Resettled without discrimination: Back to their homes of origin By Ranil Wijayapala Placing a country which went through three-decades of terrorism, displacing hundreds and thousands of its citizens, back to order is a gigantic task, for any nation emerging from such a situation. Though the country could be physically united after the completion of the humanitarian operation, eliminating the roots of terrorism once and for all is difficult as the people of this country remain divided, as citizens who have been displaced by the conflict and those who have not. Housing schemes for the displaced Naturally the displaced people, estimated to be around 752,114 people belonging to 222,313 families who had been displaced were given the focus of attention, not only by the Government but also by the international community who are closely following developments in the post-conflict scenario in the country. The rule under President Mahinda Rajapaksa also became not only a period to battle against terrorism but also a period enshrining the due rights of the people to live in the places of their origin as they wish, thus making all Sri Lankan citizens true Sri Lankan citizens without discrimination. Therefore, resettling people who had been displaced from the Jaffna peninsula more than two and half decades ago and also the people who had been displaced after the commencement of the humanitarian operation in July 2006, the Government under President Rajapaksa was compelled to give equal prominence for its effort to complete the resettlement process. The entire nation and the world witnessed how the Tamil people were used as human shields by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in their bid to avoid the inevitable defeat, when these civilians commenced flooding to Government-controlled areas in the Eastern province in the latter part of 2006 and the early part of 2007 and again in the Wanni, commencing from March 2009 when the bastions held by the LTTE fell to the hands of the Security Forces. The entire world sympathised with them and kept their eyes open as to how the Government was handling the plight of these civilians after the completion of the humanitarian operation in May 19, 2009. Ministries and institutions were set up and all Heads of Government came together to make this process successful. There were many to criticise the process of resettling the people and the way displaced civilians were kept in relief villages soon after the end of the humanitarian operation and the Government had to swim against the tide to complete the resettlement process balancing all aspects, safety, security, social, cultural and economic aspects of re-settlers. When nearly 270,785 people, who were liberated from prolonged detention of the LTTE in the final battle fought against the LTTE in the North of Mullaitivu, were kept in the relief village-Menik Farm, it came under heavy criticism by the international community saying that the Government had blatantly violated the freedom of movement of these people by keeping them in open prisons. However, the Government was able to prove its mettle as Security screening of these people for months enabled more than 10,000 ex LTTE cadres to be detained and also even the father and mother of Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, thus ensuring that the elements of terrorism were no longer there among the people to be resettled. At the same time, the Government took the initiative to return those ex-combatants to be among the resettled people after an extensive rehabilitation process. The Government took care of all these people who were kept in relief villages even after the end of the humanitarian operation spending nearly Rs.3 billion for the provision of food, sanitary facilities, health facilities and all other basic requirement and infrastructure facilities until their villages turned into safer places for their return. At the same time the clearing of an estimated 1.3 million landmines buried in the North and the East, during the three decades-long terrorism had to be completed in a step by step process to facilitate the resettlement process. The Sri Lanka Army along with a lot of local and international organisations commenced clearing landmines in the East which was first liberated from the LTTE and later in the Northern province to facilitate the process of resettling people. Though it was a nightmare to get back the infrastructure for those areas, the government machinery with the support of many other agencies worked tirelessly to relay the infrastructure for the people who were ready to go back to their villages. It was after such an intense process that the Government could commence returning the people who had been living in relief villages and with their close relatives back to their villages after years of long displacement. The process of resettling the people started in August , 2009 from the Musali Divisional Secretariat Division in the Mannar district and continued relentlessly till September 2012, until the last internally displaced civilian in the relief village was sent back to the village of their origin and most importantly to the Puthukudiruppu and Vellamullivaikkal area which was the theatre of the last battle in 2009. During this period the Government, through the Ministry of Resettlement resettled 243,065 people belonging to 75,085 families who had lived in Menik Farm relief village back to their villages. According to the Resettlement Ministry, of 49,647 people belonging to 150,202 families who had been displaced prior to and after 2009 have been resettled in five districts in the Northern province. They include 117,983 people belonging to 37,761 families resettled in 15 Divisional Secretariat Divisions in the Jaffna district, 88,827 people belonging to 23,021 families resettled in five DS Divisions in the Mannar district, 41,174 people belonging to 11,929 families resettled in four DS Divisions in the Vavuniya district, 121,140 people belonging to 37,932 families resettled in 6 DS Divisions in the Mullaitivu district and 127,423 people belonging to 39,559 families resettled in four DS Divisions in the Kilinochchi district. Moreover the 255,567 people belonging to the 72,111 families in the Eastern province have also been resettled in the three districts in the Eastern province resettled by the Government bringing the total number of people resettled during this period to 752,114 people belonging to 222,313 families, thus removing the term ‘internally displaced people’ completing that gigantic task within little more than three years after the completion of the humanitarian operation. All these people would have gone back to their villages with the limited assets they had owned after three decades of terrorism, may be with a handful of galvanized sheets or some building material, but government backing was always there to help them to stand on their own feet and no longer bowing their head to any force in the land they live for now and ever more!