Opposition MPs denied access to Vavuniyaa IDP camps due to political motives

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 11:45 GMT]
“Government denies permission to opposition parliamentarians to visit the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Vavuniyaaa IDP camps as it intends to forcibly get their 175,000 votes in the future Presidential and Parliamentary elections,” members of Human Rights Committee of Sri Lanka opposition parliamentarians said in a press conference held Wednesday morning in Colombo. “Our committee will complain against the government on this issue to the International Committee of Parliamentarians,” they further said.

United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardne, Democratic People’s Front (DPF) leader Mano Ganeshan, General Secretary of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Rajabdeen were the members of the Human Rights Committee who participated in the above press conference.

The IDPs in Vauniyaa have been very much affected by the recent floods in which their tents had submerged in water, according to Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene who showed photographs to the journalists in support of his statement.

Expectant mothers, children and the elderly people in the camps are suffering due to insufficient food and lack of basic hygienic facilities, Jayalath Jayawardne added.

Mano Ganeshan said that the IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps have to stand in long rows from morning till evening to go to the toilets, fetch water and to get the minimum quantity of food.

Sri Lanka is now being ruled by a single political party and the opposition parliamentarians who have their rights in all matters are unable to access certain parts of the country due to government’s infringements on their rights, Jayalath Jayawardne said.