“The government betrayed us,” says Vijaya, an angry young Tamil refugee (video)
Colombo (AsiaNews) – We do not want "government houses or help. We do not want any assistance from the government. We do not want houses offered by India. We only need our land. If they gave us back our land, I’d have my brick house up in six months and I’d be riding a motorbike,” said Raajaa Vijaya.
The angry young Tamil refugee lives in Neethavan, near Jaffna (northern Sri Lanka), home to many forced to flee their homes during the country’s civil war.
"We trusted the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the government but they cheated. None of the TNA visited us,” he told AsiaNews.
Vijaya lost his father in 1995 when he was 11 years old. His mother was left alone to look after him and his two siblings. Now he cares for her, his wife and their two children.
For Vijaya, the authorities’ failure to live up to their promises is disheartening. "They come here to give us a little bit of food and then they leave. They care only about their own villages."
In this video, shot in Neethavan, Vijaya shows his home and the precarious conditions in which his family lives.
Protests by Tamil refugees come a few weeks after another group of refugees threatened massive actions if the Sri Lankan government fails to listen to their demands.
Recently, the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) released a study on the Tamil refugee situation. It found that 1,536 families, or 5,836 people, still live in 38 camps. What is more, some 30,000 civilians are still internally displaced in Jaffna Peninsula.
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