Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Sri Lanka: IDPs 'ordered to move'



By P Sivaramakrishnan | BBC Tamil Service
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Around five thousand internally displaced people (IDP) are being sounded to be ready to be shifted from one camp to another giving the inmates less than 24 hours notice, a Tamil lawmaker has said.

The IDPs at zone 4 of the Menik Farm camp have been instructed to be ready to move to the Kadirgamar camp on Wednesday morning according to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Vanni distrisct MP Vino Noharathalingam.


The TNA MP says that the IDPs informed him that the officer in charge (OIC ) of the zone 4 camp has told them that they have to get ready to move to the new camp without raising any objection.

IDPs staying in the present camp have voiced various difficulties including getting in touch with their bread winners who are out on jobs to various districts in the country.

A/L students

More over the children in the IDP camps are in the midst of their A/L examinations and other scholarship exam says the Tamil MP.

According to him there are already issues including basic facilities in the Kathirkamar camp, where the inmates are supposed to take pass from the army before venturing out even to collect firewood.

In such a situation it would be unacceptable to shift these people from their present camps argue Vino Noharathalingam.

He also says that the OIC of the zone 4 camp has said the displaced persons that they would be resettled in a month's time after being shifted.

The IDPs say that it would not be prudent to shift the camps when they are going to be resettled in a month's time.

The Tamil MP also says that the has discussed this issue with the Deputy Minister for resettlement Vinagayamoorthy Muralitharan and the Minister for Economic Development and the president's brother Basil Rajapaksha expressing the concerns and fears of the IDPs.

While they have assured to revert back to him after discussing with officials, nothing of that sort has happened till Tuesday night according to the TNA MP.

© BBC Sinhala

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