A saga of IPKF-LTTE conflict

For evaluating the needs of civilians in the then conflict between Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), late Dr AP Ranga Rao was deputed by Ajit Bhowmick, the then Secretary General of Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), to Sri Lanka in the third week of October 1987. At that time Dr Ranga Rao, a medical professional was working in State TB Centre, Hyderabad. Dr Rao flew to Delhi and after obtaining a survival kit and a camera from IRCS flew to Chennai along with three nurses and two assistants from Central Red Cross.

After waiting for two days in Chennai, he could fly in an army chopper that was transporting goats, vegetables and poultry. He was one of three passengers on board. It took 40 minutes to reach Palely air base in northern Sri Lanka. It was raining. He got off the chopper and looked around. And it was like a scene in a war film around there. Everyone was in uniform except Rao.

Dr Rao took out his Red Cross badge and pinned it on his shirt. He introduced himself to an officer who led him to the nearby army medical core first aid post and asked them to accommodate him for the night. Next morning, he flew in a chopper to Jaffna and reached Jaffna General and Teaching Hospital in an army truck.

On the way he could see devastation. There were burnt out vehicles, corpses of few days old, eagles and dogs around them all over the place. He could only see the faces of army personnel with their helmets, guns pointed behind makeshift sandbag shields. He could hear occasional gun fire. Except these, roads were deserted.

On reaching the hospital, he wanted to go and meet doctors in the OP block, but Jawan guarding gestured him towards the other side. There he met a person who introduced himself as Colonel (Dr) Puri and asked Rao to follow him. Both moved towards the Emergency Area Operation theatre. Colonel Puri along with two other army doctors and staff were living in a room in theatre block.

While they were conversing, a jawan came to inform that a few civilian causalities were brought, and no one was attending on them. Rao could hear the wailing and crying in the corridor. Then with the consent of Colonel Puri, Ranga Rao went to a ward nearby where he met one young lady doctor, a doctor past middle age and another male doctor in his thirties. They all looked very haggard.

There was no electricity in the hospital and even in the town. There was curfew in the town. With reluctance, the doctors attended to the cases. During the course of chat, Rao understood that the main problem was shortage of manpower and medical supplies and electricity. Together they prepared an inventory of requirements and went back to Colonel Puri and requested him to arrange to send the indent to the Secretary General IRCS at Delhi.

That night Dr Ranga Rao rested in a labour room. He stretched on the labour table. Except a few hard chapattis and two cups of black tea, he did not have anything to eat the whole day. He was hungry, tired and fretful. It was dark and sultry. It was a nightmare. He was frequently disturbed by mosquitoes and sounds of gunfire and distant explosion of bombs. After a formal bath in the morning at a nearby well and morning routine, Dr Rao went back to Col Puri.

During conversation with him he realised that death may strike one from any corner any time and it was futile to be afraid of it. He decided that he should be a real Red Cross worker and maintain his neutrality. He should first win the confidence of the three civil doctors so that he could help those in need.

Next morning, Col Venugopal arrived along with two general duty doctors and three nurses and two assistants. All of them were from Delhi. In the afternoon, a truck load of medicines and supplies arrived from Delhi. The truck unloaded them and left. All of the medical team carried them and stored them in the stores of the hospital and handed over them to the civilian doctors.

Two days earlier to Dr Rao's arrival, there were some serious skirmishes between LTTE and IPKF forces. It is alleged that LTTE was firing from the hospital premises at the advancing IPKF. IPKF bombed the hospital areas. The gaping holes in the roofs of the emergency ward were still seen. Since the firing from hospital has not stopped even after the bombing, IPKF forces entered the hospital premises. They rushed into the OP block which was suspected to be the area from which LTTE was suspected to be firing.

In the resulted firing, it is said that totally 70 persons were killed, and the number included patients, two junior doctors, three nurses, and a senior doctor and some LTTE activists and sympathisers. The bodies of the dead were still lying in the OP block which was sealed after sanitisation.

Civilian doctors Dr Shashi Sabha Ratnam, Dr Ponnampalam and the other doctor thanked Dr Ranga Rao for the supplies. Colonel Venugopal found some accommodation within the hospital for the Red Cross team to stay and all moved into it. All slept on floor in the same room. Col Venugopal made some arrangements for food to be cooked in a hotel nearby "Subash Hotel".

Curfew was lifted for a few hours after a week after its imposition. There was chaos. The general market which was close to the hospital was looted. Even the patients left their beds and returned with whatever they could lay their hands on. There was a barter between people, and they exchanged the required goods. Ranga Rao could procure some cigarettes as he was running out of his stock.

Next morning, they decided to visit some camps where people congregated to know their requirements. The camps were well stocked with food supplies and clothes etc. The demand was more for sanitary napkins, soaps, toiletries, milk powder and anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic medicines.

Dr Ranga Rao and his team tried to establish clinics in the camps. Very few attended and those attended were asking for medicines which at that time were not available in India. Ranga Rao sent a report requesting for Tamilian doctors and staff to be deputed. In response, a few more Red Cross members arrived to take care of the distribution. Dr Ranga Rao made a courtesy call on the newly appointed town commandant Brigadier Callahan. Dikshit who was Indian Ambassador visited Jaffna and the hospital.

Days passed by and there was no let-up in the fighting. It spread to new areas. Total curfew with relaxation for few hours was imposed throughout the northern peninsula. Curfew in Jaffna lasted for 21 days. Ranga Rao could not contact his family during the period. On his request and suggestion, a team consisting of thirty-five with 8 doctors was deputed. The team was divided into four groups the bigger group staying back at Jaffna and others were sent to Batticaloa, Vavuniya, and Trincomalle and to point Pedro.

The Red Cross used to receive many enquiries from various countries in regards the safety and whereabouts of persons said to be living in Jaffna peninsula. Slowly the life was returning to normalcy. After intimating IRCS Ranga Rao withdrew and returned to Hyderabad to re-join his regular duty.

Dr Ranga Rao recollected that often he wondered what were the aspects that led to civil strife in Sri Lanka. Jaffna peninsula was mostly inhabited by Tamils and Keralites, whereas southern Sri Lanka was mostly inhabited by Buddhists who migrated from north India during Ashoka time. While Tamilian in Jaffna Peninsula consisted 20% of population the Southern were 80%. The northern areas are not fit for agriculture and the people were mostly occupied in the service sector. Education was the industry in northern areas.

Every alternate house was an educational institute. During the period of rule of Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka there was massive agitation against the predominant occupation and domination of Tamilian in government jobs and professional courses. This led to legislation of reservation in government jobs and professional courses for the majority. The country was taken as a unit for its application.

Suddenly, Tamilian population found themselves in minority in government jobs and professional courses. A Tamilian student who secured marks and stood fourth in the country could not secure a seat in Jaffna Medical College and was accommodated in Colombo. Such sudden shift in their prospects led to strikes and agitations, which were effectively suppressed by the ruling Sinhalese majority.

To make a living, majority of young educated Tamilian population migrated to other countries while the older members of family stayed back in northern Sri Lanka. Since there were many cheaper educational opportunities in northern Sri Lanka, their children stayed back with their grandparents. There was a tremendous vacuum of age groups of 20 to 60 in northern Sri Lanka for decades. The migrated population used to send money from abroad to support their parents and children. The small group of uneducated Tamilian population mostly living on fishing and allied activity soon took control of the local situation.

There was a big scope for them to indulge in smuggling activity to neighbouring countries like India where a sympathetic Tamil population lived. The young children living with their grandparents were soon lured to the adventurism and under the guise of culture and fight against exploitation joined the cadres of LTTE. The grandparents who lost the earlier opportunities and suffered the majority rule stayed as silent mute spectators.

(Source: Hopping Memories, an autobiography of Late Dr AP Ranga Rao)