By Wilson Gnanadass
Barely 24 hours before the Co-Chairs met in Washington on November 21, President Mahinda Rajapakse directed his officials to dispatch food items through the A9 road to the North.
President Rajapakse’s announcement was a sequel to media reports that the Co-Chairs were going to mount pressure on Rajapakse and his government to open the A9 road to feed the starving civilians.
Subsequently, in Parliament Trade Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle also made a statement saying the government was ready to send food convoys to the North and in fact, calmed down the Tamil parliamentarians who were agitating in the well of the House over this.
However to date, not a single lorry has reached the Northern soil to distribute food items through the A9 road. It appears the government is still in the process of oiling its machinery to send food to the north. And this has wreaked another humanitarian havoc in the Peninsula.
The government temporarily decided to close the A9 highway, entry/exit checkpoint at Muhamalai on August 11, 2006.
The closure according to the government was necessitated due to the massive artillery and mortar attack launched by the LTTE on the government forces on the day the LTTE destroyed the entire infrastructure built by the government at Muhamalai to facilitate the movement of people and goods. Further the closure was also aimed at preventing the LTTE from taxing the innocent Tamil civilians for the movement’s survival.
The closure hence was because of a conflict between the LTTE and the government and the status quo remains even at the time of this edition going to press, though the President wanted lorries carrying food to go to the North through the A9. At present nearly 653,735 citizens of the Jaffna Peninsula are silently suffering due to the conflict between the government and the LTTE.
The Peninsula that depends on 20,000 metric tons of food per month, at present receives only less than 15,000. This means a portion of the population either will have to starve or all the citizens are forced to have half a meal a day.
Short supply of medicines, drugs and milk food are also causing malnutrition and other ailments to the people.
Impossible task
Though the battle between the government and the LTTE to open the A9 trunk road continues with no immediate positive response in sight, the government is shipping food supplies to the North.
According to official figures from August to September some 18,500 metric tons of essential food items have been sent to the Peninsula and 12,000 metric tons of food has already been sent in November. Despite the sigh of relief from the civilians they say it is still not enough to meet the existing demand.
According to the President of the Jaffna District Cooperative Council, Periyathamby Kanagasabai, it is ‘highly impossible’ to distribute food to nearly 600,000 people through just 550 cooperative society outlets run by the state.
He says 5,000 retail shops are closed as a result of the closure of the A9 road and adds this has severely retarded the supply of food to the people.
“As a result many people are forced to starve. They come early in the morning and join the long queue but return disappointed in the evening at around 6.00 pm. This is pathetic,” he said.
President of the Social Development Foundation (SDF), a local Non-Governmental Organisation that functions only in Jaffna, Mrs. N.Jegatheeswaran also subscribes to the comments made by Kanagasabai and says the people of Jaffna have no food even if they have the money.
Her contention is that it is not possible for the cooperative outlets to feed the 600,000 people. “What is heartbreaking is that I see pregnant women or women with children waiting in the queue for nearly one day, it is a horrible sight,” she said.
She says farmers are anxious to send their produce to Colombo but are unable to do so. Ms. Jegatheeswaran has also written to the Jaffna Government Agent K.Ganesh to organise lorries to transport the produce of the local farmers to Colombo.
“Nearly 100,000 people are waiting to leave Jaffna. The basic necessity of a man is food. And if food is not available what can he do? Here he is forced to buy a kilo of fish for Rs.1,200. How can they afford it?” she questioned.
Unemployment crisis
Whatever the justification the government and the LTTE may be offering each other to keep the A9 closed; this issue has certainly precipitated another huge crisis of unemployment in the Jaffna Peninsula.
According to unofficial figures from the Jaffna Chamber of Commerce, nearly 75 percent of the private employees have become ‘jobless’ over night following the closure of A9 road with effect from August 11, 2006. The need to shut down nearly 5,000 private shops has suddenly resulted in tens and thousands of men and women going out of jobs. The construction industry has come to a standstill while all other industries too are not functioning. Virtually the entire Jaffna Peninsula is paralysed due to this situation. This has caused great concern among the citizens who appeal to the government to open the A9 road.
The ‘no cash in hand’ situation due to the lack of jobs has led many to engage in anti social activities like theft and burglary. According to Ms. Jegatheeswaran this has caused more fear and uncertainty in the Peninsula. She says if people stay indoors, they will not find food. And if they go out to find food, they may lose the things they own.
“This is another huge problem faced here. But this is inevitable during a crisis situation like this,” she added.
“Private traders have no jobs in Jaffna,” said I. Illayathamby, a resident of Jaffna.He blamed the government for not opening the A9 road. His argument was that the A9 road should be opened at least to feed the civilians who are not interested in the ongoing war.
“We are not worried as to who should win the Eelam war. What we want is a simple, decent living and the government must create a conducive climate for this,” he said.
Several people on the condition of anonymity blamed the LTTE for not showing their sincerity during a calamity like this. “The LTTE has no right to stop food flowing into the North. We are starving and dying and still the LTTE is harping on conditions and so on,” they said.
Food looted
In the East also the situation has transformed into a dangerous one with looters and robbers trying their hand in blocking lorries carrying food to the people and instead diverting them to their own homes. For instance, food lorries that are dispatched to Vakarai are waylaid by unidentified men and robbed.
The Nation reliably learns one of the para military groups functioning in the East is responsible for this.
According to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), of the six lorry loads of food that were sent to Vakarai last week, only one lorry had reached the people of Vakarai. Government sources confirmed that food convoys were being diverted due to threats and therefore the real victims were continuing to starve. The government has also made a request to the LTTE to allow the food stuff to be dispatched at a safe locality in Vakarai so that the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) could come and collect their parcels, but the LTTE has refused to adhere to this proposal.
According to defence spokesman and cabinet minister Keheliya Rambukkwella the government has no way to send food to Vakarai.
Government firm
The government is firm that it would not give into the LTTE demands by opening the A9 road without any conditions.
According to cabinet minister Keheliya Rambukkwela the offer to take food to the North is open to private individuals and international organisations.
He says the government is working out the modalities to find out how best the essential food items could be sent to the people through government machinery.
“It is hard when the LTTE fails to fully cooperate with us. But we are determined. We will find a way to do this,” he said.
According to him a large consignment of food is to be dispatched to the North within a day or two. He blamed the LTTE for not cooperating with the government to help the starving people in the Peninsula.
“The LTTE’s agenda is now well known by the international community. If the LTTE was genuinely interested in the Tamil people, the Tigers should at least allow us to send the food escorted by international NGOs. But the LTTE continues to refuse this offer. Why? Is it because the movement can’t raise sufficent funds by way of taxes? This is unfair,” the minister added.
Below poverty line
Both the government and the LTTE may continue to show reasons to the world to fight and to shake hands.
What both fail to understand is that already 250,000 people living in the Jaffna Peninsula have come under the poverty line. They are starving and soon they may even die of starvation. The 600,000 people, who today are suffering due to the shortage of food, may or may not be the sympathisers of the LTTE. Does this mean they should be punished? If both warring factions consider this fact they could decide to open the A9 for the sake of the suffering civilians. With the onset of the monsoon, ships cannot be used to transport goods to the North till end of January. If both parties continue to harp on conditions, the people are going to suffer further .