Quarantine Vs. Commemorations

Is quarantine a method of punishment? Definitely, this would be a question that would be raised in one’s mind after reading about or watching the police attempting early this week to prevent Northern politicians from commemorating those Tamils who were killed during the war that came to an end exactly 11 years ago.

- M.S.M. Ayub

While the government was preparing to commemorate the members of the armed forces and the police who laid their lives in the fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Northern politicians had also planned commemoration of those Tamils, including the members of the LTTE killed in the war.

However, the government, despite its opposition to the commemorations arranged by the Northern Tamil leaders had not banned those events, but the police had used the prevailing health instructions to prevent the Tamil politicians and the Northern people from attending them.

Some TV channels showed former Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran heading towards Chemmani, where such a commemoration event had been planned on Monday and police intervening and advising him not to do so. When he argued that he was not breaching any health instruction, a policeman was heard telling him “obathuma oya wede kaloth api obathumawa dawas 14 kata nirodhayanayata yawanawa” (If you proceed we will put you in quarantine for 14 days). Left with no option Wigneswaran obliged.

What is the purpose of the current quarantine process, especially against the current backdrop of the global spread of coronavirus? Hitherto it was perceived as a method of physical isolation of people infected with the highly contagious coronavirus. However, the police seemed to warn Wigneswaran that they would punish him with a period of quarantine if he disobeyed them despite him and his followers assuring them that they would adhere to the health instructions.