The Rediff Special/A Ganesh Nadar
Some women said the Sri Lankan army behave like brutes,
but the Indian Peace Keeping Force was no better
Manohiridevi is a teacher from Yalpanam. She fled from
her home when the LTTE asked them to vacate the town. She spent a year
in Vanni before reaching India. "We had to flee or die in
the airforce bombing," she says, recalling how four Sri Lankan soldiers raped
a schoolgirl and then buried her. The girl's mother got a high court
order to dig up the body. The armymen were subsequently arrested.
"But all mothers are not so gutsy or perseverant," Manohiridevi says, insisting
it is impossible to live with the army "particularly if
you have young girls." She has brought her two children with her,
a 15-year-old girl and a 19-year-old boy. She has left
a 22-year-old married daughter back in Vanni. Her son-in-law
refused to accompany them because he said he could not live here
without doing any business.
Manohiri's hubby Ramalingam has worked as a
driver in Saudi Arabia for the last seven years. "We voted
for Kumaratunga, she let us down," she says with disgust.
When Chandrika Kumaratunga visited India
earlier this month, Manohiridevi was worried that
the Sri Lankan president had come to convince the Indian
government to throw the refugees out.
The eldest member of a family gets Rs 75 every fortnight. Every
additional member gets Rs 60. The refugees are supplied rice at 0.55 paise
per kilo -- they get half a kilo of sugar per month at Rs 9 per kg and
5 litres of kerosene at Rs 3 per litre. The refugees travel
between Ramanathapuram and Rameshwaram (an hour's journey by bus)
freely during the day. There are no restrictions on travel during the day
but the refugees have to be back in the camps by 10 pm.
They are permitted to leave the area only if they have relatives in other parts of
the state. Only for a specific period, of course.
The refugees have no complaint against the Kumaratunga government;
it is the army that bothers them. They believe
the battle between the army and the LTTE will never end. "Each
cannot destroy the other completely," says one refugee.
In Sri Lanka, Tamilians
are not allowed to cross Vanniya. New entrants are not allowed
into Colombo. So those who want to leave the country have to travel
by sea.
The refugees collect money and buy a boat. Fishermen bring them over.
The boats are seized by the Indian authorities. Thousands are said
to wait on the seashore with no means of transport. Some refugees
feel the Indian government to send ships to evacuate
the refugees.
Some women said the Sri Lankan army behave like brutes,
but the Indian Peace Keeping Force was no better. They divide
the Indian army into three types -- the Sikhs, the Gorkhas and the
Tamils. Among the three they said only the Tamils behaved themselves.
I wasn't sure whether they were saying this because we were
in Tamil Nadu.
Rajeshwaran is an old farmer from Kinnochi. He came here in October
when his house was bombed. He paid
Rs 6,000 for the crossing. He has brought one child with him.
He had to leave his married daughter and son-in-law back home
because they had no money to pay for the journey. "They will come when
they find the money." He finds the rations insufficient, but
is resigned to spending the rest of his life here.
The refugees can change money at the bank in Ramanathapuram; money
changers come to the camp too. The banks give a better rate of
exchange -- they get about 60 Indian rupees for a 100 Lankan rupees.
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