The result of the Sri Lanka government’s military “victory” over the LTTE has left 80,000 civilians dead and 2,72,000 refugees holed up in camps. The enormous human suffering was not unexpected, but was a logical outcome of the strategy chosen by the Rajapakse government, which was to go for nothing short of outright military victory and the complete elimination of the LTTE and its command structure, irrespective of the cost in human lives and misery.

The conditions of the refugees are exacerbated by the fact that thousands of them are suffering from grievous bullet and shrapnel wounds and other injuries.  Since a huge number of them have been on the move for months, forced to leave their homes and sources of livelihood because of the military offensive, acute malnutrition is also a major problem.  It has been taking the lives of refugees in the camps every day.  Under the excuse that LTTE cadres and soldiers may be among those present in the camps, hundreds of people are being singled out and removed from the camps and their family members, adding to the overall tension and anxiety.  Many of them are children between the ages of 11 and 17.

All this gives the lie to the claims of the Rajapakse government that it is committed to rehabilitating the victims of its fascist military campaign.  The government is tightly controlling access to the camps and is persecuting those journalists and observers who report anything which it finds objectionable.

The human suffering in Sri Lanka is fast becoming the object of geopolitical manoeuvring in the international arena.  While countries particularly from the European Union are demanding “international access” to northern Sri Lanka in the name of humanitarian aid, other countries like India and China, which hope to increase their economic and political clout in Sri Lanka in the post-war scenario, are openly backing the Rajapakse regime, while the US imperialists at this stage are tacitly backing it. A special session of the UN Human Rights Commission, called on May 22 at the behest of various European powers reveals these inter imperialist contradictions. The Sri Lankan government moved a resolution at this session, with the backing of India, China, Pakistan and some other countries, which "commends" the Rajapakshe government for its handling of the humanitarian crisis!

The working class and people of India, who have extremely close ties with their brothers and sisters across the Palk Straits, are deeply concerned and indignant about the miserable conditions of the people who have been the victims of the war there.  The displaced and traumatised people must be fully and speedily rehabilitated, all persecution and harassment of them under whatever pretext must stop, and they must not be allowed to become pawns in the geopolitical games of various foreign powers.