Unveiling true colours of Tigers

Dhaneshi YATAWARA

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Reporting from Wanni

Poster calling people stranded inside uncleared areas to move over to cleared areas

Posters highlighting people's resistance against the LTTE forced conscription of children

Checking at the Omanthai entry/exit point Pix - Iresha Waduge

On October 16 security reports flowing from Vavuniya stated that fifty lorries carrying essential food items to Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu returned to Vavuniya due to heavy LTTE artillery and claymore attacks. Yet, on the other hand, the Government as the legitimate guardian of all citizens bears no intention of preventing people living in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu and its vicinity from receiving all the essential items - food as well as non food.

"Although there were few agencies who were late in dispatching their food consignments, I categorically state that there is no shortage, interruption or delay in supplies on the part of the Government," Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Rishad Bathiudeen said last week. The provisions sent in for free distribution among the displaced people includes cooked meals, dry rations, drinking water and items related to health and sanitation.

While four frontiers of the approximately 120km long Wanni Forward Defence Line are on the forward march regaining LTTE strongholds and demolishing Tiger terrorism, the Government and the back up troops of the Sri Lanka Army are throwing in their strongest efforts to maintain the normality of the rest of the country as well as maintaining the distribution of essential items to the people of the uncleared areas.

LTTE earth mound In Mannar

A section of a lengthy LTTE trench in Weli Oya

As the troops move close to liberating our motherland from ruthless Tigers, more and more forensic evidence is revealed on the destruction of our economy, development and freedom by LTTE killers. No proper cultivation has taken place in these areas at least in a decade except for very few blocks which are insignificant against the estimated population and the reported history of these areas. With the liberation of the historical 'rice bowl' area in Mannar by the troops attached to the 58 Division, factors emerged as hard proof against this fact. Huge areas of dry, abandoned fallow paddy lands with no signs of a single cultivation the recent years, dried tanks and irrigation channels filled up with soil are heart breaking sights to a true patriotic.

While their own relatives, close friends who moved in to Colombo and suburbs are now rich and sophisticated, these innocent Tamil, people who were living in these areas, endured untold hardships just living on memories of a bygone golden era.

Though successive Governments were channelling in funds, allocations and every necessary support to develop these areas the establishment of the Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development in 2007 with the launch of Gama Neguma, Jathika Saviya, Maga Neguma, Gemidiriya, Eastern Revival and various other development programs with a vision and clear objectives of growth of the country was streamlined and result oriented.

Under this ministry the number of projects, local as well as foreign, were diverse at the cost of billions and billions of rupees. All the districts were given a fare share with focus to the neediest to equalize the levels of growth of all regions. It was a special responsibility of the ministry to formulate policies, strategies and programs for rehabilitation of these unsettled areas. Rehabilitation and resettlement of war affected people and restoration of infrastructure facilities in the North and East, administration of relief and humanitarian assistance programs for displaced and resettled families, implementation of de-mining program, supervision of foreign funded programs and implementation of welfare facilities for civilians affected by the ethnic war are some of the wide ranging responsibilities the ministry has to shoulder.

The Ministry played a key role in resettling internally displaced people in the Eastern Province while initiating formulation of short term and medium term development plans. Workshops at National and District level were organized to identify development potentials from stakeholders of this development program. The ministry's Performance Report outlines several development programs together with the rehabilitation and reconstruction programs that are being implemented from 2007.

47 projects

In Mannar District 47 projects are being implemented in four Divisional Secretariats (in the cleared areas) with a total allocation of Rs. 125 Million where all projects commenced in August 2007. Under the Performance - 2007, Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development. Rs. 61.5 million has been allocated for the road sector under 19 projects - 10 of these started in 2007 itself.

Two irrigation projects are implemented in Nanattan Divisional Secretariat (in the cleared area) at a cost of Rs. 1.954 million. These are renovations of tank and irrigation channel projects to facilitate farming in this division.

Rs. 5.057 million has been allocated for eight projects to construct open dug wells and water supply schemes implemented in the four divisions.

Nine electricity projects were implemented at a cost of Rs. 32.097 million. One of the major projects has been undertaken in Madhu Divisional secretariat at a cost of Rs. 18.7 million. Others include Rs. 0.612 million rupees for the construction of two religious buildings in Nanattan Division - i.e. one mosque and a Hindu kovil and, Rs. 6.38 million for five construction projects of public buildings in Mannar and Nanattan divisions.

Government could not implement specific development programs for Vavuniya, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts due to obstacles.

Under the North East Housing Reconstruction Program (NEHRP) funded by the World Bank and the European Union facilities are given to those vulnerable families in both North and East Provinces to reconstruct affected and damaged houses. This program covered all eight districts of both the provinces during the initial stages in 2005 and was limited to cleared districts during 2006 and 2007. The project duration is from 2005 till 2010 and it covered Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna. Project implementation in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts were temporarily suspended during 2006 and 2007.

The total estimated cost was US$ 85.82 million. This program is a post - conflict reconstruction initiative which is in support of the Government's resettlement drive and this is done through cash grants to the beneficiaries.

Since 1996 the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), as the primary implementing agency of the German Government for development co-operation in Sri Lanka, supports the post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction in the North and East. GTZ's main client is the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. GTZ is implementing projects in Sri Lanka based on the Bilateral Agreements for Technical Co-operation and the agreements between the GTZ and the counterpart ministries. Two of these projects were implemented. The Northern Rehabilitation Project (NRP) targeting Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Mannar districts on organizational development, empowerment of community based organizations, support for income generation, constructing physical infrastructure etc runs into 5.7 million euros. The other Rehabilitation of Economic, Physical and Social Infrastructure project (REPSI) - targeted Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara and Hambantota. The total cost for the program is 14.1 million euros and project duration was 2005 till 2008.

Under the North East Irrigated Agricultural Project, II (NEIAP II) funded by the World Bank is to assist conflict affected families in the North and East as well as adjoining districts to restore livelihoods and enhance agricultural and other productions and income and improve sustainable social and economic reintegration. The total estimated cost for almost all the districts of North, East and North Central Provinces was 8,114 million rupees since 2005 to 2010. Other than infrastructure development of the Northern Province, district renovation and improvements for major irrigation systems, such as giant' tank in Mannar and Iranamadu tank in Kilinochchi, were included.

To achieve a sustainable development in agriculture in the Northern and Eastern Provinces Pro Poor Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment Project (PEACE) was implemented under JBIC funding from 2007 running till 2011. Under this, nine major and medium scale irrigation tanks were scheduled to be implemented including Manamaduwa tank and Nampan Kulam in Vavuniya and Thachchnamaruthamadu in Mannar.

These were the considerably large scale projects scheduled for the sustainable development of the presently disturbed areas of the Northern Province and all these projects are under continuous supervision of Government authorities. All these projects require various kinds of machines - from light weight vehicles to heavy machinery. But there is a fear of vehicles being stolen by the LTTE.

Threatened relief work

A ruthless guerilla organization like the LTTE won't leave even a Government hospital ambulance when their requirements are prioritized.

With or without the consent of INGOs and NGOs vehicles and machinery is taken by the Tigers. This is inevitable.

"The pictures brought in by our unmanned aircraft showed that some of those heavy machinery used to make LTTE bunds were bore the names of some of the INGOs.

So it is obvious that belonged to those organisations, but we do not know how they went in to Tigers' hands. These might have been forcibly taken by the LTTE from these organisations," Security Forces Commander (Wanni) Major General Jagath Jayasuriya told the 'Sunday Observer' when we met him in Vavuniya.

Recognizing this threat, the Ministry of Defence requested all the INGOs and NGOs to leave the uncleared areas and relocate in Vavuniya. At present, all the expatriate staff have moved in to Vavuniya, but the LTTE has not let the local staffers to leave those areas.

"Moving a step forward and being flexible in our approach we have told the INGOs to include their expatriate staff to man their camps in Vavuniya since they have doubts about missing their staffers. This makes it possible for them to keep a good eye on these matters," Wanni Commander said, further explaining the situation.

LTTE threats are imposed not only on these development activities, but on all humanitarian relief work catering to the innocent people displaced in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu areas. These relief measures are initiated by the relevant ministries hand in hand with some of the international non governmental organizations to soften the sufferings of displaced people.

In early October Army personnel in Vavuniya detected two vehicles with hidden loads of explosives and batteries. Security personnel believe that these loads which were loaded earlier, must have been left behind due to heavy checking. The container type lorries with a load of batteries inside a false compartment was detected as the container was not carrying a full load. On suspicion, the security forces personnel checked the lorry and found false compartments carrying a heavy load of batteries. Two other lorries were later detected with false compartments carrying motor cycle spare parts and another load of batteries of different sizes.

Maj. Gen. Jayasuriya said it was found after thorough investigations that many of these lorries rented to transport goods to uncleared areas were purchased by the LTTE under different people's names using LTTE money.

With this it becomes obvious that the LTTE is steering this pure humanitarian effort to their self benefit. The sole saviours of the Tamil populace misuse even the meager food stocks sent to those innocent people trapped in adverse conditions.

"These detections cause a considerable negative impact on the functioning of the Tigers. It definitely affects their communication systems especially while they are operating in the jungles," Wanni Commander explained.