Saturday, 16 November 2013 00:00
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
British PM mobbed by families of the disappeared protesting near Jaffna Library
Meets Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran
Pro-Govt. protestors granted closer access to Cameron’s motorcade
PM shares Britain’s experiences with power sharing
Claims stories heard at Northern IDP camp were “harrowing”
Promises to raise land issues with GoSL By Dharisha Bastians in Jaffna
British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday became the first foreign leader to visit Sri Lanka’s North, using his three hour tour to focus on press freedom, land and political rights of the Tamil people four years after the end of the war.
Prime Minister Cameron stole the spotlight after the Commonwealth summit opened by visiting a camp holding the internally displaced in Chunnakam and stepping in at the besieged Jaffna based Uthayan newspaper, in addition to holding discussions with the new provincial political leadership in the formerly embattled region.
The largely non-descript motorcade did not disrupt life in Jaffna town or result in the closure of many roads to civilian traffic.
Cameron, who flew to Jaffna soon after the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo last morning, met with Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran at the iconic Jaffna Library, rebuilt on the ashes of the building that was set fire to when ethnic tensions were rising in 1981.
The Chief Minister briefed the British Prime Minister on the issues faced by the TNA as it runs its provincial administration in the North. Chief Minister Wigneswaran told Cameron that the Northern Provincial Council was not permitted to exercise even the meagre powers such as land and police powers devolved to the provincial councils under the constitution.
Wigneswaran told the visiting PM that the NPC’s primary problem was the province’s military Governor who was “countermanding” all orders given by the Chief Minister and the continued military presence in the North. TNA Leader R. Sampanthan who also attended the meeting at the Jaffna Library articulated that Tamils of Sri Lanka needed ‘meaningful’ devolution even if it was not labelled ‘federalism’, TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran who was also present told Daily FT.
The British Prime Minister had shared the UK’s own experiences in sharing power, saying that extensive power had been devolved to Scotland and Wales. “It is possible to share power without labelling it,” Cameron told the TNA leadership. He assured the Tamil political leaders that Britain and the international community would do whatever it could to nudge the Sri Lankan Government in that direction. “Political leaders in the north of Sri Lanka tell me they are glad I’ve come to help highlight what is happening here,” Cameron tweeted following his meeting with Wigneswaran.
Demonstrations and counter demonstrations greeted the British Prime Minister’s motorcade in the Northern capital, as scores of families of the disappeared lined the street to the Jaffna Library where his first meeting was to be held. Families of the disappeared, blocked from Cameron’s view by a police truck placed in the centre of the road, breached the human wall created by the police and mobbed the VIP convoy just as the British Prime Minister’s vehicle was whisked away by security.
Emotional protestors mobbed buses filled with British media personnel who were travelling with Prime Minister Cameron. Several protestors thrust pictures of their loved ones and complaints of missing people into the hands of British journalists, including Channel 4’s Jonathan Snow.
A counter demonstration organised by the Jaffna Buddhist Association was permitted to be held in full view of the Library entrance where the Prime Minister’s motorcade entered the premises. Holding neatly printed signs, the pro Government demonstrators urged an international inquiry into abuses during the colonial period and asked Britain not to interfere in the country’s internal affairs. The British Prime Minister also visited the Uthayan newspaper that has been attacked multiple times and seen several journalists killed or brutally assaulted in the heart of Jaffna town. At the newspaper he was shown pictures of the victims on the walls of the editorial offices and bullet holes from one of the attacks on the building by the newspaper’s proprietor TNA MP E. Saravanabhavan and Editor M V. Kanamylnathan.
The British Prime Minister, clad in a simple short sleeved black shirt and slacks, navigated the narrow alleys of the Sabhapathipillai IDP camp in Chunnakam, a few kilometres from Jaffna town. With his media posse in tow, Cameron spoke with families that had been displaced for 24 years and walked into their temporary shelters to see their living conditions first hand. The British Prime Minister said he had found the stories he was hearing from people at the camp were “often harrowing”.
The 111 families at the Chunnakam camp have been displaced from the Valikamam North area, over which more than 2000 cases have been filed alleging illegal land acquisition by the Government. “He asked them why they were at the camp and why they could not go back to home and they all answered that the military was occupying their villages,” Sumanthiran who accompanied Cameron to the IDP camp explained. “So their lands have been occupied by the army and four years after the end of the war, they won’t give the lands back? And they can’t go to court because straight justice won’t be delivered,” the British Prime Minister summarised after hearing the stories of the displaced. “This is where we will need to put the pressure,” he added, speaking with Sumanthiran at the camp. Winding up his tour of Jaffna at the IDP camp, Cameron’s delegation left for Palaly to fly back to Colombo just after 5 p.m.
The TNA described the visit as ‘fruitful’ and important at a time when the Rajapaksa Government was basking in the glow of the Commonwealth Summit, believing it to be an international endorsement.
