Development:

Democracy restored :

Sustained economic growth in North ensures peace, development

by Dhaneshi Yatawara

Ever since Sri Lanka Army's Operation Jayasikuru, the LTTE's nerve centre had been Kilinochchi. The fall of Kilinochchi out of the hands of the terrorists, on January 2, 2009, was a turning point in Sri Lanka's battle against terrorism.

A true moment of heartfelt peace and harmony in the Wanni

Kilinochchi today

Oddusudan today

The Vadduvakkal lagoon and causeway soon after being cleared in 2009

During the intense battle, the Army had no time to pause and the terrorists held on to Kilinochchi, their nerve centre, with all their might. The Sri Lanka Army's 57 Division, commanded by Major General Jagath Dias, was determined to liberate Kilinochchi, realising that their victory would lead the entire Wanni region out of terrorism.

When the troops passed the Thunukkai and Mallavi towns in August and September 2008 respectively, it showed that the soldiers were determined to reach Kilinochchi. The LTTE held Kilinochchi with their first bunker line and security concentrations at Iranamadu tank, Thirumurukandy junction and the Akkarayankulam road. An ‘L’ shaped bund stood beyond this point.

Led by Maj. Gen. Dias, the troops did not pause after liberating Thunukkai and Mallavi and it was this momentum that left no room for the LTTE to fortify themselves. Many soldiers laid down their lives. The LTTE was constructing a new defence line and Sri Lanka Army troops, without allowing them to complete it, crossed the line at great cost to their lives. As Maj. Gen. Dias explained then, during the ‘fire’, a totally different tactic was adopted. It was an equilibrium between offensive and defensive tactics that the Army had to perform in a short span of time.

In military terms, the Army ‘assaulted in depth'. When soldiers captured a point, another group of soldiers would pass their own team and spear ahead, leaving no time for the LTTE to attack. The Division faced all possible difficulties as well as adverse weather conditions, also tackling ‘impossible to evacuate’ casualties.

Three assaults

The 57 Division launched three assaults on the LTTE defence line and on the fourth, they managed to capture it. This became possible thanks to an eight-man team from the Gajaba infantry which went on a recce (reconnaissance) mission to see the enemy terrain during the wee hours of January 1, 2009.

They went up to the Kilinochchi railway station and found that the LTTE had abandoned Kilinochchi and withdrawn to Dharmapuram. The artillery attacks had been to facilitate their withdrawal. Based on communications back to their tactical headquarters, troops of 9 GR carried out the final assault. By January 2, the 57 Division troops had liberated Kilinochchi.

They didn't stop there. With the 58 Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva operating on to the North of the 57 Division, the joint force started moving towards the Eastern Coast. The 57 Division re-organised with the 58 Division, task force 3 and 4 and balance troops in the South, heading towards Vishwamadu and Dharmapuram, enabling the first batches of civilians to escape the LTTE's iron clutches.

Today, people, not only Hindus, but all travellers to the North get down at the Thirimurukandi junction, worship at the Hindu temple, seeking blessings for a safe journey. Hardly anyone seem to remember the lives of the soldiers sacrificed to protect that plot of land. No one knows the cries of pain of those young men who suffered fatal wounds and were unable to be evacuated.

It was just a fraction of the drama. Following the military victory, clearing the territory which had been held by the LTTE for nearly three decades and the implementation of the master plan for the immediate resettlement and rehabilitation of the Northern people was another major battle. One of the main elements of this master plan was a 180-day program to facilitate immediate resettlement. Having accommodated the displaced people in the welfare centres for the time being, the most difficult task became making immediate arrangements to resettle them in their places of origin.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed a Presidential Task Force for Resettlement, Development and Security in the Northern Province under Senior Minister Basil Rajapaksa to immediately work out a program for rapid resettlement and reconstruction of the Northern Province. The mission given to the Task Force was to formulate a strategic framework for revitalising the Northern Province and implement the rapid resettlement program.

Presidential Task Force

According to S.B. Divarathne of the Presidential Task Force for Resettlement, Development and Security in the Northern Province, the resettlement process that was adopted in Sri Lanka was not ad hoc; it was well planned and well focused and worked through proper policies. The resettlement policy envisaged that the resettlement process was voluntary and not forced; that the displaced people should be resettled in their original places of habitation; and that the process should be dignified and safe in terms of the International Humanitarian Law.

The objectives of the 180-day program was to identify the priorities through well-coordinated plans, enlisting the support of line ministries and all external agencies, the UN system and INGOs working at the time in Sri Lanka, to create a conducive environment before resettlement took place, then plan out the different phases of resettlement.

What were the challenges that had to be faced in this process of resettlement? First was de-mining, second the restoration of basic facilities, as Divarathne explained.

“One of the most difficult tasks was de-mining and one of the constraints we faced was the lack of machines for de-mining. So the Government had to embark on the procurement of equipment from other countries at a huge cost and we had to airlift them; 19 such machines had to be airlifted to carry out the de-mining process as quickly as possible.”

Basic infrastructure

To restore the basic infrastructure, the Presidential Task Force had to appoint separate teams to assess the damage and also find the required funds to carry out the restorations of basic facilities. There again, the problem was the lack of heavy machinery. Sri Lanka had to import a large volume of machinery from China.

The Government's aim was to develop an economic base for the displaced people from the inception of the resettlement program, with the hope of enhancing livelihood activities that would enable them to put up houses.

The next phase of this program was the early recovery that was to provide them assistance to recommence their economic activities.

“We gave them many facilities particularly for agriculture, home gardening, inland and lagoon fishing and various other support services for them to immediately start paddy cultivation. In the Northern Province, the main source of livelihood of the people is paddy cultivation; there are about 180,000 acres of cultivable paddy land, which were not cultivated and were abandoned,” he said.

Having completed that, the other element of the resettlement process was the reconstruction of infrastructure. The Government, up to now, has committed nearly three billion US dollars for this purpose, which includes investments on roads, railways, the supply of electricity and water, and other economic and social infrastructure. The Northern Province had just emerged from devastation with the desire of being transformed into a region of hope and regeneration.

The massive public investment made on those two provinces in the past four years would have been adequate to finance 15 Colombo – Katunayake Expressways, four Colombo - Galle Expressways, 93,500-bed hospitals, 2,870 1,000-student schools, eight South Colombo breakwaters, 14 international airports and seven power plants generating 300MW, according to Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Ajith Nivard Cabraal. He said this at the 2013 Defence Seminar held earlier this month in Colombo.

Economic prospects

“At the same time, the violence and terror in the North and the East materially dampened economic prospects since the early 1980s with the momentum of economic growth slowing down. Investment in infrastructure was diverted to military expenditure and priority was given to the uncertain security situation. The economy always took second place and the sentiments were unfavourable and gloomy. There was difficulty in maintaining investor confidence in the midst of uncertainty. Since 1983, the entire country faced the acute impact and burden of terrorism and there were productivity losses and under-utilisation of production capacity,” Cabraal said.

“During the last four years, Sri Lanka's economy has been on the average of an impressive 7.5 percent. We had been consistently reporting a high growth in a space of time where worldwide, there was really tough going,” he said. As he explained, “With all these expenses, we as a country have been able to maintain macro-fundamentals in a benign category, particularly inflation”. Though the overall effect is difficult to quantify, the reduction in economic growth of the country due to terrorism has been estimated at around one to two percent annually. “Rapid growth since then in the affected provinces supported the country’s overall growth momentum. In fact, since 2009, the affected regions have shown promise with a high growth path.”

Overall, from 2009 to 2013, public investment in the North and the East amounts to three billion US dollars. Such sustained improvement in economic performance, despite the uncertain global economic environment, has ensured continued peace and development, which today has led to the establishment of democracy with the free will of the people.