This foolish oratorical provocation has been matched by increasing intolerance of dissent, suspicion of many Tamils and threats against those seen as Tiger “collaborators”. The government refuses to bow to calls for an independent investigation into the final weeks of the war, in which thousands are believed to have been killed by government shelling. It blames nearly all the civilian deaths on the Tigers. But in the absence of any inquiry a decades-old culture of impunity will persist, as will Tamil grievances and a sense of injustice.

This week a shipload of relief supplies for the displaced, sent by Tamil exiles suspected of Tiger sympathies, was turned back, even though the defence ministry conceded they had no “dangerous” intentions. The process of sending the displaced people home from the camps is painfully slow, partly because of the need to de-mine and rebuild their home villages, but also because of the fixation on weeding out Tigers hiding among the civilians. One-eighth of those interned are believed to be children. In light of the Tigers’ record of deploying women and children as fighters and suicide-bombers, some caution is understandable. But little is being done to reassure moderate Tamils that the government cares for their plight. Conditions in the camps are no longer so critical, but there are too few toilets, and some have to queue five or six hours for their daily ration of water.

Meanwhile government ministers in Colombo mutter darkly about journalists and NGOs allegedly once in the Tigers’ pay. This encourages a freelance witch-hunt. On June 1st thugs abducted and beat up Poddala Jayantha, a journalist and activist. They have not been caught, but a fellow writer who alerted the police to the abduction was interrogated for hours. Scared, journalists have started to censor themselves.

... contd.