Mine Clearing and settlement of IDPs

According to a news report (Bloomberg) dated 27 August 2009, Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa has stated mine clearance would determine the pace of that settlement of IDPs in the Vanni. This statement has to be examined against two positions.

The first is what some observers say is the undertaking given by the government to India during the visit of Security advisor Menon and the former Foreign Secretary of India soon after the LTTE was defeated in the field and later by Basil Rajapakse during his visit to India. The second is the pressure exerted by the West in general and especially by the U.S. administration, NGO and the Bishop in Sri Lanka. The U.S. pressure group in the administration is led by former U.S.Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O Blake who is now Assistant Secretary for Asia in the Dept. of State and his colleague, Eric Schwartz , Assistant Secretary of the Dept of Population, Refugees and Migration.

The problem of resettlement of IDPs in the Vanni in Sri Lanka is not something that could be evaluated by people sitting in Washington or in the Bishop’s House in Colombo. They look at things from different points of view, more from human rights angle as Eric Schwartz opted, calling for voluntary resettlement, emphasizing the freedom for people to decide where they should go and when. That is American ethos applied to Japanese-Americans after the war –“Go anywhere you like. Here’s $25 [pocket money and a train ticket”-language]. The Bishop may be looking at things from a purely humanitarian angle considering the immense suffering the internees have to endure all round, now made worse by the weather. Read more ...