People In The North Should Have The Same Rights
June 25, 2012
By Laksiri Fernando -
Dr. Laksiri Fernando
The discriminatory application of rights of the people in the North and the South came into sharp focus, when the police prohibited peaceful protests to be launched in front of the Jaffna bus stand on 19th Tuesday, as the police hurriedly obtained a court order the previous day. The same day, protests took place in Colombo in front of the Fort Railway Station, and four days before, in front of the University Grants Commission (UGC), of course on different issues.
Protests have been a recurrent scene in Colombo even during the height of the war in many places; Lipton Circus and the Fort Railway Station or even Parliament junction, Battaramulla, being quite famous. It is a fundamental human right, exercised by trade unions, political parties or citizen’s organizations, that should be employed of course, peacefully, whether in Colombo or Jaffna. But even three years after the war, the people in Jaffna are not allowed to stage a peaceful protest on a matter quite fundamental to their day to day life.
The protests were mainly by the families of Valikaamam North, who have been displaced by the High Security Zone in the area since around 1990, who are now eager to get back to their original private land. Instead of giving them back their own land, the military is reported to be using the land to build permanent structures including Buddhist temples, the Asian Tribune reported (21 June 2012) quoting Mavai Senathirajah, TNA MP for Jaffna. Nearly 12,000 families have applied for resettlement to the Divisional Secretariat.
The Asian Tribune (AT) is not an anti-government website. Its editor, K. T. Rajasingham, is one of the living senior most SLFP members in the country. The AT reported that the matter will be brought before the UN, seeking redress, as the government seems to be quite oblivious to the demands of the people of Jaffna.
