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Indian Wall On Lankan Shores

New Delhi is blocking aid to war-torn Jaffna. Defiant Tamil sympathisers are set on ferrying relief

PC VINOJ KUMAR
Chennai


Piling up (below) Muthulakshmi, the widow of Veerappan, has no room left to store relief supplies at her Mettur home Photo: S. Radhakrishna
Iindia's decision to block aid to Jaffna has triggered a backlash, with Eelam sympathisers planning to cross over to Sri Lanka in boats with relief material they have collected from the people of Tamil Nadu. Activists of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Supporters? Coordination Committee (TELSCC) say they have been driven to this extreme step because of the Centre?s refusal to permit the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) to transport the material to Jaffna, where there is a shortage of food and essential commodities due to the year-old closure of the A9, the only highway linking the region with the rest of the country.

According to TELSCC convenor Pazha Nedumaran, food items and medicines worth over Rs 1 crore are rotting in the houses of Eelam supporters across Tamil Nadu. He said activists would leave with these materials on September 8 in two batches from Madurai and Tiruchi to Rameswaram and Nagapattinam respectively. From these places, they plan to embark for Jaffna by boat on September 12. Cadres of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) are expected to join the effort.

TELSCC activists collected the material in a door-to-door campaign across the state in December last year and requested the Red Cross to transport the materials to Sri Lanka. The Red Cross approached the government for permission, but has not received an official go-ahead so far. Tamil Nadu Red Cross Society president Sarojini Varadappan said the IRCS secretary general had contacted various ministries but to no avail. ?There has been no definite reply from the government. I don?t understand why they are making such a big fuss in granting permission. In the 1980s, when MGR was the chief minister, the Central government permitted the Red Cross to transport relief materials to Sri Lanka by both air and sea,? she said.

Nedumaran condemned the Centre?s ?inhuman? attitude, especially at a time when the international community is reaching out to the Tamils. UN Under Secretary General (Humanitarian Affairs) John Holmes visited Jaffna recently to assess the situation. A recent UN report says the prices of essential items are at a record high in Jaffna and aid is unable to reach the region. In Tamil Nadu, such reports have generated powerful undercurrents of sympathy for the Eelam Tamils. ?The whole world knows about the scarcity of food and medicine in Jaffna. It is a humanitarian gesture that transcends any racial or linguistic affinity. We organised aid for the Gujarat earthquake victims. I don?t understand why the government is not allowing the aid to Sri Lanka,? says K. Chidambaran, the Erode district secretary of the People?s Union for Civil Liberties. He has sent memorandums to the chief minister and the prime minister with signatures from about 200 advocates attached to the Erode Bar Association. ?There was no response,? he says. Strategic affairs analyst G. Parthasarthy tries to explain the government?s silence: ?It might be because India is waiting for concurrence from the Sri Lankan government. Unless you get it, you cannot send anything.?


MDMK members sort medicines in Erode
Meanwhile, those who collected rice and other food grains are in a quandary. Many live in small houses and the bags are occupying valuable living space. At Mettur, tribal activist Muthulakshmi Veerappan has kept the bags in her bed room. ?I have sold some bags, and given the money to Nedumaran. There was no place to store all the materials in my house,? she says. At Salem, members of the Tamil Nadu Human Rights Organisation donated about 54 bags of rice, costing Rs 17,000. The bags had been kept in the house of its president, Poomozhi, since January. ?The whole room became infested with rats. When I inspected the bags last month, I found the rice in most bags had become unfit for consumption. I could salvage only about 20 bags, which we sold in the market for a throwaway price. But we are not deterred, we will donate fresh bags,? says Poomozhi.

In nearby Mecheri, Thambi Palanisamy, an activist of the World Tamil Confederation, collected about 10 tonnes of rice from villagers. ?People donated spontaneously. The poor gave more than the rich. Some of them gave their entire Below Poverty Line rice quota,? he says. But he was not able to transport the material to Chennai because Nedumaran could not find a place to store it. The Tamil Nadu branch of the Red Cross turned down a request from him to keep the materials in their office, citing lack of space.

In Erode, MDMK district secretary A. Ganesamurthy has collected medicines worth over Rs 1 lakh, which are lying in the party office. During the Jayalalithaa regime, Ganesamurthy was imprisoned under POTA along with Vaiko and other party men on charges of making pro-LTTE statements. Both Vaiko and PMK leader S. Ramadoss had petitioned the prime minister to allow them to send the aid. ?The PM had promised them action, but nothing came of it,? says Nedumaran. The state government is keeping a close eye on developments. A senior DMK leader accused Nedumaran of politicising the issue: ?He has not approached the government directly. What stops him from meeting the CM and presenting his case?? He said the government would not remain a silent spectator if Nedumaran carried out his threat and attempted to ?illegally? set sail for Jaffna.

A senior police officer in the Coastal Security Group said the police was aware of Nedumaran?s plans and would act as per the instructions of the government. A senior Coast Guard officer said they would consult the state government and the police before acting. Meanwhile, Nedumaran?s proposed Jaffna trip is evoking strong reactions in Sri Lanka, with leaders accusing the government in Parliament of inaction. Some Lankan websites described Nedumaran?s plans as an ?invasion? of Sri Lanka.