Prisons have toilet facilities, drinking water, meals, doctors and even gyms and televisions.

But I doubt anyone will want to move into a prison by choice.

That means, according to the government’s expenses an average of one (1) million rupees is being spent on one (1) individual in the idp camp. Daily.

Instead of spending 250 million rupees in maintaining idp camps holding 250 individuals daily and keeping these idps confined to a small area depriving them the freedom of movement and making them to suffer untold hardships won’t it be more logical for the government to deposit (1) one million rupees against each of the persons in the idp camps in a fixed deposit with payment of interest monthly and release all the persons to find their own way in the country. This would give each person about 8000/= rupees a month even if they get an interest of about 10% per annum which is sufficient for a person to live a fairly comfortable life. The government may call these people and offer them a block of land to build a house when the lands are made suitable for habitation. I hope my argument would catch the attention of the minister of agriculture to get into a serious thought.

I will not pretend to know where they have been taken away to or what fate awaits them.

After all these were the same guys who shot and killed civillians trying to flee from LTTE captivity.

I do not disagree with Hensman or Ruki on the conditions, but when reporting on a situation one-sided reporting does no one any good.
I had a good opportunity to speak unhindered to a number of IDPs. Many of the IDPs at Manik Farm were initially displaced during the JR govt-sponsored pogroms from 1977 onwards and whom we had helped resettle during those days. Many of those families were from Sinhala speaking areas and still speak the language. I spoke to a number of IDPs fluent in Sinhala
So as not to take up too much space I will narrate the experience of 2 particular families I met up in zone 1
Ms. Sivam was originally a resident of Avissawela and speaks fluent Sinhalese. She and her husband a ‘natamy’ by profession were forced to flee Avissawela during the pogrom of 1983 and were settled in Killinochchi.

Having set his family up in Killinochchi Ms. Sivam’s husband returned to Colombo where he continued to work as a ‘natamy’.

His earnings went to educate his daughter and she did him proud when she completed her ‘A’ levels and with passes in Bio and Chemistry. She has completed a one year IT course in Database Application and has a fair knowledge of English.

She escaped being conscripted by the LTTE as she is the only child in her family. In her conversation she told me she did not not like to communicate in English because of a fear lurking at the back of her mind… she could be recruited.

Sivamallar’s father returned to Killinochchi in August as the ground situation in the area worsened. He came to be with us” she told us. We fled as the fighting worsened and shells were falling all around. During this time we lived in bunkers. We had no regular food, many people died in the crossfire she said.

“Did the LTTE not offer you any help during that time I asked them”? No she said. The only food we had, came from the government through the UN and World Vision.

My father managed to hire some transport and we secretly left Killinochchi. We stayed for a while in Karayar and when fighting started in that area we left for Mulli Vaikal. My father was injured but he went to the town to see if he could find a way for us to leave… “He never returned” said Ms. Sivam… “We left all we had brought with us and ran with a number of other families. The area was quite unknown to us and we did not know what to do, especially now that my husband was also not with us. We went with the others to Vatuwan .

Here there were no houses or bunkers. We were terrified… On the 17th of May we together with nearly 100,000 others crossed into Omanthai.

“A large number of young boys and girls threw away their arms and cyanide capsules and joined in the flight out of hell” she said. “Most of those children were between 15 and 17 years” she added.

“I am sorry for my daughter, just look at her, she has no clothes. We have relations in Kandy and we have spoken to them on e the phone. They are willing to look after us, do you think you could help us to get to Kandy”? There was a desperate gleam of hope in the eyes of Ms. Sivam as she said this.

Mr. Kumar a resident of Batticaloa greeted us.

“Two years ago when the situation in Killinochchi was getting bad, I went there to visit my sister who was a teacher at Ganeshapuram. My intention was to bring her back to Batticaloa with me. But the LTTE refused to give me a permit to leave…

“As the situation worsened we were forced to flee” he said.
“But why did you not flee to the government controlled area” I asked.

“We were prevented from going to those areas” he said. Many of us wanted to cross over to government controlled areas but we were not allowed to do this.

“Instead in January 2009 we fled to Visvamadhu, from there to Thevipura and from there to Iranapala. All the while fighting was raging, artillery was being used. Shells were falling all over the place.

“From Iranapala we fled to Puthumathalam… at Puthumathalam my sister died when she was hit by a shell on 16.04.09” he said.

All of this was narrated in a flat voice completely bereft of the slightest trace of emotion. Not even the death of his sister was mentioned with emotion.

As far as I could make out the people were and are completely drained of emotion.

Continuing Mr. Kumar said “on 17.04 we were forced to flee once more. We fled to Vella Mulli Vaikal and reached there on 15.05.09 we then moved towards the Nanthi Kadal.

“When we came to the Nanthi Kadal I came upon a man who had injured his hand and a leg. I carried him across the lagoon. All the while the LTTE kept firing at those of us who were crossing the lagoon.

“While we were struggling across the lagoon we were taken in by the navy who later handed us over to the military at Vattuwan. Eight others made it across the lagoon with me” he said.

“We arrived at this camp (Anadakumarasamy) on17 June…”

Mr. Kumar was suffering from a fever when we met him. He told us he had been to the Indian hospital for treatment and had mentioned that he was a heart patient with high blood pressure problems.

He said he was only treated for the fever. “Subsequently I went to the Sri Lanka hospital he said. They took some tests and said I would have to wait until the reports reached them.
What I’m trying to say here is that it is not necessary to attempt to paint the govt. either as a devil or show it as an angel. Lt the facts speak for themselves.
Another point that needs to be mentioned is that the ICRC is now helping to connect families which have been seperated and have been able to reconnect a large number.

However a point I have difficulty in understanding is the attitude taken by UN staff regarding the upgrading of the present temporary housing conditions.
From what I have seen of the conditions I do not believe that within the next three months the IDPs can be resettled in the villages of their origin as these places need to be completely demined.
If this is not done effectively we will next be watching people being blown up by undetected landmines
Presently except for zone 1 where temporary zinc sheds have been built on cement floors, IDPs in the other zones live in tents.
By end August and early September the rains will commence and for those living in tents it will be worse than living in hell as the floors will be flooded.

Whilst agreeing the IDPs should be sent back to their villages of origin as quickly as possible we cannot live by rules as though they are carved in stone. Laws are made for the good of man and should be applied as such.
I for one welcome the move to build temporary structures on raised cement’concrete floors as this would keep them safe during the monsoon.
I also found that IDPs are able to make contact with each other though they lived in different zones as well as with kith and kin outside of the zone.
But rather than gripe let us try to do what we can for these innocents. We do not need to depend on handouts from different and diverse agencies.
If each family in this country were to donate a SINGLE MEAL we will have sufficient food to feed all the IDPs.
Can we give it a try?
Remember the little boats of Dunkirk?

Dayan’s background shows that he is pretty weak as far as conviction goes. If I told you he was a support of LTTE and JVP during his Peradeniya days, you might gasp in shock. But it is the truth…

I think there is a lot of miscommunication when people try to be politically correct. Simply put, a positive account of the IDP camps has rattled the cage of certain individuals hell bent on bad mouthing Sri-Lanka.

You say: “Let him come out and confirm or deny Minister Samarasinghe and the GOSL’s claim that this war was won without a single drop of blood”.

Are you saying that the soldiers donated all their blood before going into battle?

Oh no i was asking Dayan on what basis he is dismissing KusalPerera’s account while wanting to be cynical about his embracing of Oxford educated stuff as the truth giver.

I confess Kusal’s version suits my politics. Why do i say this? The bottom line is that no one really knows whats happening there. All those who visit camps are escorted and not allowed to talk to any of the IDPs personally. So we simply dont know. I will believe in Kusal’s account because it fits my interpretation of what this regime is about.

I am asking Dayan to be open about his politics. So let him come out and say Kath’s politics suits him. Let him come out and confirm or deny Minister Samarasinghe and the GOSL’s claim that this war was won without a single drop of blood.

I believe Dayan was criticising Western imperialism. It has nothing to do with hating individual caucasians.
Why on earth should anyone support Kusual Perera simply because he happens to be Sri-Lankan? Could it be because Kath’s account does not suit your “politics”?

If you are reading this, can you please enlighten us why do you think your data set is canonical to make this claim? Why should we believe your data set is not flawed or biased [towards GOSL]?

You state in your article, “While time in the IDP camps was limited to a couple of days, and I was never very far from the officers who were assigned to escort our party, I believe that it would have been difficult to present a story too different from the truth.”

So, you spent only a “couple of days” in the IDP camps and were “never very far from the officers” and you have proved beyond doubt that these allegations are “clearly propaganda”?

I am sorry to make this harsh judgment on you, but you sound like a naive foreigner who has been tooled into the propaganda machine of the GOSL, and now you come off like a stooge.

While many people are very sad and depressed they can’t even string a sentence together, it irks me when someone like you pontificates this much from an orchestrated quick visit. Much like David Miliband landing in Sri Lanka on a quick visit and pontificating on the local ethnic conflict, no?

I don’t know any of these allegations are true, and I agree with your sentiment that there are journalists who are eager to sensationalize and profit from situations like these. But to make this counter claim from a two day visit on a flawed data set is preposterous and doesn’t seems like objective journalism to me.

I am a Tamil and never was a supporter of the LTTE. I lost no loved ones in this war, nor do I have any loved ones in the IDP camps. I have no political or personal motive for harping on you like this. My motive for writing this comment here is only humanitarian.

I agree with some of what you wrote in this article, and appreciate your sincerity when you say “I’m not sure that I see the point in this strategy [these people need to be held until the last cadre is flushed out?] any longer, although I must admit that I don’t have the expertise in security matters to make a proper judgement.”

I think many people’s lives are being destroyed by keeping them in these IDP camps while they can very well be taken care of by their relatives. I hope you understand this is a life and death situation for many Tamils and many people are worried sick about their loved ones.

This war is already over and this is no time for propaganda even from an “Oxford University graduate in Mathematics” albeit doing a stint on objective journalism.

If I had to choose between the testimony of Kusal Perera whose advocacy regarding the LTTE and the war are well known (one of the earliest smart things Opp Leader Mahinda Rajapakse did was to drop him like a hot potato), and the eyewitness report of a non-Sri Lankan Oxford educated mathematician, can you blame me for assigning greater credence to the latter?