COLOMBO: As the violence escalates in the north and east of the country following failure of talks between the government and the LTTE, reports say thousands of Tamil civilians are fleeing to neighbouring India fearing an outbreak of war.
A combination of aid agency figures as well as those from the Navy and the police indicate that nearly 3000 people have landed on Indian shores, in the past few weeks in the first mass exodus that has taken place after the ceasefire agreement was signed in February 2002.
Officials say that thousands more are desperately trying to flee the north and the east, often attempting dangerous sea routes. The outflow began early this year amid a surge of violence that has spiralled to what the Nordic truce monitors overseeing Sri Lanka’s peace process describes as a ‘low intensity war’.
The Sri Lanka navy sources say it has nabbed at least 10 boats carrying over 250 people illegally to India, in the past few weeks. The present exodus to India are mainly from northern Jaffna, north western Mannar and eastern Batticaloa and Trincomale. All the areas have access to the seas.
Tamil refugees first began fleeing to India in the aftermath of the 1983 riots that targeted Tamils. Hundreds were repatriated after the 2002 cease-fire agreement with the assistance of the UNHCR. However, over 70,000 Sri Lankan Tamils still live in camps in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, statistics reveal. Humanitarian organizations say they are trying to help people who want to leave for India get safe passage but point out that there is very little help that can be provided.
“The plight of the refugees who flee to India often go unrecorded. There are cases where some have drowned,” says Saroja Sivachandran, a human rights activist in northern Jaffna. “There are thousands in the coastal regions in Jaffna waiting to catch a boat to India. Those fleeing people comprise mostly women and children,” she noted.
“They leave in fishing boats. Their departures are sudden and are undertaken often in the night. Those who leave for India are mostly those who have been displaced several times within their own region. Every time an attack takes place the families located close by move to an adjoining village or area,” explains Sivachandran.
In the east the exodus deepened end April following the military bombing of LTTE bases in Muttur, a key region in the Trincomalee district, following heightened LTTE attacks. As tensions between the Tiger rebels and the government deepen, following the LTTE backing out of talks in Norway last week reports indicate the rebels are likely to declare the war shortly.
“The state run Daily News on Wednesday quoted a Colombo-based peace lobbyist, Dr Kumar Rupesinghe, as saying that there were indications of another war.
Rupesinghe had urged humanitarian agencies to prepare themselves to assist innocent civilians affected by the war, the paper said.
