URGENT STEPS TO REMOVE THE HUGE SUFFERINGS OF TAMIL CIVILIANS!!!

From paws to pause: Giving peace a chance........ Koththa Malli

My dear Mahinda Aiya,
Ayubowan, vanakkam and assalamu alaikkum and best wishes on this April Fool’s Day with questions as to how long some people could continue to fool others and who is fooling whom. Cliché’s apart, there are also questions whether fools are rushing in where angels fear to tread and what dreadful consequences we might see in the coming days and weeks before the National New Year.

On the battle front in the North and the international diplomatic and economic battle fronts major issues or questions continued to erupt last week. On Friday despite efforts by the government to counter such moves, the United Nations Security Council got a briefing on the crisis in Lanka and the possible humanitarian catastrophe that looms over some 200,000 displaced civilians. The Security Council issued a call – strongly backed by the United States and Britain for what it called a “humanitarian pause” or cessation of hostilities mainly to rescue the displaced civilians from their hell holes where they are reported to be facing crossfire daily from both sides. The moves by US and Britain came after the influential US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, a former presidential candidate warned the Sri Lankan government to act fast in solving the humanitarian crisis. The British parliament also took up the Sri Lankan issue which some MPs calling for the suspension of Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth. Sri Lanka has also been blasted and blacklisted by the United Nations Human Rights High Commission with its Chief Navaneetham Pillay saying both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government may be liable to face war crimes charges. Although government leaders are attacking and dismissing her as “that Pillay nona”, the UNHRC is known to have wide influence and power and Sri Lanka may face dire consequences. Another international blast on Sri Lanka came from the widely respected New York based Committee for the Protection of Journalists. It placed Sri Lanka as No: 4, in its list of shame for killings or abductions of journalists and the cases being left unresolved. No: 1, in this list is Iraq, No: 2 Sierra Leone and No: 3 Somalia leaving Sri Lanka in dubious if not notorious company.

On the economic front a veil of secrecy was placed over the crucial talks with the once detested IMF to obtain a life-saving loan of some 1.9 billion US dollars. Independent economic analysts and opposition critics are saying the government may have to agree to various conditions including a significant devaluation of the rupee, a slashing of the public sector. An opposition MP said the UNP might also ask the IMF to insist that the Cabinet be slashed from 110 to 25 and that other extravagant spending sprees of the government be cancelled. On Sunday opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe – who worked out a counter coup to defeat a revolt in his party last Tuesday, said many leaders and people overseas thought Sri Lanka had 110 members in parliament. They were shocked to hear that it was not parliament but this small country’s Cabinet which has some 110 Ministers of something or the other and that it costs more than 500 million rupees a month to maintain them and their staff.

With the state media highlighting one side of a highly exaggerated story, replete with lies, damn lies and statistics, most parties and groups appear to be facing a crisis within crisis and division within division. Tragically this appears to have hit a church also. Last week the three Catholic Bishops of Jaffna, Mannar and Anuradhapura along with the Anglican Bishops of Colombo and Kurunegala issued a statement on the humanitarian crisis or possible catastrophe for the innocent people of the North. But the statement was not signed by nine of the 12 Catholic Bishops and it appeared that the problem was the lack of a prophetic voice to speak out in the name of a suffering people. This silence of the graveyard is probably a sign of the times when the institutional church is being dragged back to the pre Vatican Council 2 era where it was largely a case of the participation of the people in the confusion of the priest.

The five Bishops in their statement said as religious leaders, they were extremely concerned about the deteriorating plight of the civilians who were still trapped in the Vanni.

The immediate and absolutely urgent need is to recognize that this is a very critical humanitarian crisis faced by fellow Sri Lankans. The needs of food, water, health, sanitation, shelter and, above all, physical security of these our sisters and brothers and children need to be addressed without delay. From all independent reports available, the plight of these trapped civilians has become desperate. These are people who over the past several years have lived under severe deprivations and restrictions and have in recent months been displaced several times over. The Bishops urged that all sides recognize the helplessness and powerlessness of these desperate Sri Lankans to change their circumstances or voice their fears and concerns. They appeal to all concerned to set aside debates on secondary issues and take immediate steps to alleviate the suffering of the people.

The Bishops appeal to all parties, in the name of our religions and in the name of our common humanity, to have the humility and the courage to agree to the following:

Continue steady food supplies through the World Food Programme as long as is necessary.
Continue the ferrying of the sick and injured persons through the ICRC to hospitals that are in a position to provide the necessary personnel and medicines to treat these people.
Negotiate and evacuate all civilians who wish to leave the conflict-zone. For this purpose, a temporary cessation of fighting be agreed upon to enable this evacuation.
So with government spokesmen also saying they would be ready for a humanitarian pause, there is some hope for a peaceful New Year.