Sri Lanka: 5 years after the War no Water nor Electricity in Northern and Eastern villages

Gotamini Hathurusinghe
 It can be safely said that 5 years after the war many villages, well over 60% have no basic utilities supplied to them by the government. There are huge implications for the well being and safety of these people as a result. The following are excerpts of a list of GNDs only in Vavuniya and Kilinochchi Districts, which have been provided to the writer by the villagers. The writer has an indepth knowledge about the North and East. Details of the other Districts will follow.

Beyond Imagination in Service to Humankind: Medical Administration and Relief within the Vanni Pocket, January to mid-May 2009

Michael Roberts

Amidst the obfuscations and cumulus clouds of propaganda that have subsumed reviews of the last stages of Eelam War IV, it has taken time for some remarkable feats to emerge. The affidavit provided by Dr. Veerakanthipillai Shanmugarajah on 10^th May 2012 with assistance from a British solicitor reveals astounding medical relief work by a body of doctors, nurses, attendants and administrative aides during the Tamil peoples’ enforced retreat and crucible of battle in 2009.

Dr. Veerakanthipillai Shanmugarajah’s Affidavit on conditions in the Vanni

Dr. Veerakanthipillai Shanmugarajah,refugee Medical Superintendent , Mullaitivu General Hospital, being a Hindu, honestly , sincerely and solemnly swear and MAKE OATH as follows:

1. I  am Dr.Veerakanthipillai Shanmugarajah, presently Medical Superintendent ,Mullaitivu.  I was born on 11 June 1968 and am presently 44 years old. I am a graduate of Jaffna University’s faculty of Medicine, and hold the qualification of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. I have had additional training in obstetrics and gynaecology and anaesthesia. I have worked as a Medical Officer at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, the District General Hospital in Killinochi and the Mullaitivu General Hospital. I was the Medical Superintendent at Mullaitivu General Hospital and the acting Medical Superintendent in charge of the obstetrics ward at the hospital. I am married, and have three children aged 13, 10 and 4.

Sri Lanka: Poverty in Vanni: Ghost of Sri Lanka's war

Amantha Perera
Its early morning in Mankulam, and I’m driving along the A9 – the road is paved, in marked contrast to the giant potholes that dotted the track a decade ago. It looks more like one of those new highways that have come up elsewhere in the country. This one is not as busy, but drivers need to be mindful of cyclists and cattle straying onto the road. I am here to cover the provincial council polls, as are many other journos. The ‘parachutes’ have landed from New Delhi and elsewhere. And almost all of them are converging on Jaffna.

The Vanni -The graphic novel documents the family’s struggle to stay alive in the midest of war

You may see Antoni as you walk down the street- head down, lost in thought as he weaves his way through a throng of people. You may sit next to him on the bus, or brush past him in the supermarket. He may live next door to you.

He hides a troubled past, which continually haunts him. And he is just one of the thousands of asylum seekers in every capital of the world, whose lives are totally anonymous.

In The Vanni, a multimedia graphic novel by Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock, we discover Antoni’s roots in Sri Lanka, and his journey to England as an asylum seeker, after being forced to come here during the closing stages of the civil war in 2009.