Rumblings in Jaffna: W the hearts and minds o

Govt. needs to act more pro-actively to maintain normalcy TNA and other parties playing hardline politics while Wigneswaran avoids meetings and plays different card

JAFFNA - The crowded restaurant of a luxury hotel in town tells the story of the ever changing social scene nearly six years after the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas. The tables are full. Bottles of red and white wine are emptied by men in fancy T-shirts and jeans. Their female counterparts also in jeans and different tops are a contrast to their local friends or relatives. The locals are mostly in sarong and shirt whilst the women folk are in colourful salwar kameez. They drink fruit juice. Children play hide and seek. With school holidays in some European countries, for these Tamil expatriates, it is family reunion in the northern peninsula.

The wealthy among them are also having it good. They have chosen the luxury of the Sri Lanka Army's picturesque Thal Sevana holiday resort, only a few steps away from the seas of the Palk Strait. For fine dining, there is even a Chinese-built railway compartment on rails, converted into an air conditioned restaurant. A specially-built appendage on one end is the kitchen. The time when the expatriates were accused of funding and helping separatism in Sri Lanka seems mostly gone. Now, they have found safe haven in the heart of the nerve centre of military activity in the north -- the Security Forces Headquarters complex in Jaffna. It incorporates establishments of the Army, Navy and the Air Force in a swathe of land that borders the sea.

Even the less fortunate come there with cameras and models wearing heavy make-up with the traditional pottu on the forehead. With the idyllic backdrop of the resort or a non-functional lighthouse nearby, they take photographs that will adorn glossy Tamil magazines here and abroad. Others take a dip in the sea and have their meals at the resort. A far cry from the days when mortar and artillery from these locations pounded guerrilla hideouts. These developments are indications that the wounds of the war are slowly healing. If they have spurned economic activity there is also a harmony of sorts. Yet, it seems not fast enough and some of the danger signals are not difficult to read.

The lack of rains or the searing heat has not deterred the farmer. "I have had a good harvest of onions," says cultivator Ramachandran Aiyathurai (63) of Mavattapuram in Kankesanthurai. "I am happy with the yield of grapes this season," says Vaithiyalingam Thambirasa (72) of Keerimalai. Market places are packed and business is brisk. Crowds form outside liquor sales outlets daily. The peninsula records the highest consumption of alcohol. Drug abuse is on the rise. Minor thefts, too. Ironically, the peninsula has become a hell hole for those who enforce the law. It is here that errant officers of all ranks, found guilty of misdemeanours, are sent on punishment transfer. Troops remain confined largely to their barracks. Men of the Special Task Force, the commando arm of the Police, patrol the streets. They carry Chinese-built T-56 assault rifles instead of the original issue of US built M-16 A1. These men are outnumbered only by traffic policemen present at almost every intersection.

Amid all this, the peninsula is one part of Sri Lanka where activity for the August 17 parliamentary elections is not nascent. The exceptions are the offices of the candidates where supporters are busy or where motley crowds gather at meetings. Posters of candidates adorn a few walls. In others, they have been pulled down by the Police. Other than that, it is business as usual. Not surprisingly, because only 66 per cent cast their votes in this district at the presidential polls in January.

A novel feature perhaps is the entry of a group of battle-hardened Tiger guerrillas who have gone through rehabilitation. They include two bodyguards of their slain leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Then they went by their nom de guerre - Vendan (also doubled as an Air Wing cadre) and Kathir, who lost one leg in combat. Others are Gamini (leader of an attack group) who also lost a leg, Tulasi (Administrative Secretary), Charles (Artillery Section), Iyal (Computer Operator), Gangai (Pottu Amman's Intelligence Wing), Alakan (their Police under Nadesan), Thani Arasu (Voice of Tigers) and Murugadas (Economic Development Wing). They are contesting as Crusaders for Democracy (CFD) and have been allotted the Spider symbol. This group has added a caveat in their leaflets describing the spider as Puli Muka Shilanthi or the Tiger-faced spider which is a poisonous species. Of course the new name is to remind voters of the two-legged "Panthera Tigris" of sorts or Tiger guerrillas who fought for separation and were militarily defeated in May 2009. A conscious effort to play on the sentiments of the remnants and their sympathisers is not lost.

The CFD is contesting only the Jaffna District. It is led by journalist Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, one time Editor of Uthayan, the largest selling Tamil newspaper here and now Editor of the Tamil website malarum.com. "We wanted to be a part of the TNA. However, its leader Sampanthan rejected our request. He feared we were from Military Intelligence," Vithyatharan told the Sunday Times. He said the TNA leader had also told them that it would be difficult to convince the international community if they were on board. The journalist turned politician boasted confidently that "we would win at least two seats in the peninsula." However, other civil society groups I spoke with were sceptical. Their only mode of campaign was going from house to house distributing leaflets. "We do not have enough resources," complains Vithyatharan.

The main contender is the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) - a composition of four different political parties. They are the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOT), the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) or the Ceylon Federal Party. Though named TNA, they still go under the official banner of the ITAK since the alliance is yet to be formally registered with the Department of Elections.

A cross section of the people I spoke with were somewhat bitter with the TNA, more particularly with some of its members. Whether this will translate into votes against them is another matter. One of them said the alliance had not been able to find employment for youth in the north even after they supported the UNP Government. He said they had not fulfilled the assurances they gave the people at the presidential election. Another was critical about some members who only helped themselves. One case in point was how one of them obtained an overseas scholarship for his daughter and jobs for others in the family with the help of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Another member had bought a large house though he was financially not sound when he entered politics. Yet another complaint was about Ananthi Shasheetharan, described as a 'vote puller,' not being given TNA candidature. Ananthi is known to adopt a hardline stance and in her speeches often referred to sacrifices made by her husband, Tiger guerrilla Trincomalee Political Wing leader Sinnathurai Sasheetharan alias Elilan. That such hardline ideology still appeals to sections of the populace was evident at a TNA public rally in Maradanmadam, some ten kilometres from here on Thursday July 23. Crowds clapped incessantly when speakers referred to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and its leadership.

Paradoxical enough, the absence of any assertive action by the Government, I learnt, was a major contributory factor. This was after the rape and brutal murder of schoolgirl Vithya in May. President Maithripala Sirisena flew in here to console family members of the victim and make a cash donation. It ended there. There was no visible or assertive action by the Police. It created a fear psychosis. A well informed source here said, "People lamented that such dastardly things never happened when the Tiger guerrillas were holding ground" but hurriedly added "they are not saying they (the guerrillas) should return." He said, "They were making the point that people felt they were relatively safe from such acts." As further proof, the source said, was the proliferation of drugs, non-existent when guerrillas held ground. This message seems to have not seeped into the Police hierarchy in Colombo. If it did, they seem to have thought it not fit enough to act forcefully and thus prevejnt the blame from falling on the Government. On the other hand, the Government's own ministries -- like Defence and Law and Order -- do not appear to have a grasp, leave alone adopting tough measures.

Ananthi had paid her deposit to contest as an independent from the Jaffna District. ITAK leader Mavai Senathirajah had persuaded her to back out on the grounds that she would divide the votes TNA would receive. "You have a future. So wait patiently," Senathirajah told her. Ananthi has also been livid that the TNA does not have a Women's Wing where she could play a more pivotal role.

The TNA's woes have been enhanced by another factor. Their Chief Minister for Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, has neither taken part in the launch of the TNA manifesto nor its election rallies. He has been taking a harder line. During a visit to the United States last month, he told an event held in Los Angeles by the Federation of Tamil Sangams in North America (FeTNA), "….What occurred to us did not pertain to the type of social issues that prevailed in South India; what we were being sub-