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Tamil refugees await Jaffna's fall

George Iype in Gumidipoondi and Puzil (Tamil Nadu)

Karunan Shivappa, a Sri Lankan Tamil at the Gumudipoondi refugee camp, is on a fund collection drive. He managed to collect Rs 500, with which he and his friends recently purchased some firecrackers.

Though mired in poverty, Shivappa and his ilk are preserving them for the Big Day, when Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka will fall to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

"Jaffna will fall soon. We are overjoyed with the LTTE's success. Eelam zindabad," Shivappa shouts as a host of malnourished children from the refugee camp touch and smell the crackers.

As ethnic strife in Jaffna escalates and the battle between the LTTE and Sri Lankan government forces is poised for a climax, the mood of Tamil refugees scattered in temporary camps across Tamil Nadu is one of joy, hope and celebration.

But their celebrations are low-key as the state police occasionally drop in to check if refugees are singing paeans to the LTTE and its chief, V Prabhakaran.

Last week, the police interrogated refugees at the Puzil camp who issued pro-LTTE statements to the local Tamil magazine Nakiran.

For the Tamil refugees, some who temporarily adopted Tamil Nadu as their homeland ever since they fled the strife in Sri Lanka since 1983, Eelam remains a secret desire in their hearts.

"We do not feel like aliens in Tamil Nadu. But Eelam is in our hearts. It is in our body and spirit. So when we hear of the LTTE moving forward to Jaffna, our heartbeats increase with joy," says Antony David, who left Trincomalee in 1985.

"My parents are still there. I have not been able to meet them since I ran away with my two children and wife. I owned four boats and lived a life of middle class luxury," David says. He now works with a local contractor in Puzal.

David and his friends set off for their daily job at 7 am. But as soon as they are back, they switch on the only black and white television set that five families share. Sun TV has special updates and newsbreaks on Sri Lanka every hour. Some refugees switch on transistors for the latest news.

"We all are eager to hear when Jaffna will fall. It will happen and it will be then for the Tamils forever," says Sundara Murukesh, who left Jaffna in 1990.

Murukesh says that though Tamil Nadu is separated from Jaffna by the narrow Palk Straits, "it is the biggest bridge of unity between the Tamils".

"Palk Straits is a water bridge of hope and life," he states. For refugees like Murukesh, the nationalist spirit of a separate homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka has been stirred by the heady military successes of the LTTE.

"We feel like Indians during the Kargil war last year. You celebrated when the Indian Army crushed Pakistani militants. So it is time we celebrate in the name of Jaffna," says Kamal Pandyan, a refugee at Gumudipoondi.

For many refugees living a life of poverty, the homeland is a dream which will come true.

The battle in Jaffna has not yet sent many refugees to Tamil Nadu. According to the Commissionerate of Refugees in Madras, less than 400 refugees from Sri Lanka have arrived at the coastal end of Rameswaram. There are many reasons why the refugee influx has been low.

Striking is the indifferent attitude of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government headed by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu. The government, no longer sympathetic to the Tamil 'brethren' in Sri Lanka, has launched a massive effort to halt the refugee influx, in collaboration with the Navy and Coast Guard.

The government has issued notices to boatowners in Rameswaram that their boats will be confiscated and cases filed against them if they bring refugees from across the ocean.

"We want no more Tamil refugees in the state. If many come in terrible conditions, it is enough to incite Tamil passions. The refugees in camps are living peacefully. They will get emboldened if more come in," a state government official handling the refugee problem pointed out.

But it is unlikely that the state government will be able to stop the exodus if Jaffna falls in the days to come.

"The influx will begin only after Jaffna falls. There are thousands awaiting ferries at various points in Jaffna," says Professor V Suryanayan, a specialist in refugee problems and an expert on Sri Lanka.

According to Suryanarayan, if Jaffna falls to the LTTE, the first batch of refugees will be non-LTTE Tamils, who are actually scared that the LTTE will forcibly recruit their children.

For the state government, identifying genuine refugees is the toughest task. All refugees who land up on the Rameswaram coastline are interrogated by the state police. They are then shifted to a temporary camp at Mandapam. Then they are shifted to 161 refugee camps spread across Tamil Nadu.

Tamil refugees like Shivappa, who have spent 17 years in the Gumudipoondi camp, are awaiting the arrival of more Tamil brethren from Sri Lanka. "We want to hear from them. We want to know how our homeland is, how our near and dear ones are. We want to celebrate with them when Jaffna falls," Shivappa adds with an air of expectation.

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