At the end of July, I finished my contract with Muslim Aid. Away from the high pressure of working in an NGO, it has been interesting to observe things from the other side of the fence.

I have been struck by how removed you can be from reality. If I did not make a proactive effort to stay on top of what is happening with the IDPs in Vavunya, it could have easily slipped by me, except for one or two articles here and there in the newspapers.

For the first time in my short stay in Sri Lanka I suddenly realise how far removed people are from the reality of what is happening in the country. This possibly also explains the reason for the apathetic nature of most people.

There is a role that the media plays in not publishing (either voluntarily or otherwise) the stories. They are mindful not to say anything very critical of the government. The government is still apprehensive about the coverage of the IDPs and understandably so, given the recent fiasco with a Channel 4 report.

Where there was possibly a glimmer of hope before in possibly restrictions being lifted or slightly relaxed, there is now an iron curtain. Now it is even harder for proper access to be given and NGO's are being viewed with greater suspicion now than ever, especially those that have expatriate officers.

If what you believe is true from the media, then the government believes that it has no friends from the international community or the NGOs.

The feeling is that there is a lot of influence from the pro LTTE lobby internationally that has contributed to this condition. This is evident as the government maintains in the number of voices that criticise the ongoing humanitarian operations and the relative silence (especially from the west) on the defeat of terrorism.

The fact remains though is that there are these 300,000 IDPs living in these camps under basic conditions. Conditions that might worsen as the monsoon season approaches. There are equally another 200,000 IDPs who have been living in similar conditions since 1990 and there are others spread across the country and over in India who have similar fates.

This is the harsh reality.

The famous Sri Lankan resolve to bounce back after a disaster means that people's thought process once the war has ended has been to completely forget this reality. I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago, when I took a friend of mine (who was back in Colombo after spending time at Manic Farm, where majority of the 300,000 are being currently held) out to dinner.

We bumped into some mutual friends of his who after small chit chat asked him where he had been. He replied "I've just come back from Vavunya", to which they replied "Were you there on holiday?". "No" came the stunned reply "I was there with the IDPs". They then asked "Oh are there still IDPs there?" I am not sure who was more stunned that night.

Whilst this may be an isolated case in terms of the level of apathy and ignorance, I still don't doubt that generally there are a lot of people who perhaps share similar opinions.

This is where the first step of any reconciliation will have to start. No doubt that the government/politicians/NGOs and other stakeholders have a part to play but now more than ever it is up to individuals as well to play whatever part that they can. There has to be a level of caring that is exhibited and that lasts more than the token handout.

The second step is to move away from the institutionalised ethnic divisions that people seem to have gotten themselves into. Despite the gauntlet being thrown down by the President, who regardless of his intentions has said that "There will no longer be any minorities", it is hard to get people to accept this. Things still seem to take on ethnic flavour.

Take for example, the recent move by the government to tackle underworld crime in Colombo. Over the last couple of months, there have been numerous deaths and arrests of high profile underworld leaders as the government embarks on a similar venture as they did against the LTTE.

One of the problems though is that the majority of these underworld gang leaders are purportedly from the Muslim community (or at least their aliases proclaim them to be). This has prompted parts of the Muslim community to protest against the police after Friday prayers claiming racism targeting the Muslim community.

This is dangerous. As one of the speakers at the protest was heard to say "The government has finished with the Tamil community and now they are targeting the Muslim community!"

These sentiments are being echoed elsewhere albeit behind closed doors.

Everywhere you go, people are talking about their communities. There is no sense of a collective identity. Whilst it will take some time for people to get out of this mentality, there is no time like the present in order to start.

Singular identities will have to be subservient to the main collective national identity. This is the legacy of the end of the war and the need to move beyond the conflict.

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