Laying to rest the IDP ghost in Sri Lanka

Time was when almost the whole world seemed to be pointing accusing fingers at Sri Lanka for the manner in which it was dealing with the issue of its Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

The fact that nearly 300,000 Sri Lankan citizens in the IDP Relief Centres were those who had fled into the arms of the Security Forces from the ruthless terror of the LTTE holding them as human shields for months did not matter to the accusers. What was important was the ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ always waiting to happen in the North of Sri Lanka

The largely Western ‘International media’, just as the similarly Western ‘International community’ was aghast at a crisis of its own imagination.

There were accusations of a breach of international conventions on the treatment of refugees, although these were people saved in a humanitarian operation against the most ruthless forces of terror.

The presence of barbed wire around the relief centres was sufficient evidence of Sri Lanka holding its own people in concentration camps. Interestingly, those who made this allegation most came from the UK, which introduced the very concept of concentration camps in the Boar War in South Africa, long before Hitler and the German Nazis improved on them in their effort to eliminate the Jews.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave himself and the country the target of resettling all IDPs by 180 days, a little more than six months after the end of the humanitarian operation and final rout of the LTTE.

Tasked with such a major operation, then Senior Advisor to the President Basil Rajapaksa who headed the Task Force of IDP Resettlement, went ahead with the work, with commitment and strategy bringing both local and international energies to work jointly to achieve this target.

When December 31, 2009 came Sri Lanka could announce to the world and all its critics that it had met its target, not in full measure, but very substantially.

By that time the IDPs left in the relief centres were free to travel outside and return there if it was their wish, while others were being rapidly resettled in areas that had been de-mined and declared suitable for resettlement. Those who launched campaigns to ‘Unlock the Gates’ in Sri Lanka looked fools.

Violent conflict

Today, just 16 months after the rout of the LTTE, Sri Lanka is fast approaching the stage when it will have no more IDPs. Just as the defeat of the LTTE gave a lesson to the world on how terrorism can be defeated, Sri Lanka is now showing the world how it is possible to expeditiously resettle the internally displaced, after nearly 30 years of violent conflict; without any humanitarian catastrophe as prophesied and giving the lie to all who were giving dire warnings of the outbreak of disease, the danger of floods and so many other crises that never came true.

It is significant that the confirmation of this reality comes not from the Sri Lankan Government, but organizations abroad such as the UNHCR tasked to look into these matters, much more than sections of the media that often work in the interests of lobbyists of one shade or another.

In this case they were serving the interests of the so-called Tamil Diaspora, which is a euphemism for the pro-LTTE Tamil expatriates in the West.

There will be cause for joy among all concerned about humanitarian relief when the last 58 IDPs in Jaffna are resettled some time in the next few days. The total number of IDPs in the Menik Farm Relief Complex has been reduced to 28,659 as of September 1 and they are also being resettled with speed.

All of this confirms the recent UNHCR statement that refugees from Sri Lanka should no more be processed as groups as the conditions in the country have considerably improved, but should be judged on an individual basis.

While Canada is already following this policy, with regard to those who came to its shores aboard the MV Sea Sun, the news from Australia, another target of ‘asylum’ seekers who try to portray the gloomiest picture of Sri Lanka to the world to serve their own pecuniary ends and those of their manipulators, is helping to show the reality in Sri Lanka.

Asylum seekers

The Sydney Morning Herald of Australia reported on September 1 that the number of asylum seekers arriving from Sri Lanka has slowed dramatically in the five months since the Australian Government said it would stop processing claims from Sri Lankan applicants.

The Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies at the Australian National University Director Dr James Jupp, has said the decline pointed to improved conditions in Sri Lanka.

Only three of the 49 boats to reach Australia since April 9 have come from Sri Lanka. Processing of Sri Lankans resumed in July but no more have come by boat, the Herald report said.

While all evidence points to the steadily improving conditions in Sri Lanka that will not leave any cause for a refugee influx from here, the ‘asylum game’ is having its own twists and turns and showing up new evidence of the massive organized racket in human smuggling it has become.

In Canada, more than three dozen Tamil migrants have been segregated from 492 others who arrived by boat, for questioning by Police on suspicion of being linked to the LTTE, or other inadmissible groups, including war criminals, the Toronto Sun reported August 31.

Those held in ‘segregation’ include the skipper of the MV Sun Sea, Kamalraj Kandasamy, aka ‘Captain Vinod,’ his 24-man crew and about a dozen migrants who arrived August 13 off the coast of British Columbia after a 90-day trip from Thailand.

Police said the suspects are being interviewed and undergoing extensive background checks by the RCMP, CSIS and Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) on suspicion of alien smuggling, being members of the LTTE or for taking part in crimes against humanity.

Police said several men were moved to a segregation unit because they were ‘threatening or intimidating’ other migrants. Police also allege a Tigers cell in Canada organized the Sun Sea smuggling trip.

Tourist visas

Meanwhile, Canada’s Globe and Mail has done an expose of the trail of human smuggling that results in these ‘asylum seekers’ from Sri Lanka.

In a well-researched story from Thailand, the Globe and Mail (Aug 30) described how Tamil refugee seekers were transiting in Thailand and the entire operation is fuelled by enormous amounts of money.

Tamil refugee seekers use Thailand as a transit location, waiting to ship for Canada.

Although some are in the country on two-week tourist visas, they sign nine-month leases on rooms at just over $100 per room per month, The Globe and Mail reported.

‘Those familiar with the workings of an alleged Tamil Tiger human-smuggling ring say the Tamils are in fact in transit.

They are waiting for the next boat to take them to Canada, as the MV Sun Sea did for 492 Tamil asylum seekers..... and there are at least several dozen more Tamils waiting at other addresses the report said.

Staff at lodges says that it’s actually a rotating cast of Tamils who use the apartments.

“They don’t stay here long. They come in groups of four or five, stay for a while and then leave.

Then another group comes,” said a manager of a lodge.

As the welcome truth about conditions for Tamils in Sri Lanka moves out to the world, the really grim truth about the human smugglers of the LTTE is also gaining currency.

The time may not be far when the focus will have to shift from Sri Lanka to Thailand and other parts, if the world is to come to grips with these smugglers of humans and terror.