A village Disappears

Last week, 3 of my collagues of Praja Abhilasha net work visited Mannar area to meet IDPs and search the opportunities for ensure their rights to be attained.
Rev. Thomas John, one among them drafted the following and I thought this is important story to tell others the realities of the so called resettlements of the IDS due to war ended last May, 2009.
Here is the story which Thomas John narrated after their visit to Mannar.

The story of the displacement of 200 households from their habitat in Mullikulam
Our visit to a group of 32 displaced families from Mullikulam in itself was significant achievement and experience. We got a glimpse into the kind of gross violations of human rights in the name of hunting down Tamil Tigers and the sinister designs behind such moves happening in a various parts in Sri Lanka. The story is that of two hundred families who had lived peacefully and with a sustainable means of lived- fishing- in a place called Mullikulam in the district of Mannar. They were uprooted in 1990 from their habitat, but with great resilience and determination they returned to it in 2004 and reconstructed their habitats and livelihood in the same location. In 2007, they were again evicted in one hour notice by the military. After taking them through various temporary shelters, 32 families were finally left in the streets of Mannar to fend for themselves. Since the time of this eviction, the husband of one of the women who had been accompanying them in a motor cycle was never seen again and still he is missing. Another group of evictees was separated from them to another place and some of them have since then left for India. Now the 32 families are squatting on a private land without any public service such as electricity and water and any means of livelihood or any resource base for sustainable livelihood. They have been traditionally dependent on fishing anA village Disappears
The story of the displacement of 200 households from their habitat in Mullikulam
Our visit to a group of 32 displaced families from Mullikulam in itself was significant achievement and experience. We got a glimpse into the kind of gross violations of human rights in the name of hunting down Tamil Tigers and the sinister designs behind such moves happening in a various parts in Sri Lanka. The story is that of two hundred families who had lived peacefully and with a sustainable means of lived- fishing- in a place called Mullikulam in the district of Mannar. They were uprooted in 1990 from their habitat, but with great resilience and determination they returned to it in 2004 and reconstructed their habitats and livelihood in the same location. In 2007, they were again evicted in one hour notice by the military. After taking them through various temporary shelters, 32 families were finally left in the streets of Mannar to fend for themselves. Since the time of this eviction, the husband of one of the women who had been accompanying them in a motor cycle was never seen again and still he is missing. Another group of evictees was separated from them to another place and some of them have since then left for India. Now the 32 families are squatting on a private land without any public service such as electricity and water and any means of livelihood or any resource base for sustainable livelihood. They have been traditionally dependent on fishing and now they have to eke out a living by casual manual labour. Their land is now occupied by the army and they are not permitted in as it is now a High Security Zone. Only 21 houses are now left in that area and the rest has been demolished and are now occupied by the army. It is also learned that now they are negotiating with the Catholic Bishop of the area for the land and a school belonging to the Catholic Church. It is also rumoured that they are going to construct houses for naval officers in that area. The displaced people are determined to get their land and houses back. The 32 families together would have about 80 acres of land. They refused to be lured into accepting anything less than their land and their means of livelihood. They cherish the happy life they had in Mullikulam. The same design of declaring war against innocent people and declaring their habitations as HSZs and handing them over for other developmental activities is replayed in different theatres of war against Tigers.

Rev.Thomas John.
06.06.10