Hopes and dreams for a brighter future:

Mullaitivu reaps peace dividends

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

The clear blue water is constantly disturbed by different flocks of birds that prey on fish. The location has become the latest destination of migrant birds as it has an abundance of fresh water fish. With no rain in sight, the fertile soil has turned rough. The gravel road which snails around the lagoon gets fresh layers of soil under the road expansion project which is being carried out.

With the clearance of the deadly anti-personnel mines, the lagoon has become a fine fishing spot. The blooming white and pink lotus seem to be dancing with the bright rays of the sun.

This is the infamous Nanthikadal lagoon. It sends a chill down one’s spine as its murky waters was a silent witness to the LTTE’s terror during the final battle in May 2009.

Today, the serene environs of the lagoon calms one’s mind, but fails to calm the minds of 24-year-old Dayani and 36-year-old Jegadas.

For them, it is a place which would hold harrowing memories throughout their lives. It was in this blue water that their three-month-old baby girl disappeared. “Three years ago….”, Dayani couldn’t utter any more. She started crying. Yes… three years ago just like Dayani, almost all families in the area experienced the most horrific moments of their lives. Displaced several times and herded by LTTE terrorists, over 300,000 people begged for their lives, which was held at gunpoint. Boxed ‘into a small patch of land at Puthumathalan, which is located in the middle of the sea and the lagoon, these people were used as hostages and those who defied the terrorists’ orders to flee had kissed the earth.

“We tried to flee several times and abandoned the idea as the LTTE threatened to kill us if we tried to cross the lagoon. Several people were shot dead when they openly criticised the LTTE and crossed the lagoon without heeding their orders”, Jegadas recalled the final days of their journey back to life three years ago.

Dayani and Jegadas with their daughter; they lost their baby girl in the Nanthikadal lagoon

The couple said it was a miracle how all of them, over 300,000 civilians, were alive today when they recall their journey from place to place herded by the terrorists who kept them as hostages, while the Government humanitarian operation was intensifying.

Harrowing experiences

“Our children were crying in hunger with no place for shelter, the small ones were virtually dying with no water and in the unbearable heat. The LTTE, still kindling hopes of Eelam (a separate land for Tamils) were attacking the military with their heavy weapons installed among us. Finally, we a group of about a thousand people decided to escape by crossing the Nanthikadal lagoon”, he explained the harrowing walk through rains of bullets and scores of warnings by the LTTE, to meet the ‘saviours’ at the other end of the lagoon.

The couple is alive today, but their story ended with a life-long scar. The beautiful Nanthikadal lagoon reminds them how their tiny tot disappeared in the murky waters on that fateful day while the couple was swimming with their two daughters who were kept afloat on a tyre.

“The LTTE started shooting us and we lost control of the tyre on which we were carrying the two girls. My baby dropped into the water. Jegadas saved the eldest but couldn’t grab the small one and we saw her body disappear in the water. The LTTE shot at us and we ran, leaving our baby, to save the elder daughter who was almost dying of hunger”, Dayani said she still felt the warmth of the three-month-old baby.

Three years after the deadly saga came to a close the couple has started their life with courage, to provide a better future for their daughter, who attends pre-school from last year.

The amazing fact about the people of Mullaitivu is their resistance to hardships, despite facing the worst incidents in their lives. Like Dayani and Jegadas, who lost all hopes for a better future, they are all brimming with hopes for life.

Thangarasa Ganeshalingam who was not spared by the LTTE	Jayakumar	Nirmala Selvam with her 10-year-old son Subadarshan

Jedadas had fallen prey to the LTTE as his brother, who had also been snatched by the LTTE, had abandoned the outfit. While Jegadas was returning home with a milk packet for the newly-born, he was taken to an LTTE training camp in Vellimullivaiikal, but was able to flee from the LTTE on the sixth day of his training. Since then, until they crossed the Nanthikadal, he lived in a bunker while Dayani took care of the two children and their old parents in a makeshift hut.

Freedom and peace

“We became poor because of the LTTE, but people here are happy as they have freedom and peace and they have no fears that the LTTE will snatch their children”, Jegadas who earns a living of Rs. 800 daily as a labourer at a road construction site said.

The couple dreams of building a small house in the land in Mulliyaweli given to them by the Government.

The Sunday Observer met some of those souls who have turned over a new leaf with the dawn of peace after three decades of terror. Thangarasa Ganeshalingam, who was a polio patient by birth, was not spared by the LTTE either as he too was herded along the mass crowd of hostages.

The sweet and cashewnut seller on a wheel-chair who runs his small business at the Alampil Junction recalled his struggle for life during the period when the LTTE chased civilians to Puthumathalan. As he didn’t have a wheel-chair, he tied a pair of slippers on his knees and crawled through the ‘human river’ while the LTTE was shooting at them.

“Many people died while fleeing.They were waiting for Government soldiers to rescue them. Even the LTTE cadre were waiting for the soldiers”, Thangarasa, who has now received a wheel-chair to continue his mobile business said.

Under the instructions of Commanding Officer, 24 Sinha Regiment (SR) Lt.Col. Chandra Abeykoon, he receives a lunch packet daily from the Army camp. Very recently the soldiers helped him get a new set of wheels for his wheel-chair. Whether he earns a profit or not, Thangarasa was compelled to hand over Rs. 1,000 each week as tax to the LTTE from his meagre business.

“People here are happy now. The Army is there to solve our problems. They helped us build houses. After several years our areas are under development. We have new tarred roads”, he said.

Nirmala Selvam, the 34-year-old pre-school teacher is one of the happiest in Thangapuram, Allampil as her one-room house was built by soldiers of the 24 SR free.

Since the re-commencement of operations of the St. Sebastian Pre-school from mid-2010, over 30 children attend her school. “I started teaching at the pre-school during LTTE control in Mullaitivu, but had to leave the area as the LTTE chased us to Puthumathalan. Parents kept even their small children inside barrels and bunkers as the LTTE tried to take them to battle. We had a terrible time”, Nirmala, who used to hide her 10-year-old son Subadarshan in a bunker, said.

Women are breadwinners

Earning a monthly salary of Rs. 3,000 as a teacher, Nirmala, a widow, wants to provide a good education to her son. “Parents here are not yet fully concerned about their children’s education as they have to earn a living. In most of these families, women are the breadwinners as their husbands had died during the battle”, she said, adding that life in Mullaitivu, where the LTTE controlled the people for over two decades, is now free of terror.

“As mothers, from my mother to me to all mothers of Mullaitivu, we had sleepless nights for years, fearing that at any moment, our sons and daughters would be forcefully dragged away by the LTTE. Thank the gods and soldiers that that painful era is over.

We are happy and our wish is that we would never have to suffer again due to such terror”, Nirmala, who has painful memories of the LTTE dragging her younger brother Nirmalaraj away while her mother cried and begged, said.

The family reunited with Nirmalaraj who came home after an year-long rehabilitation process when he received vocational training on masonry and carpentry at the Thrikonamadu rehabilitation centre, last year. Being an asthmatic, Nirmalaraj was forcibly taken by the terrorists under their ‘one from a family’ policy in 2006. Having worked at an NGO as an administration assistant, Nirmalaraj’s illness became a blessing in disguise as he was assigned for office work by the LTTE.

When the LTTE’s man-power was shrinking they started deploying all men and women who could hold a weapon to prevent the military push despite their illnesses and capabilities.

“I escaped the LTTE twice and the LTTE surrounded our house and threatened my father to hand me over. Knowing the LTTE’s terror, I surrendered. At last I was deployed in Puthumathalan for the final assault, but I hid the T-56 and fled with the crowd and surrendered to the Army”, he said.

Nirmalaraj, who learned spoken English and Sinhala through Army soldiers at the rehabilitation centre, attended meditation classes as well. On January this year he tied the knot with a pre-school teacher from Kilinochchi and has plans to cultivate his land which spans two acres. “The Army helps us a lot. Lt. Col. Abeykoon had promised to find me finances to start cultivation”, he said, adding that he is waiting the Bank of Ceylon to grant a loan of Rs. 250,000, the loan given to ex-cadre to start business ventures.

Fishing aplenty

It was 8.00 p.m. when we drove along the Nanthikadal lagoon. The lagoon was dotted with kerosene oil lamps. Except for the sounds of vehicles and waves gently lapping the lagoon banks, it was pin-drop silence. People moved freely crossing the bridge at Vadduvakal, which helped thousands of civilians flee the terror- filled land three years ago.

Thirty-year-old Sivalingam Maniram, a fish trader, was ‘visiting the lagoon to check the daily catch. “There are over 800 fishermen in the lagoon and their daily catch amounts to 4,000kg to 5,000kg”, he said adding that the number of fishermen has risen from 500 to 800 now.

He said people here, being predominently fishermen, are interested in fishing as the catch was significant during the last few years. “ The LTTE taxed the fishermen and they also restricted some areas of the lagoon as their camps and the houses of some leaders were close by. We suffered immensely during those days”, Sivalingam, a youth who hails from a family of fishermen said.

He thanked the Army for releasing fingerlings to the lagoon to breed fish and prawns, to facilitate the fishermen to increase their catch.

Jaya Kumar was busy catching prawns and small fish in the estuary. Being a resident of Jaffna, he came to Mullaitivu to earn more as he had heard that the fish resources in Nanthikadal have increased. The Nanthikadal lagoon, where the world’s most ruthless terrorist breathed his last in 2009, was opened for civilians to fish with the completion of de-mining in the surrounding areas early this year. After threes years of the ending of terror, the people of Mullaitivu are reaping the benefits of peace.

In an era free of bombs and bloodshed they are brimming with new hopes and plans for a better future.

“Soldiers maintain good rapport with people”

Brigadier Rukmal Dias,
GOC 59 Division:

“The Army’s main concerns are to ensure security in the area covering Mullaitivu town to Mulliyaweli to Andamkulam Forest Reserve and assist the development projects of the Government. Another main concern of the Army is to help people commence their livelihood.

With the resettlement process progressing, the government machinery is slowly improving, but to bring normality back to those areas, the military has to help the people. One of the main concerns of the Army is providing facilities for the resettled people.

The 59 Division serves over 34,000 people and except for 198 families, all have been resettled in their villages. The Army took over the task of clearing AP mines in those areas to expedite resettlement and we have demined the fishing grounds and agricultural land as most of the land belong to the fishing community.

Education is another area which had been neglected for several years. We want to assist develop the schools with facilities. The Army, which gets the support of the Army Headquarters and the Defence Ministry, doesn’t have much funds to help people, but I should thank my Brigade Commanders, Commanding Officers and personnel from all other ranks who take a personal interest to find money through personal means.

When they go on leave, they motivate their friends to help these needy families. We use Facebook to get funds. It is amazing how some soldiers offer their meal packets to some families.

We get very positive responses from our friends, companies and well-wishers to help the people of Mullaitivu. We were able to construct science labs in some schools. Housing construction is another vital project that the soldiers engaged in. Recently we built a house which would have cost Rs. 1.5 million, at a cost of Rs. 300,000.

We helped the fishing community to re-start their livelihood. They are coordinating with the soldiers, but the main issue for the fishermen is Indian intrusion. When Indian fishing trawlers intrude into our waters, they complain to the Army and we complain to the authorities.

The soldiers go beyond their limits to help the people. As most of the soldiers understand Tamil, they maintain good rapport with the people.

This has helped create a new image for the soldiers and now the people know the soldiers are there to help them.

The image painted in their minds by the LTTE about soldiers is gradually fading away. They want us to remain in their areas to protect them.”