Conflict Watch, Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan armed forces continues to record impressive military victories. With the latest victory in Anandapuram (See David's Blacker's excellent analysis here) , LTTE is trapped along an estimated 100,000 civilians are trapped in a small area of land in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka.

There are increasing calls from the international community for the LTTE to lay down their arms, but the Tigers continue to hold civilians as human shields. There government has decided to pause the hostilities in view of the recent Sinhala/Tamil New Year in Sri Lanka, and some, most notably India has requested the government to extend the temporary halt on hostilities. The latter's interest in the Sri Lanka is amplified due to the elections in that country, and the need to appease the very large ethnic Tamils in India, who according to recent polls put the Sri Lankan issue among the top most election considerations.

A few important reports have also come out during the past few weeks. Most notably from UTHR (Jaffna), and International Crisis Group. Gruesome reality of civilians caught between the crossfire is being caught on camera and distributed by various sources. Human Rights Watch has an audio slide-show with some horrific images.

International media too take note of the situation, if only sparingly. The economist had a related piece recently and so did the New York Times and the Times in the UK.

With a few exceptions, most people in Sri Lanka seems to be adjusting to the reality of a post-LTTE Sri Lanka. Intellectuals are having their say, there seems to be a general consensus that there should be some form of devolution to address the larger dissatisfaction of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. Whether or not this form of devolution will sufficiently address the root causes of the conflict remains to be seen.

The Sri Lankan blogs and websites continue to be good sources for updated information. Apart from the usual suspects, Federal Idea is a good source for anyone interested in conflict-related video content. The channel features content from Young Asia Television, which in itself is a good source for quality video content.

Any Tamils? He asked in Sinhalese..

David Blacker, a Sri Lankan writer and blogger, relates an encounter he had with the Sri Lankan security personnel recently. From his blog,

I’d just finished a 19-hour film shoot and was pretty exhausted by the time we wrapped. It was past 3am as we piled into the van that was taking us back to the agency — one of my writers, this client servicing bugger, and myself. It hadn’t been the most stressfree shoot, and tired as I was, my body was tense and I was turning over the next day’s takes in my head — takes that were scheduled to begin at 9am.

The van’s abrupt deceleration snapped me out of my thoughts, and I groaned inwardly as I saw the armed soldier waving us down. Army VCP. I was sitting by the rear door and slid it open before the van had stopped. A soldier peers into the dark interior of the vehicle.

“Any Tamils?” he asks in Sinhalese.

This is the first time I’ve heard this asked at a checkpoint, and the client servicing bugger — Tamil — hands over his ID. The troop looks it over, asks him where he’s from — Ratnapura — and hands the ID back. They’re more interested in my ID, which looks like it’s been through the digestive tract of an elephant thanks to my having gone swimming with it in my pocket, years ago. With a stern instruction to get a new ID, we’re waved off.

A couple of minutes later, the van slows down again — police VCP. Out we get again.

“Any Tamils here?” we’re asked again, in a much more nasty tone. Something tells me trouble’s on the way.

Read the rest of the story here.