Uprooted Mullaiththeevu detainees in Vavuniyaa demand immediate resettlement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 06:40 GMT]
The uprooted civilians from Mullaiththeevu detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Menik Farm camp staged a protest demonstration refusing food in front of the camp Monday demanding the authorities to immediately allow them to resettle in their places in Mullaiththeevu district, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The situation turned tense when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers tried to scare the protestors away but the situation was brought under control due to the efforts of UNHCR personnel, the sources added. The protesters were forced to demand resettlement as living conditions in the camp had worsened due to problems arising between the government administrators in Mullaiththeevu and Vavuinyaa on the issue of the responsibility of looking after the people of Mullaiththeevu.

The Government Agent (GA) in Vavuniyaa had been responsible for the supply of food, drinking water and sanitary maintenance of the six zones of Menik Farm where 22,416 families uprooted from Mullaiththeevu during the war are detained.

Vavuniyaa GA has recently stopped the above services to the Mullaiththeevu detainees saying that it was the responsibility of the Mullaiththeevu GA to take care of them.

Consequently, the supply of basic needs like drinking water and food has been seriously affected while the latrines in the camp overflow without removal of the human waste.

Monsoon rains are expected in the next few days and sanitary conditions in the camp are doomed to cause infectious disease, the protesting detainees said.

They further said that they will look after themselves if they are only allowed to resettle in their properties in Mullaiththeevu district.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government has declared six Village Officer divisions in Mullaiththeevu as High Security Zones of Sri Lanka Army where people will not be allowed to resettle.

The fate on the uprooted families from Mullaiththeevu district detained in Vavuniyaa is likely to end up as that of the uprooted families in Valikaamam in Jaffna twenty years ago who still languish in temporary camps.