Post-war recovery snagged by language hurdle
June 29, 2010 07:38 am
As residents of northern
While three-quarters of
However, less than 15 percent of the
area’s 15,000-strong police force can speak the language, said Nimal Lewke,
senior deputy police inspector-general of the Northern Province.
In the region where Tamil Tigers
waged war for an independent Tamil homeland, matters of language are
intricately linked with identity. Although the region is at peace, language
remains a strong dividing barrier.
“Winning hearts and minds is a
popular slogan today after the war, but we have to be very practical. We have
to understand each other to gain the trust of each other. Language proficiency
in the police force is thus critical,” Lewke said.
Some describe the shortage of
Tamil-speaking police in the
“The lack of Tamil-speaking police
officers in the northeast will be a long-term obstacle to the development of
the
According to Thirunavukkarasu
Sritharan of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front -Pathmanabha
wing, a Tamil political party, “this is one of the most important issues in the
north. People are affected by the lack of Tamil-speaking police officers in
newly resettled areas like Kilinochchi and Mulativu districts and
Incentives to learn Tamil
In 2009, the police department
started offering monthly bonuses to officers who could speak Tamil, while books
teaching Tamil were introduced at police stations. The government, meanwhile,
now works with the Asian Development Bank to provide Tamil language courses for
police officers.
“I have been in the northern police
force since 1985, and I have seen first-hand how the lack of Tamil proficiency
affects police operations,” said Lewke, of the provincial police. “We must
understand the mindset of the community to establish law and order.”
A military official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, told IRIN that during the war, rebel Tigers prevented
other Tamils from joining the police in
“The Tamil Tigers killed many Tamils
who were involved in the police service. Some of them were abducted. This is
why we have the current situation. With peace prevailing, this situation is
bound to change,” he said.
According to Rohan Gunaratna, an
expert on political violence and terrorism, “unless government officers and
policemen are able to communicate effectively, exchange ideas, share views and
build friendships, they will not know what is going on in the community.
“The key to community-led policing is
knowledge of the local culture, language and religion,” said Gunaratna, head of
the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism at