Sri Lanka’s Tamils face identity crisis

The National Identity Card was introduced in Sri Lanka in 1972

27 June 2012

Without a national identity card, many Tamils in Sri Lanka cannot avail of basic services and it makes them suspect in the eyes of the police, writes Ponniah Manikavasagam of the BBC’s Tamil service.

In a remote and dusty part of Kilinochchi district in the Tamil-dominated northern Sri Lanka, people gather around a group of officials working with an election monitoring service called the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (Paffrel).

Sitting in the shade, out of the fierce mid-day heat, officials from Paffrel, along with various government and non-governmental organisations, discuss with local people the status of their National Identity Cards (NIC), a document which is a legal requirement for all citizens of 16 years or over.

Tens of thousands of people were displaced in 2009 in the final chapter of the long conflict between the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan military.

Tens of thousands of Tamils do not have an identity card  

 

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