Mutur awaits development

by Anura Maitipe from Mutur

They are now busy, repairing their houses, destroyed by LTTE terrorists.

During the four day battle in this small town, the residents had left behind their assets and other belongings to save their lives. The Tigers killed over 150 Muslims accusing them of being informants.

I visited this area last weekend. Life has returned to normalcy. The security forces and the civil authorities have taken initiative to restore basic infrastructural needs like roads, water supply, electricity, schools and post offices in the area.

The Sri Lanka Army is clearing land mines in the areas, earlier controlled by the LTTE. Meanwhile, Armed Forces have strengthened Forward Defence Lines in the area to provide maximum security to the residents. A new police station has been set up in Mutur. The Mutur police station will cover 11 Gramasevaka divisions in the area. Another police post will be set up at Kattaparichchan shortly to handle civil affairs.

According to Mutur Divisional Secretariat, more Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim families would to be re-settled in Mutur soon. These families are now living in temporary makeshifts at Tambalagamuwa. The Provincial Director of Health Services Rohitha Silva said, "We have made arrangement to provide necessary sanitary and medical facilities to people in these areas.

Former Education Director S. Mohammed (65) a resident of Mutur said "The LTTE assaulted me and asked me to leave my house. And I left my house with my three children and we stayed at Kantale camp with another 300 families and now many of them have returned to Mutur. M. Nazeema, a housewife from fourth mile post Mutur said, "As violence broke out, the LTTE rampaged our village and set fire to our houses. They chased us away from the village.

A Tamil woman (35) in East of Mutur who did not wish to disclose her identity said, "The majority of residents here hate the LTTE. But they keep quiet as they have no alternative. The LTTE abducted our children and forcibly sent them to war. A school teacher S.Tahngadori of Mutur South said, "We have been living in harmony with Muslims and Sinhalese over the past many years. It was the LTTE that created all these problems.