After the end of the conflict, resettling the displaced who had streamed into the prepared camps was the immediate challenge.
Interested parties, who should have known better, including at the UN, were making dark statements of Tamil concentration camps of a permanent nature. The persons displaced in the Eastern Province were returned to their homes within months.
Despite all the reservations expressed at the time, especially by the NGO community of forced returns, these refugees have successfully returned to their villages and towns. The UN played a helpful role but it was mainly through Sri Lanka’s own effort that the returns were effected.
A serious challenge to returning IDPs is posed by unmapped LTTE mine fields in the North.
The Government estimates that there are over 402 Sq. km. of mine fields to be cleared. Over 1.5 million mines had been laid. 70% of the demining has been achieved by the Sri Lankan Army. This is the time to assist the return of IDPs in a practical way and some of our friends are assisting with this.
I am pleased to say that from an initial 294,000 displaced, only around 20,000 remain in the camps today, just after a period of 15 months. Of these, over 12,000 have been permitted to leave, but chose to remain because of the facilities available in the camps. It is interesting that all the fuss was about the Sri Lankan IDPs after the conflict, when UN figures have indicated that the global figure for IDPs exceeded 27 million. Ten months after the Haitian earthquake hundreds of thousands still remain in squalid camps with no hope of resettlement in sight.
The military victory over the terrorist LTTE has generated much confidence in the country and is evidenced by the record upward movement in the stock market and increased inward investment flows.
The stock market has continued to surge and has improved by over 150%.
Inward tourism has increased by over 50% since January 2010.
Considerable interest has been shown by foreign investors, including large hotel chains and investment funds. The Government has continued to enlarge its support base, winning a series of elections emphatically. The President was re-elected by over 58% of the ballots cast. In fact, no government has enjoyed so much popular support after five years in office and the governing party won close to two thirds of the seats in Parliament at the elections held in April.
There is very little doubt that the vast majority of the people in the country are solidly behind the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The business community has also demonstrated considerable confidence. To ignore this political and economic reality and continue to exert pressure on the government on various issues from the outside, as is evidenced by the international maneuvering of some, is to miss an unparalleled opportunity in history to help the country and all its people to heal their wounds and move forward.
Sri Lanka’s next challenge is to ensure security and prosperity for all our citizens, from Dondra Head in the South to Point Pedro in the North. And this will be as daunting and complicated a task as dealing with the Tsunami and winning the war and will require a range of approaches. Hardly a sign remains to remind us of the tsunami.
For over twenty seven years, our resources remained under utilized, were diverted to the war effort, sometimes haphazardly, enterprises struggled to survive, tourism and inward investment suffered seriously, the cream of our youth went gallantly and voluntarily to the front and many paid with their lives, others were maimed, while quite a few took the easy way out and left the country, and a country that was meant to be a beacon to the region, stagnated in the global backwater. There are 80,000 women widowed by the conflict. Now that the conflict is over and the guns are silenced, Sri Lanka has the opportunity to stand up, dust itself, and rejoin the world as a proud and confident country.
There will be innumerable opportunities for the private sector also to engage itself also in the redevelopment activities. Many Sri Lankan companies established overseas, have already expressed a wish to explore the opportunities opening up.
Special tax incentives are provided for investing in the North and the East. This is in addition to the incentives provided for all investments from overseas. Already one can see the changes occurring along the Eastern coast.
The agricultural infrastructure that was destroyed by the LTTE to build defensive earth works and trenches is now being restored. Roads are being widened, electricity is being re-connected, shop fronts are being spruced up, new restaurants and hotels are being opened and economic activity is resuming. Real estate prices are escalating. The fisheries sector has rebounded and tourism is picking up. The same opportunities enjoyed by the 54% of Tamils who live in the South must also be available to all those displaced, as they return to their homes.
The former LTTE cadres in the camps have been separated and sent to rehabilitation. 11,700 were identified. The others will return to their homes as soon as their villages are demined and the common services are restored. Over 17,000 individuals, separated from their families, have been reunited.
It is the government's wish that the children return to their own schools as soon as possible. Unlike many of their colleagues who were thrown up as cannon fodder and their young lives vainly sacrificed to satisfy a megalomaniac's delusional dream, it is everyone’s hope that these children will grow up to be useful citizens and achieve their dreams in their own way. Thousands of children were recruited as child soldiers by the LTTE. For too long have the children of the North been regarded as a dispensable asset in a terrible war machine. We can ensure that at least the next generation gets the opportunities that were denied to the present. The possibility of assisting these children in advancing their studies deserves our attention. Some may need financial assistance. Over 530 schools have been restored.
The government intends to ensure that the IDPs return to an environment where democracy prevails, where people elect their own representatives to govern them and where no legacy of an all powerful and eternal 'supremo' remains. What is taken for granted elsewhere in Sri Lanka by way of democratic governance must be theirs to demand.
Over the last two years elections have been held in eight provinces. Never again must a situation be permitted where freely elected representatives of the Tamil people were murdered by the dozen simply for not toeing the LTTE line, where dissent was suppressed and non-conformist views were buried with those who held them. A long line of Tamils who dissented, starting with Alfred Duraiappa , Mayor of Jaffna, were eliminated by the LTTE. If what happened in the East is something to go by, then we can have confidence in the future. In the East, a former child soldier has been elected as the Chief Minister. Elections have been held in Jaffna and Vavuniya.
The Tamil community scattered around the world is an important factor in the reconciliation effort. Many of those who have returned to their villages have relatives elsewhere in the world. There are many in the diaspora who have been fed a constant diet of anti-Sinhala propaganda by the LTTE and by a willing media ever searching for cheap headlines.
Journalists who sacrifice their principles and impartiality to advance personal agendas, even those who may not have experienced the horrors of 1983, may have lived a life filled with such propaganda.
One of the key challenges will be to reassure the Sri Lankan Tamil community overseas that today's Sri Lanka will not tolerate anything like 1983 again. It is a fact that despite the LTTE's repeated bloody provocations, like the attacks on the Temple of the Tooth and the Sri Maha Bodhi, two of the holiest Buddhist sites in the world, or the massacres like at the Kaththankudy Mosque, there were no reprisals aimed at Tamil citizens elsewhere in the country. The civilian reprisals so desperately sought by the LTTE as part of its devilish strategy, did not eventuate.
Minorities have continued to prosper in Sinhala-dominated areas of the country, including Colombo. Tamils constitute over 40% of the population of Colombo. Some of the leading business house in Colombo is minority owned. Many of the leading professionals in Colombo come from the minority communities. The inconveniences faced by those with no familiarity with Sinhala or English will disappear in time with the implementation of the Official Languages Policy. Even the nuisance of road blocks and sudden searches is becoming a thing of the past with the all pervading fear generated by LTTE suicide bombers diminishing and a greater level of confidence being restored. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has repeatedly invited Sri Lankan Tamils from around the world to return to their homeland and become parties to the nation building effort.
The Government has established a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) consisting of a number of eminent persons to facilitate the healing process. This Commission has a wide mandate, including to look into the factors that gave rise to the conflict, make recommendations to avoid similar situations in the future and to investigate serious infractions of international standards. So far, the LLRC has had a number of sittings and has invited anyone, including critics from abroad, to present evidence before it. It is confidently expected that the LLRC will address the concerns expressed by interested persons, primarily with a view to facilitating the return to normalcy and helping the country to recover from its 27 year nightmare of terrorism.
The Government is also determined to reach out to all our friends and even critics, as it sets about the task of nation building. Sri Lanka’s attitudes will be conditioned by national interest and principle. In a fast changing world the goal is not to establish friendships of convenience. It is a time for friends to help in healing the wounds – not keeping them open.
There are many lessons for the world from this epic struggle. There are many lessons for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s policy of clearly distinguishing the civilians from the terrorist LTTE was crucial. The zero civilian casualty policy was important. Sri Lanka can now set about the task of healing the wounds inflicted over 27 years and winning the peace.
Sri Lanka is at a critical juncture in its history and has a unique opportunity to bring its people together and make their island home a better place for all. As the Bard said, time and tide waits for no man. Sri Lanka must grab this chance and ride the tide as it rushes in. Having dealt with the tragedy of the Tsunami far better than most others have dealt with their own natural calamities, I am confident that we will deal with the aftermath of our victory over terrorism equally well.
- Asian Tribune -
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