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