the rains that comes from the heavens. However, there are nearly 300,000 people in the camps for the internally displaced for whom the expectation of rain this year does not create such feelings of joy. In fact, for them it will bring enormous adversity. Leaking roofs, overflowing gutters and swamp-like conditions are what they have to expect. Their relatives living outside, the people of good will in the country, as well as the United Nations and various relief agencies have already brought their problems to the attention of the government and the public. However, the government has a greater consideration that outweighs the concerns for the comfort of these persons.

The government spokesmen tell the world in their television interviews that there still might be potential LTTE terrorists hidden in the midst of the internally displaced persons. Therefore, whether there be rain or otherwise these people will have to remain in their camps until all the potential LTTE members are identified. Thus, the government argues that when compared to the risk to national security, the sufferings that the IDPs may have to undergo during the rainy season are matters of secondary importance. The government spokesmen talking this language are not actors in a drama produced by Bertolt Brecht who used such characters only to expose the hypocrisy and inhumanity of the national security doctrines which prevailed in his time.

These spokesmen for the government are deadly serious. They want the nation and the international community to believe in their argument and the good intentions of the government who is supposed to be sorry for the pathetic conditions for these people living in such wretched conditions. They want everyone to believe that they are unable to do anything due to the overpowering considerations of national security.

For centuries even the poorest people in Sri Lanka had learned to put up safe enough roofs over their heads when the rainy seasons arrived. They have learned to live comfortably while the rains poured down outside with warm cups of tea and homes arrangements made with their modest means. But now even that minimum way of life the people have arranged for themselves has been deprived to a large group of citizens who live in these camps.

This tragic drama enacted amidst the wind and rain reflects not just the tragedy of these people in the camps, it reflects the tragedy of all the people living under a political system that dares to tell any lie as an excuse for whatever it wishes to do, despite of the harsh consequences its actions may bring on the nation. As Bertolt Brecht once pointed out, messages made by irresponsible persons, received through antennas by the people, can create wretched conditions.

Another sad aspect of this situation is that there is nothing that the justice system of Sri Lanka can do to offer such a large number of people an avenue to make a complaint about the suffering they will experience in the rainy season. The lawyers and judges in the country have boasted about public interest litigation and the like, but what kind of public interest initiative exists in a country where people cannot even find relief to escape the rain.

-Sri Lanka Guardian