Desperate relatives pay hundreds of thousands of rupees to highly-connected racketeers to get their loved ones released from IDP camps
Insight Team: Anthony David, Chris Kamalendran, Asif Fuard and Damith Wickremasekera, Pic by Sanka Vidanagama
She lives in one of the many crowded guesthouses that have mushroomed in Vavuniya. Twenty-six-year old Kamala, in blue jeans and striped T-shirt, is tall and big made. She digs into her handbag, pulls out a pink lipstick and moistens her lips before shaking my hand.
She points to a table in the corner of the air conditioned but empty restaurant. “Have you eaten? Can I get you something to eat or drink,” she asks as we settle down to our chairs. “A coke,” I reply and the conversation begins. “Tell me the name of the person, zone and tent number,” she says. I was ready with the answers.
Together with the contact I met earlier at a location in Vavuniya town, I had arranged to meet Kamala to seek the release of an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) at Menik farm.










