COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
Government Agent of the district thought they were likely to be returned to their homes within a
short period of time.
Reintegration/Reconciliation
A Senior Military Official in Jaffna told us that the Sri Lankan government had been encouraging
the Tamil population to join the security forces. He added that whilst the Sri Lankan Army had
received no applicants, the police had recruited 450 Tamil officers who were currently
undertaking training. With regard to language training, the Sri Lankan Army had conducted an
extensive programme and 40% of their personnel now spoke Tamil.
When asked, the Senior Government Official for Jaffna told us that the local population were
happy to receive IDPs back into the community. In many cases they were welcoming back
relatives. He added that Muslims were also returning in small numbers. He said that in his view
there were many Tamils from Jaffna residing in the south who were waiting to see how things
turned out, to see if it was ‗better than Colombo‘. He confirmed that there had been the
inevitable land disputes between people who had abandoned their homes decades ago
returning to find them occupied by others. He told us that there was an urgent need for a
political solution as people should feel that there is something positive happening, but added
that Tamil and Muslim political parties were fragmented.
A group of TNA MPs gave the opinion that under the current GoSL nothing would happen
regarding the reintegration and rehabilitation of the IDPs, and said that in many cases there was
no resettlement plan. They expressed concern that military camps were growing up all over the
province with houses provided by the Chinese government, providing homes for the Sinhalese
military and all of their families. They pointed out that more money was now being spent on
defence than during the conflict. Many people in Jaffna were still worried about discussing
political issues and felt suppression of speech an issue.
A Human Rights spokesman based in Jaffna said that locals were suspicious of the IDPs
returning. There were often questions asked as to whether they were working for military
intelligence and if people associated with them would the military become suspicious. Land
rights were now a big issue. At the beginning of the conflict people left their homes and went to
Colombo, allowing other people to move in and look after their properties. Many of the owners
were returning which was causing more displacement for the occupiers who now found
themselves homeless. The spokesman also mentioned that in Jaffna there were many women
aged 35-40 years who were unmarried because their families did not own land for dowries.
Muslims were also returning to the area to reclaim their land and re-establish their businesses.
The Human Rights spokesman based in Jaffna added that locals were also suspicious of
‗Sinhalisation‘, which had not taken place yet but the signs were clear. Buddhist temples were
being built, garment factories were planned for the area but would bring their own employees
from the south and military personnel were accompanied by their families who were opening
businesses. Contracts for 21 hotels in the district had all been awarded to Sinhalese businesses
from the south. Many people in the diaspora wanted to return but are afraid at the moment,
preferring to wait to see how things pan out. The spokesman said that there was a general air of
frustration within Jaffna because people were not yet seeing tangible results. They were being
made to opt for day to day reality over a political solution.
300 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.