Uniting country and its development priority No. 1

by Shanika SRIYANANDA in Vavuniya

The Government Agent (GA) of Killinochchi and Mullaithivu Emelda Sukumar outlining the Government efforts to speed up the resettlement in the two districts, said Tamils were confident of the Rajapaksa Government and need to live under a united country.

The first Tamil woman to be appointed as a GA in the country who served as for over eight years as Mullaithivu GA under the LTTE control, says that the LTTE never wanted the Tamils to be educated and wanted to die when the leader died.

Emelda, who saw the 'rise and fall' of the LTTE and how the terrorists had exploited the money sent by the Tamil Diaspora, said that the Tamils who funded the LTTE should compensate Vanni Tamils who are affected badly due to the LTTE terror.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: The Government has expedited the resettling of displaced people in Vanni. What is the progress in Killinochchi and Mullaithivu?

A: We have commenced resettling them from October 22. I have already visited the areas and had discussions with the Security Forces Commander Mullaithivu who instructed me to commence resettlement in Thunukai, Manthaei East and West side of A-9 which comes under Oddusudan AG Division, in Killinochchi - Jayapuram, Poonahari, Molangavil and Nachchikuda. Total of 25,000 will be resettled there. We have found lots of houses in Killinochchi are not damaged and selected two schools - Malavi Central College and Yohapuram Central College, which are in good conditions, as transit centers to accommodate those people released from relief villages temporarily for a week.

The basic facilities - water, sanitation - will be provided along with electricity in these transit centers and according to estimations over 100 families can be accommodated in each school. The Army will check all the houses and schools before the people are accommodated.

The AGAs of the two districts are ready to restore administration work of these areas.I have instructed them to commence work immediately and the AGAs of Oddusudan and Manthei East will work from temporary offices to expedite the resettlement process. The Security Forces have assured me of finding 10 offices in these two districts to set up offices to commence my work of facilitating resettlement of people.

The Government wants to resettle these people soon. But the delay is due to mines. I have received allocations to renovate all State institutions, agricultural tanks, school and hospital buildings, to develop infrastructure facilities like roads and bridges.

The Task Force Chairman MP Basil Rajapaksa is very keen to speed up the activities to resettle people. He always instructs us to take action to create livelihood activities for the people before resettling them.

That is why we have started renovating irrigational tanks and paddy lands first. We are preparing ground work to kick off resettlement in these two districts.

Our officers are visiting even Puthukudiyiruppu and Puthumathalan where the last days of the battle were. We are waiting for the mine clearance report to commence our work.

Q: You have mentioned that there are lots of mines in these areas. The Army has concluded mine clearing in the Rice Bowl successfully. Have the de-mining activities commenced in your districts?

A: This is the main task of the entire resettlement process. Yes, the demining activities have commenced by the Hallow Trust. The Army helped us to get the location clearances. They also helped us to clear lots of buildings and ensure these buildings and their surroundings are free of mines.

The Army has identified the high risk areas and given the task of de-mining to the Hallow Trust. Over 80 per cent of the ground work to commence de-mining has been completed. What we do is first identify the high risk areas and then demarcate them. Then we will start resettling people in the other cleared areas with strict restrictions of civilian movements into the high risk areas. In Thunukkai there are only five high risk areas where the LTTE had buried lots of mines.

Q: It is reported that a huge sum of money is being allocated for the development and resettlement programs in these two districts. How can you ensure that you maintain transparency and no room for misuse these allocations?

A: I am getting all the allocations for these programs. Over Rs. 1,000 million has been allocated for a district and I strictly adhere to maintain transparency. I have given contracts to develop roads and other infrastructure facilities following the Government tender procedures. All are working genuinely and I can ensure there is no room for any one to misuse the public money.

Q: As the Mullaithivu GA you were the bridge to access people there during LTTE control. How did you perform your duties at that time?

A: I never had any problem because people were always with me. The LTTE from time to time pressurized me but I did my duties as a government servant. The Government genuinely delivered the necessities for the people there and never discriminated against them. Lots of people criticized claiming that the Government had stopped sending food there but as the GA, I know how the Government sent food continuously. I stored and distributed dry rations and other stuff until I left the area. The displaced civilians there were well fed by the Government.

Whatever I asked from the Government it supplied everything without delay and gave priority to Vanni. We developed roads and irrigational tanks there and even during the war time the Government issued allocations for certain projects.

Q: But everyone knows that the LTTE had manipulated these allocations and significant amount went to their hands.

A: No. It is not true to say that the money directly went to their hands. I agree that the LTTE robbed that money in indirect means. Those days it was very difficult to find genuine contractors who were not biased to the LTTE.

As the GA I was very strict in handling money as we were accountable for every cent we spent. But some contractors, who were influenced by the LTTE, had misused the money. When I came to know I stopped such contracts.

I know they took bulks of fuel and cement which were coming to Vanni. They used the batteries for claymore mines to attack the military. The then Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen.Jagath Jayasuriya was very tough on sending these items and at meetings every month he instructed me to cut down the required amount to stop this stuff going into the hands of the LTTE.

Despite the suspicions the Government had sent cement and other materials to construct a two storied building for the Kachcheri. The hospitals got generators. The Government did all these because they did not want to neglect the requirements of the ordinary people.

Later the LTTE started pressuring us asking us why we were not asking more cement and fuel. I said that I cannot ask more and the LTTE started suspecting us but did not come against us. The nature of the LTTE was that they always suspected us - the Government servants and tried to pressurize us.

Q: Why do you think that the LTTE did not harm you while you were disturbing their agendas?

A: Though they were pressurized to a certain things they did not threaten me because they too survived because of the Government. They ate food sent by the Government. The people were with me and they always sought our help. The LTTE robbed the people's food. Sometimes the LTTE cut the allocation of food of some family members and took the stock for them.

They continued to get food in indirect ways. But I any how continued to represent the Government because innocent people did not have any other means to reach the Government for help.

I strongly believed that the LTTE did not harm me because they needed a government servant to be there. I did my duties well. People were happy and they realized that the Government looked after them well, but not the LTTE.

Every month I had to send a detailed report to the Government but the LTTE warned me threatening not to send such a report giving all the details. They said the report was bad for their activities. But I told them I represent the Government and I have to be accountable for each and every cent that the Government allocated. I refused to change the style of my report.

Then they asked me to get a transfer without disturbing their work. I did not care their warnings and continued to send the same reports. Several times they insisted of me to ask for a transfer and I said that my employers were not the LTTE and if the Ministry Secretary wants to transfer me I will go.

I was not scared of the LTTE as I genuinely worked for the people. I managed to distribute over 85 per cent of food sent by the Government while the balance was robbed by the LTTE. The other reason that the LTTE could not harm me was because people were with me and they insisted of the LTTE not to send me out.

Q: What do you have to say about the life under LTTE control?

A: People faced many problems. They had terrible lives then. The LTTE chased them from one area to another just like cattle. I managed to stay in my official residence at Mullaiyawali. Lots of cross firing went going on.

Innocent people suffered immensely under LTTE control. The best example was that the LTTE robbed the food send by the Government and sold the same food for higher prices. People were fed up with the LTTE but they did not have a choice.

The LTTE cannot claim that they looked after the people. They did not give even a few grains of rice free of charge. They always taxed people. When a kilo of potato is Rs. 50 in Vavuniya the LTTE sold a kilo of potato for Rs. 250. Imagine how the poor civilians lived under those circumstances. There were over 150,000 civilians in Mullaithivu, but this number was doubled after the displaced people in Killinochchi arrived in Mullaithivu.

It was January 22 this year that I closed my office at Kachcheri. Security Forces Commander Vanni Maj. Gen. Jayasuriya stopped the firing for a few hours and got myself and the UN officials out.

Q: You served for over eight years as the Mullaithivu GA and what is your assessment about the LTTE?

A: The LTTE was an outfit with uneducated people. The top leadership of the LTTE including Prabhakaran, Thamilselvam and many more leaders who were uneducated. They did not respect the educated Tamils. Their intention was to destroy the Tamil intellectuals for their survival. They were jealous of the decent and educated people. The LTTErs thought that Prabhakaran was the leader of this country. How could we allow such a person to lead the country or the Tamil community. The LTTE could not survive mainly because they undermined the values of the educated people. They wanted people to suffer for their survival.

Q: Do you see any possibility of the LTTE to emerging again?

A: No. There is no chance for any person to bring the LTTE back. People will not allow the LTTE to rise again because they saw how the LTTE treated them for the last 30-years. At the final stages the LTTE murdered lots of innocent people who ran for their lives. They recruited small children.

Now people of Vanni hate the LTTE. After a few months, the LTTErs and even their leaders thought that all the Tamils should die with their leader Prabhakaran. Therefore, they kept the people as hostages. When I consider the things that the LTTE did to the people, they would not allow the LTTE to raise its heads again.

The Government has lots of good programs to develop Vanni and to uplift the lives of these people. Now people have hopes for life and it is very difficult for the LTTE to convince people. They now want peace.

Q: You lived in two worlds and saw the reality. There were allegations that the military was taking targets in densely populated areas. What was your experience?

A: I have seen how the military reacted to LTTE firing. The security forces carried out their missions after careful surveillances of the terrains. They always took the correct targets. They never shelled my office or the other offices. The LTTE, knowing this behaviour imprisoned innocent civilians in these places and attacked the soldiers while being among the people.

To prevent these attacks later they chased IDPs to certain locations and fixed their strong gun points amidst the people. When a small incident happened, the LTTE propaganda bloated it up in the international media to show that the military targetted civilians. Sometimes the LTTE destroyed buildings by themselves and published in the pro-LTTE media accusing the military of taking civilian targets. They did all these to stop military offensives and to get international sympathy.

Q: Have you met or seen the LTTE leader Prabhakaran?

A: No. He never came to meet me. Not only he, but none of the other leaders came to meet the Government servants. Nadeshan, the LTTE Police Chief once came to talk to me. They hesitated to meet government servants thinking that they are the superiors. The LTTE thought we are small people and they are the decent and respected people there. They never respected government servants. As I said earlier, the LTTE leaders were educated up to grade five or eight. When they wanted to talk to me they just sent their cadres and I refused to communicate with them.

Q: But hope you know the lifestyle that the LTTE leaders had.

A: The LTTE never wanted to see Tamil children studying well. They always disrupted their studies and motivated them to become LTTErs. They carried out propaganda even during school hours to strengthen their man power. They always talked about strengthening their cadres. They grabbed students from school or tuition classes for weapon training.

They targeted children in educated and wealthy families as they were jealous of the educated society. I never took my children when I was there. Otherwise, they would first target my children. They wanted other children to fight while their children had a sound education with luxury lives.

The LTTE misused their power even in exams. Their children did not sit for exams but somebody else sat for their children. All the wives had good vehicles and they used four or five cadres to look after their children. Wives went marketing with body guards and servants at home.

They had luxury lives with all comforts. But the LTTE did not use the public money to develop Vanni. They always looked after themselves well and strengthened their man power and fire power to fight the military.

Q: You are the eye-witness for all the irregularities by the LTTE. The hard earned money of the Tamil Diaspora sent to develop the Vanni had gone in the drains. What is the message for them now?

A: Yes, with a responsibility I can say that the LTTE had misused the money sent by the Tamils abroad for their own perks. They never utilized that money for the benefits of the people. They used that to strengthen their fighting and to have better lives for the leaders and their families.

What I can say is Tamils in Vanni need development. The LTTE pushed Tamils to the stone age. Now they want to come out of that era. Their children need to study and have better lives. Now these people have high hopes in the Government.

People hope that they will have a better future now. As the President Mahinda Rajapaksa says this is a one country and we are all Sri Lankans. All communities have come out of the dark era and people cannot tolerate terror or divisions any more.No one in this country can now claim for a separate country. It is united under one flag. We are a small country and even big countries like China and India don't allow any one to divide their countries. In future, the LTTE or any other group cannot divide Sri Lanka.

All people should enjoy freedom of movement. During the war time I went to Hambantota and Kataragama and this privilege was not there for the people in the South due to the LTTE.

A situation where any person can go to North and South needs to be restored. This is what the Government is doing at the moment and the Tamil Diaspora needs to think a fresh and join hands with the Government to develop the North.

Q: What do you expect them to do for the Tamil people?

A: The LTTE, which they funded, destroyed the future of the Tamils.

Therefore, they should look after these people affected by the LTTE. It is not the mistake of these innocent people who oppose war or a separate state which was created by the LTTE. The LTTE and the Diaspora should be responsible for the loss of lives and disability and other sufferings of the Tamils. Therefore, they have the responsibility to compensate affected Tamils in the North.

Q: While the resettlement and development is going ahead what are the challenges that you see in future?

A: After restoring normalcy the main challenge is maintaining law and order in these areas. No illegal activity will prevail if law and order is maintained properly. People cannot suffer any more. They need peace. There should be concrete actions to prevent the LTTE from rising again. The President is taking lots of measures to bring peace and prosperity to the North.

The second challenge is the development. For the last three decades the Northern people never enjoyed development. Especially, the Government allocated lost of money for the development in Killinochchi and Mullaithivu, but the LTTE did not allow to continue these projects. When they tried to grab the money we returned the money. Several good development projects came to a standstill due to LTTE. Therefore, we need to get these projects back and develop the North similarly to the other parts of the country. The Government is striving for that.

Q: The Tamil National Alliance claims that the Government is trying to grab land belonging to Tamils and gives them to other communities. Is there a truth in this allegation?

A: No, There are no such plans. But there are some Tamils who have acres of land under their wives, children's name in the heart of the city. Under land law they can have only 20 perches in the town and 40 perches in the Pradeshiya Sabbha limits.

If there are private lands spanning for acres how can we develop the townships. We can give some reasonable land allocations for these people but not acres in towns.The other thing is I know there were a Sinhalese population living in these districts and had their own lands. It is fair to give them their original lands if they have original deeds.

Now, Sri Lanka is a free country. Those who wish to buy lands from any place in the country can do so. But there are no plans by the Government to distribute lands originally belonging to Tamils. Mankulam will be the capital of the Northern part of this country and the Urban Development Authority is drawing plans to develop the city. All the top government institutions, including educational, health, administrative and business institutions and leading private sector institutions will come up in Mankulam.