Tamilians nurse the common notion that the government was not at all bothered of the plight and miseries of the family members of the former LTTE activists. The politics of discrimination continues. Even in personal talks they point to the discernment of the government. After 9 years of the nightmares of the war, people are yet to make out the rationale of the Indian stance on the war.

Though new well laid and furnished rods have appeared connecting the entire region of Jaffna, peace has descended on the town, people appear to be in cheerful mental frame, the spectre of the military action continues to stare. The situation has been created by the government. Sri Lankan government maintains a “strong military presence” in post-conflict areas and continues to voice concern about the possible re-emergence of pro-LTTE sympathisers. This is not simply the feeling of the common people, even the U.S. State Department’s ‘Country Reports on Terrorism for 2014 underlines this fact.

Even today a sizeable portion of Jaffna and its surrounding areas, the nerve centre of the northern Sri Lanka, are under firm control of the Army. The common people have been denied access to many areas. Of course in some beach areas the fishermen have been granted permission to enter but only for the purpose of fishing. The fishermen have to carry their identity papers issued by the Army.

In a bizarre development, some former LTTE cadres, including those rehabilitated and released into society, were rearrested without valid reasons. However some northern politicians have warned of consequences if such arrests are not halted.

Interestingly the arrests are made on the presumption and fears that the LTTE is attempting to regroup but the government at the same time insists there is no threat to national security. Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said that the arrests of former LTTE cadres were made based on investigations conducted by the Terrorist Investigations Division (TID). However taking the issue seriously the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) asked the government to explain the reasons behind the arrest of some rehabilitated former LTTE cadres.TNA Parliamentarian Selvam Adaikalanathan said that the arrest was spreading fear among the Tamils in the North and East. The TNA sources however point out that the LTTE cadres those who were attached to the intelligence unit of the LTTE, have been the prime target of the government for arrest.

Meanwhile a protest was staged in Ampara last week against the arrest of former LTTE cadres. The protestors called for the release of the former LTTE cadres already arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. In fact only last week the National Peace Council had said that the discovery of a cache of weapons used by the LTTE in the north last month gave rise to security concern that the LTTE is seeking to regroup.

These arrests, and the manner in which they are taking place, are creating a sense of fear amongst the people in the north. Even the NPC is concerned about reports from the north that legal procedures have not been followed in the case of many of these arrests. One of the most feared features of the previous Government was its utilisation of security forces personnel to take away those it perceived to be threats, enemies or suspects in what became known as “white van abductions.” The NPC also called on the Government to remain committed to its pledge to move forward in accordance with internationally accepted standards in a manner that will heal the wounds of the past and rebuild trust between the ethnic and religious communities and the state.

Like all previous governments of Sri Lanka, this government also discriminates when applying the law. If you are Tamil and you committed or intend to commit crimes against the Singhalese state, it will arrest them without hesitation and put them in jail under PTA. If you are a Singhalese and have committed war crimes against Tamils, the government either will not take any action against them and protect them because the Singhalese government believes that those who committed war crimes against Tamils, are Singhalese’s war heroes.

The arrest of former LTTE members and accusing them as a threat to national security is a repeat of what happened 26 years ago when Tamil youth were arrested and tortured and helped the youth to join the LTTE and fight the army.

The war against the Tamils may have ended but the battle between the two communities are not over and still on. Peace and tranquility will dawn in the battered areas belonging to the Tamils, only when the majority government adapts constitutional changes to assimilate the minority into the mainstream of politics. Such change entails a large heart that could accommodate the aspirations of the Tamils, once a prosperous and well educated minority.

Jaffna was a center of education where some of the prominent politicians obtained their education. The destruction of the library itself authenticates a malicious strategy against the Tamils that had taken 3 decades of systematic annihilation of the community and its tradition. The causes of the conflict being the denial of rights and a divisive politics, it is important for the government, that came to power with the assurance to resolve issues, to remember roots of the conflict and not to discard the assurance into oblivion. Tamils are now a vanquished community, but has not lost its pride, though. The government must assist the Tamil community in their effort to rebuild their battered lives.

South African Anglican priest Michael Lapsley feels; “The war will come back if you don’t heal the wounds of memories”. Incidentally the people strongly believe that it was the Sinhala leaders who prepared the ground for an unwanted, unnecessary war when the Tamils wanted a “shared future”. Despite victory over the LTTE and eliminating its total leadership including

Velupillai Prabhakaran, the ghost of the LTTE continues to haunt the people and the political leaders of Sri Lanka. Speculations are always rife that LTTE cadres have been trying to regroup and re-emerge.

If the statistics are to be relied, “82 per cent directly exposed to war, 67 per cent narrowly escaped death, 63 per cent had lost family or friend, 43 per cent witnessed killings, 27 per cent had been imprisoned, 23 per cent kidnapped or abducted and 18 per cent had been tortured or beaten.” (IPA Service)