"To us
all towns are one, all men our kin. |
Home | Whats New | Trans State Nation | One World | Unfolding Consciousness | Comments | Search |
Sri Lanka's Genocidal War - '95 to '01
Sri Lanka army uses Tamil villagers as forced labour...
"The Citizen's Commission on Border Villages says in an interim report on 10 December that the Army continues to use people in villages bordering Sri Lanka's north-east war zone as forced labour without wages. Villagers are often ordered to clean military camps, construct bunkers and clear jungles. The civilian Commission, appointed in September, headed by SG Punchihewa and Leela Isaac, was mandated to enquire into the impact of the war on the population in border areas. The Commission recorded evidence of 192 people in eight districts on the North-East Province border and received over 1,900 written complaints...
The Commission further notes that the entire Vavuniya town is run like an Army camp. Giving evidence before the Commission in early December, Public Health Inspector Kamalakumar Chelliah said that his family is held in a camp in Vavuniya since 1996 and police have denied permission to travel to Colombo, even for family weddings or funerals.
Jesurajah Thangamalar, also detained in a camp, told the Commission that her brother-in-law was abducted by unidentified men. Later she learned that he was in a Vavuniya military camp with both legs broken. The Army has denied that he is being detained....." (British Refugee Council Publication, Sri Lanka Monitor, December 1998)