Day Eight: The reality of northern Sri Lanka

It seems to me that tourists make decisions about the type of travel they will do all the time, although often unconsciously. Sri Lanka offers attractions, temples, great food and more. So it would be possible to visit and have a very positive, but superficial, view of this country as it is today.

However, many countries have a dark history and whilst it's possible to ignore the impact, we were more interested in understanding the complicated history and the ongoing impact of a brutal 30 year Civil War on the previous lives of the people, and the current challenges they face. Despite the war officially ending in 2009, tensions still exist between the Sinhalese and Tamil population. Sid, who is Sinhalese, describes it as "walking on eggshells".

Very few tourists visit Jaffna at the northernmost tip of Sri Lanka as many of the most brutal war atrocities took place there, and it doesn't have the tourist profile of other central and southern locations. In the first few days we stayed in Jaffna we saw a total of 20 white westerners, and that included us!

There are two ways that made me realise how unusual our visit was. The first was that we 'stood out like sore thumbs' (as my mother would say!). During our early morning walks, Jan and I chose to avoid the main roads in Jaffna as the noise of constantly honking horns, and the threat to our lives whilst buses, trucks, tuk tuks, motorbikes and bikes vied for a place on narrow roads, was overwhelming. So we wandered around back laneways. The array of gates and Hindu temples hidden away never ceased to amaze us!

Our reception was absolutely positive once we smiled /nodded/said hello in response to some puzzled, sometimes suspicious, looks from the locals. The appearance of two white female westerners was clearly not an everyday occurrence! 

The other way I realised that tourists were unknown was the lack of postcards! I just assumed that in my exploration of some of the local shops (usually to buy snacks!) I would find postcards to send to my grandchildren but there were none anywhere. It's a simple thing, but indicative of the lack of tourists.

And why don't tourists visit Jaffna? The spectre of the War still hangs over the place, despite the fact that it ended many years ago now. As you drive in, it strikes you that it is not a prosperous developing town. There's little evidence of new buildings or hotels and the housing is basic. Whilst we found it fascinating, on the surface it is not a 'pretty' tourist town.

However Jaffna has survived, and life now seems stable and calm despite the underlying horror of a war that lasted 30 years and only ended in 2009 (officially). The resilience of the people is to be admired. Their determination to be industrious and build meaningful lives, whilst not forgetting the horror they have endured, is impressive. All of them will have been affected personally by the War but they continue to thrive.   

I am no expert on the Civil War, but fortunately Sid is a fount of knowledge and for the next two days we visited places of significance. I did also do some internet browsing to see if Australia played any role as well. The following is just my personal understanding based on these sources of information and should not be taken as gospel truth! It's a very complicated story so I have attempted to summarise it enough to explain the experiences of those who lived through it in Jaffna and surrounds.

Given the close proximity to India, the Tamil presence in northern Sri Lanka came from migration of Indian Tamils southward into Sri Lanka many centuries ago, but they were always in the minority to much larger numbers of Sinhalese. So there are Sri Lankan Tamils, and Estate Tamils who were the Tamils transported to the tea mountains during British control. 

Prior to the Civil War there had  been a Tamil presence in leadership positions across Sri Lanka even though the population of Tamils was relatively small (only 11%). Despite inter-racial and inter-religious differences - Tamils are predominantly Hindu and the Sinhalese are Buddhist - there was tolerance. However during the 70s and 80s, the Tamils experienced increasing discrimination and persecution, and were sidelined from positions of power and authority.

 

Tamil land had been seized for military bases, Sinhalese settlements and commercial enterprises. And events such as the burning of the Jaffna Library in 1981 epitomised the increasing violence towards Tamils by the Government. 

The tipping point came in 1983 when thousands of Tamils were murdered by racist mobs incited by Government Ministers. This rampage took place across all of the major cities of Sri Lanka and lasted 10 days, during which the Government did not allow the Army or Police to quell the massacres. This was officially the start of the Civil War between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. 

However, one of the key players in the War was the LTTE : the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam. We know them as the Tamil Tigers. Their vision was to acquire, by any possible means an Eelam or Homeland for Tamils to be run as a separate State by Tamils. Over time there were forty to fifty thousand actual members of the LTTE, but they had up to one hundred thousand supporters.

Prabhakaran was responsible for the formation of the LTTE in 1972 in response to the disempowerment of the Tamils, their loss of any civil rights and eventually, escalating and uncontrolled violence towards the Tamils by the Sinhalese. His uncle was doused in paraffin oil and burned alive by a Sinhala mob.

He followed a similar route to many megalomaniac leaders. The original vision was reasonable, but as he became corrupt with power and increasingly unbalanced, he was responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths  - and not only the Sinhalese. The reality is that more Tamils were murdered by the LTTE than by the Sinhalese. 

As with many rebel guerilla organisations, under his 25 years of leadership, the violence and atrocities they committed were limitless. eg. using pregnant women as suicide bombers, kidnapping young Tamil boys and girls to be trained as LTTE soldiers to swell their numbers, etc. It's estimated that about half of their members died during the War.

The operations of the LTTE were ruthless and morally corrupt. Here's some examples:

1. At one point during the War Prabhakaran issued an edict that all Muslims had to leave the North East region within the following 48 hours or those who remained would be killed. It was a threat that he carried out and many Muslims were murdered.

2. Later he targeted Tamils whom he considered to be intellectuals, or had positions of power, and issued the same edict. In essence he murdered many people for whom he was trying to establish a homeland. If he had been successful surely he would have needed those people to use their skills for a successful Tamil State? Difficult to understand that decision..... 

3. The longevity of the LTTE was dependent on financial support from members of the diaspora who had fled overseas. Australia did accept limited numbers of Sri Lankans outside of the usual requirements for migration, because of the risks of violence, as did other countries such as Canada, UK, and the USA. (Post-war many Sri Lankans became refugees arriving on boats in Australia, and ongoing migration has been met with some political resistance.)

During the War the LTTE sent members to find the diaspora and issue them with threats if they did not support the LTTE financially. They paid up under threat of family members still residing in Sri Lanka being murdered if they did not comply with the request.

So all of that is a prelude to the visits we made today. We headed east along the coast, past a colourful funeral procession, and lots of military compounds interspersed with basic local housing and ruined buildings. There was even a military resort!

 Much of this Tamil land had been taken by the Government for the building of military bases (and after many years of lobbying some of it is currently being returned). 

These compounds were reminders of British occupation with neat lawns and large mansions and white buildings, but all had high security: security guards and high fences. 

We crossed over the border into 'no-man's land' a zone where neither the Government nor the LTTE operated: a truce negotiated by the Red Cross. 

We arrived in Point Pedro, the northernmost point of Sri Lanka, which is now known as a smugglers or 'trading' town as India is only a few kilometres away. Fishing huts, colourful fishing boats, drying fish and nets lined the coast.

 (It was here that the Sri Lankan Navy were attacked by LTTE fighters in boats in 2007. The result was the deaths of forty LTTE members).

Further along we turned into a dirt road in a small village lined with thick tropical jungle to see what remained of Prabhakaran's family home. His life was that of a middle-income family, but little remains of his childhood home now.

It was bleak countryside as the vegetation grew more sparse and the soil more sandy: with only four weeks rain per year this was really drought territory.

Next stop was a 16th Century Portuguese church which is slowly being swallowed by sand.  It was a clear indication of the dry climate and proximity to the coast. 

Through an archway we could see a cemetery on a distant hill, also disappearing into the dry sand. Despite the dry climate the fine detail in the stone design remains. It had a quiet beauty about it.

As it's compulsory to visit at least one temple every day (joke!) next stop was the Cobra temple. A very simple temple in the middle of nowhere. There are several explanations for the name apparently. One says that if you get bitten by a cobra you should drink from the well and it will cure the snakebite (ie if the well water doesn't kill you!). Another explanation was given to us by an Australian Sri Lankan man who lives in Sydney and had brought his 89 year old father home to Sri Lanka. The story his grandfather had told him about the temple was that there was a LIVE five-headed cobra who lived in the temple and it was fed ants. When someone was bitten by a cobra, bits of the ants nest were mixed with water and rubbed on the bite and it was cured! Magical thinking indeed! I'm thinking it would be more effective to head to a hospital for some anti-venom, although in ancient times I suppose you resort to anything at all!

There was a large eagle's nest in a tree nearby and I had a brief chat to these guys who were on their way to worship at the Temple with white holy ash smeared across their foreheads.

Then it was back along the road to Jaffna to wander the ruins of the Governor's residence, built in 1910. It was an example of British architecture at its best. Spacious rooms with beautiful detailing and arched doorways. A huge semi-circular wall with many arches housed rooms for servants or storage?? Who knows? Many of the walls are held together by tree roots as it's clearly been left to rot for some years. It would have been wonderful to see it in its heyday! It was a wonderful example of the priorities of the British when they were in charge.

Back to the Hotel for the usual swim and cool down. I set off for the tiny local supermarket for snacks to be consumed on long car journeys and with G&Ts. With the aid of Divi, a young guy in the shop I ended up with an array of chips, savoury and sweet biscuits which was destined to last us for many days! I did buy a packet of local crackers which looked as if they might have a lot of chilli but Divi's younger sister, who was sweeping the shop, said they were "A little hot" so we will see about that!

Next was a celebratory G&T to finish the first bottle of gin. There was minimal tonic water and a lot of gin so when we stood up to go out for cocktails and dinner our heads were spinning. 

Kerryn and I managed to get into the van without incident, and then decided we would go to the local Cargills supermarket which was next door to the Jetwings Hotel, which was our dinner destination. We toddled up the supermarket ramp in search of cheese to be confronted by a fish pond inside the door! Not something you see at Woolies or Coles! Whilst we were searching for cheese and trying to check out, the power failed three times, but the locals seemed completely unperturbed and simply kept shopping. We were aided by some tiny emergency lights which helped us to avoid bumping into everything. We found the whole experience rather amusing, probably helped by the gin!

 ( And I did take a  candid snap of this gorgeous nurse in her uniform, I have to admit. We had seen lots of nurses, complete with pillbox hat and long white socks, everywhere but it's difficult to photograph them. Such an old-style nurses uniform obviously straight from the British!) 

After delicious cocktails (just what we needed- more alcohol!) we had buffet dinner in the restaurant. The great thing about buffets is that you can taste anything, although a couple of times I seemed to end up with a plate full of dobs of colourful curries, vegetables, rice etc which I can't identify! This time it was BBQ night so the tuna and prawns were much appreciated. And, of course, we had some dessert for a change! I tried some semolina flummery which bore no relationship to my mother's flummery, but was very nice. One of the most popular choices for us all was the coconut creme caramel: superb!

Home to pack and bed

Your gin-soaked  and no longer hungry correspondent 

Dianne