After several weeks, food and other essential provisions provided by UN agencies reached Vaharai village in the district of Batticaloa in the east last Wednesday(November 29).

Vaharai is an area in the control of LTTE and in recent times there were intermittent military offensives in Vaharai and its suburbs.

In addition to the people of Vaharai, a large number of people who were displaced by violence in other areas also fled to this village as refugees.

When the government officials made endeavours to take food and other essential commodities to this area both for the inhabitants and displaced people there, it is alleged that those moves were disrupted. It was after the World Food Project, World Vision, Ceylon Red Cross Society and other non-governmental organizations took efforts, that these food provisions reached the people.

Whether it is Vaharai in the East or Jaffna peninsula in the North, these humanitarian problems could not have arisen, had there been a political will and commitment on the part of the government. There would not have been any necessity for the international community to step in and advise the government.

It is well known that the Lankan government is engaged in human rights violation and in starving the Tamil people, while blaming the LTTE for that situation. Sri Lanka’s record is such that the Prime Minster of Cambodia Hunsen has advised Lankan Premier Ratnasiri Wicremanayake on the latter’s visit to Cambodia.

It is reported that the head of Cambodia told the Lankan Premier that the government must ensure the humanitarian needs of the innocent civilians are met despite the military offensive in the North-East and that the doors must be opened for the non-governmental organizations to reach the people on humanitarian mission. The Cambodian Prime Minister made a similar appeal to LTTE also.

Will there be a change of heart of the government in respect of human rights?

An English translation of the editorial in Uthayan, a Tamil daily based in Jaffna

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