Sri Lanka Tamils demand army be confined before key vote
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka's main Tamil party Tuesday demanded troops be confined to barracks after accusing them of campaigning for the ruling party at key elections in the former separatist stronghold of Jaffna.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) told President Mahinda Rajapakse that soldiers were campaigning for his United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in the Jaffna peninsula, where the minority party was expected to do well.
The TNA said soldiers were also selectively discouraging Tamils in TNA strongholds from voting at the region's first ever provincial council election, scheduled for September 21.
The vote is in line with Colombo's promise to the international community to share limited power with ethnic Tamils through a local council after the military crushed separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in May, 2009.
The Sinhalese-dominated government is under international pressure to promote ethnic reconciliation and investigate allegations of war crimes by its forces in the final stages of the war.
It has denied what the UN calls "credible allegations" that up to 40,000 civilians were killed during the bloody finale.
The TNA said the military continued to engage in civilian activities and were clearly trying to influence the 714,000-strong mainly Tamil electorate, and support candidates of Rajapakse's UPFA.
"What has been objectionable even before the announcement of the polls is not only the presence of the military but the fact that they without invitation engage with the civilian population in many exclusively civilian matters," the TNA said.
TNA leader R. Sampanthan in his letter said election authorities were unable to stop the military involvement in the region.
"It is clear that there cannot be a free and fair election if the military continues its interfering presence in the Northern Province," Sampanthan said in his letter to Rajapakse.
"It has thus become imperative for me to ask you to relegate the army and the other security forces to the barracks immediately and leave the maintenance of law and order in the hands of the police."
There was no immediate comment from the president's office, but the military denied it was engaged in election propaganda work.
"These allegations are baseless," military spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya told AFP. "We have been engaging in civil affairs since the end of the war and have always worked at the invitation of the people.
"Our involvement continues, but it is to a lesser extent than what it was in 2010 and 2012. I totally deny that the army is engaged in political activity."
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka's main Tamil party Tuesday demanded troops be confined to barracks after accusing them of campaigning for the ruling party at key elections in the former separatist stronghold of Jaffna.Another Job For The TNA
Kath Noble
A couple of weeks ago, I said that the TNA should intervene with Tamil Nadu politicians on behalf of the fishermen of the North. They should explain that there is no point in having a devolved administration if it cannot solve the immediate and urgent problems of the people who vote for it, and one of these is poaching by the trawlers of Tamil Nadu.
Sadly, there is no mention of the issue in the TNA manifesto for the upcoming provincial council election.
The only reference to fishermen suggests that their livelihoods are at risk not because all the fish in the seas from Puttalam to Trincomalee are being scooped up by somebody else, but due to restrictions by the Security Forces.
Of course just because the Security Forces claim that there are no longer any bans or pass systems in place doesn’t mean that they are not making life difficult for fishermen. The acquisition or occupation of land on the coast is another very important way in which their livelihoods are being affected, and a recent survey of formerIDPs by UNHCR says that 3% of respondents (25% of families who make their living from fishing) cite military restrictions on their activities as a major impediment.
But that is not the whole story.
Given that according to the same UNHCR report, around 90% of Northern fishermen live below the already impossibly low official poverty line of Rs. 3,641 per month – Rs. 120 per day – one would have thought that a little more careful consideration of their fate should be a priority for the TNA.Read More
