The Rediff Special/A Ganesh Nadar

Their eyes portrayed pain, they pleaded for understanding

Ranjanathevi is a sad women from Velvetathurai. She has three children. She had sent one son with her elder sister, the others she brought with her. Her son landed here on September 5, 1996. On October 17, her son, her brother's son and sister's son were arrested from a camp in Pudukottai district along with others on suspicion that they had links with the LTTE.

Those arrested have been taken to a special camp in Chingleput district. There, the rules are stricter. She has visited her son twice. She says her son has not been ill-treated, but she wants him with her. Inmates at the Chingleput camp get Rs 20 per day, but no subsidised rations.

Rajanathevi plans to approach a lawyer to get her son released. "We have petitioned the chief minister, but nothing has happened," she says, dejectedly.

Twelve girls's bodies floated ashore in Mullathievu. The girls had been raped, killed and then thrown into the sea. When this news reached the village, Ranjanathevi fled with her family. She says there is no problem for old people, it is the 15 to 35 age group that is in trouble -- they constitute the lost generation. The generation that has lost all hope.

I found Shiva loitering outside the camp. "I was in this camp for six years. Two months ago they shifted me to a camp in Palayamcottai, Tirunelveli district. There we got rations yesterday, after six weeks," he says. He hasn't found any work in Palayamcottai. I asked him why he had come here. "I used to work here, my boss owes me money. I came to collect it."

The revenue officials said there had been no new arrivals since Boxing Day. "They won't come, our government and their government will make sure of that," one clerk said confidently. When the refugees arrive, 'Q' branch officers takes aside anybody whom they think has LTTE connections.

I ashed one of them if they had caught any LTTE militants among the refugees. "The LTTE doesn't need to land here, they have the entire coast to land, they have the boats, the people and the cash, they don't need to pretend to be refugees," said one official.

The camp has a hospital which is also used by outsiders. There is a higher secondary school which is also attended by local children. The staff have quarters inside the camp. The police station is called the Sri Lankan Repatriate Police Station. The entire compound is guarded by policemen, machine guns in hand.

Their eyes portrayed pain, they pleaded for understanding. I understood, but pretended otherwise. How could I forget or forgive Rajiv Gandhi's assassination? The Sri Lankans will get sustenance here, but nothing more.

I am sure everybody concerned is feeling very noble. In a country where starvation deaths are reported regularly, after all we still feed our guests.