Exodus October: The Month Of Repeated Expulsion 

By Shahul Hasbullah –October 24, 2015 Prof. Shahul Hasbullah October Exodus In the recent history of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict, the month of October signifies exodus, having witnessed two major conflict induced displacements in the 1990s. This article is the Part I of a four parts series which compares the two mass expulsions of people in Sri Lanka in the month of October. The first exodus was in October 1990, the second one in October 1995. These two expulsions directly affected more than 500,000 people, increasing the total number of displaced people during the three decades long war and conflict of this country to three millions. Both streams of refugees originated from the Northern Province and both were largely instigated by the same agent. Although the two expulsions have different histories and affected different ethnicities, Muslims and Tamils, the plight of these two groups of refugees exhibit many commonalities in terms of duration and suffering. Let us commemorate the two exoduses of this October 2015 with the hope that they are to be helped to recover from the harsh experience of displacement to have normal life. This year’s commemoration of these exoduses is especially necessary and timely because of the hope for seeking justice to those victims of ethnic conflict raised high with the change of political situation in the country recently. Two Exoduses In 1990, the entire Muslim minority of the Northern Province was forced to leave their homes in the third week of October. Their total number at that time was about 75,000. They lived in nearly a 100 settlements in the five districts of the Northern Province. On October 23, 1990, the LTTE announced through the loud speaker in the streets wherever Muslims lived to leave the north in 48 hours time or otherwise face death. At the same time, on the 30 of October, in the Muslim Settlement of the Jaffna town, people were given only two hours ultimatum to leave their homes. Diagram 1 shows the flow of Muslim refugees from the Northern Province in the last week of October 1990. They sought refuge mainly in the North-Central and the North-Western Provinces of Sri Lanka. In October 1995, about 400,000 people fled Jaffna peninsula to seek in refuge in Vanni. Diagram 2 shows the direction of refugees during this period. They were all Tamils of Jaffna peninsula. According to independent reports, they too were forced to leave their homes by the same agent, LTTE, as the Sri Lankan army were marching towards Jaffna Town during this period. Like the Muslims, the Tamils were also compelled to leave their homes at short notice. Suffering as a result of displacement The suffering of people displaced in such trying circumstances can not easily explainable. The Tamil Times capture the nature of this suffering of the Tamil people in the following words. “Never before have so many people at such short notice been so cruelly uprooted from their homes and compelled to turn themselves overnight into refugees”. This tragedy struck the Muslims five years earlier in the same province and by the same armed group. We should study the exodus of the Tamils in tender with the expulsion of the Muslims. We might arrive at a better understanding of the complexity and multiplicity of the nature of displacement what had happened in recent decades of the country due to war and ethnic conflict. Also it is time to take stock of the status of the displaced and nature of recovery of those who were forced to flee. Unfortunately the country does not have clear understanding of the status and the impacts of the displacement. Displaced                                                                   Read More