A MEMBER of Brisbane’s Sinhalese Catholic community has questioned claims by a priest and a doctor that Tamils being released from Sri Lankan detention centres are returning home to find their properties occupied by people linked to the country’s Government.
Indooroopilly’s Holy Family parishioner Jayantha Ameratunga said such a situation would be extremely unlikely as the north of Sri Lanka was not a popular destination for people from the south.
“The dry climatic conditions are harsh and the water supply uncertain,” he said. “In Sri Lanka public servants call a move to the northern regions a ‘punishment transfer’.”
However, Brisbane Dominican Father Pan Jordan said his comments were based on information received from priests, other contacts and reports from the affected areas.
Fr Jordan and Dr Brian Senewiratne last week told The Catholic Leader Pope Benedict XVI should visit the detention centres to have any impact on the treatment of those held there.
Their comments followed Pope Benedict’s recent call to the Sri Lankan Government to free all displaced civilians from the camps while at the same time expressing “satisfaction” that the Sri Lankan Government was making an effort to allow for those displaced by the decades-long civil war to return to their homes.
However, Mr Ameratunga said he could not see “why the Pope should put himself in this situation”.
“The Pope would learn much more about the real situation if he was to go south and talk to civilians who are still suffering from the Tamil Tigers’ terrorist attacks,” he said.
“However, ideally both sides involved should be talking to each other at every opportunity and looking for the peaceful way forward.”
Since the decades-long civil war ended six months ago, Sri Lanka’s Government has been under pressure over an estimated 300,000 people made homeless by the fighting.
Many of these were held in large detention camps in the country’s north.
Mr Ameratunga acknowledged that conditions in the camps were probably not good.
“I won’t be surprised if even running water is scarce,” he said.
“But such conditions are common in other parts of Sri Lanka as well – N’Eliya and Moneragala or the slums in Maradana for example.
“And I can bet conditions in the northern camps are still a hundred times better than the refugee camps in Africa, India, Pakistan and Indonesia.”
Mr Ameratunga also pointed out that a recent visit to Sri Lanka by United Nations head of Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes revealed that more than half of the 250,000 Tamils held in detention centres in the country’s north have been released.
“The Sri Lankan Government has also indicated an intention to release all in detention centres by early next year,” he said.
Commenting further on the situation in northern Sri Lanka, Fr Jordan said reports spoke of more than 500 families of “the majority (ie Sinhalese) community” setting up houses and rice paddies in areas previously occupied by Tamils before the war intensified.
“These areas include Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Batticaloa”, he said.
Fr Jordan said one of his contacts had spoken of civilians being released from camps only to find their villages and homes devastated.
“These villages include Karukakulam, Alkattiveli and Adampan in Mannar district.
“My contact said that these people commented they had been brought back with the assurance that they will be resettled but have been left with nothing.
“Damaged churches and schools cannot provide shelter to everybody and hence some were under trees.
“Trees and damaged roofs of those community buildings covered with tents protect them from the scorching sun but what will happen when the rains come?”
Fr Jordan said it was also reported that Sri Lankan Army members were still occupying the Parupukadanthan church.
