The long and winding road to peace and freedom :

A return to the Vanni

by Peter Casie Chetty

February 2002 was the month when a false dawn brought hope to hearts that terror would be vanquished and peace would reign. Not everyone though believed in the LTTE but Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was stubborn to put the devious past of the terrorists behind and sat down to "talk about talks" and sign a Ceasefire Agreement.

The opposition to the signing was manifestly hostile. "It was a betrayal akin to the Kandyan Convention" they said.

An "excursion" was organised and sponsored by the Sri Lankan Red Cross for journalists from both the State and Private newspapers - a "fact finding mission" or as some called it "a propaganda stunt".

A very early morning start was on scheduled for February 10 and I was picked up on the Kandy Road at Dalugama.

By mid day we were in Ampara moving towards Omanthai when we were introduced to Kishore, another good friend of the murderous LTTE. After a frugal lunch we moved on to Omanthai and crossed the "border" imposed on the Sri Lankan government by the LTTE. Heart rendering scenes of over 3,000 people waiting for various reasons to travel south into the Government controlled areas.

There were screaming babies, old men and women all waiting for "visas" in unbearable heat and discomfort. There was the LTTE imposed visa and scrutiny and a lot of paper work by the Government officials before they could enter the 'free zones'. We were flagged on by a French Canadian UN worker.

Cocksure Eelamist

On the other side of the border the guard bringing us to a halt was an LTTE cadre, very optimistic about Eelam and we were forced to listen to his harangue for a few hours.

At dusk, almost four hours later, suffocating with the dust raised by the LTTE missionaries going to and fro, a 'double cab' ground to a halt and a one armed man stepped out and spoke to me in Tamil. To the rescue came Ravi Rajasingham a former schoolmate of mine and after a brief conversation our "caravan" of four vehicles, Ravi's carrying Australian journalists and another touring car carrying a third Australian "Sheila" moved into the vast unknown.

En route we passed the Madhu Church and saw hundreds of makeshift dwelling of refugees. At the time there was no solution for them for the LTTE were not providing alternate housing and they dared not ask why. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking I remember - the sunset on ponds filled with lotus.

Sheila the Aussie had not hired a four wheel drive vehicle but a town "tourer". She hampered progress and we kept stopping for her to catch up with the convoy.

We reached Mallavi in the dark after a harrowing drive into bomb craters on what would have been tarred roads and were met by Velayuthan Thayanithi alias Daya Master.

Dinner was served after we freshened up. "You can stay here" he said referring to the house the Norwegian "Peace brokers" always stayed at.

We parted company with the Australians and obviously they were given a different view of the Vanni obviously the better parts. We crossed them briefly later on but not long enough to compare notes.

We had a guide: a senior LTTE cadre. He planned the visits; showed us the places he was asked to show us - but there was a difference...

Sudar, Pulidevan, Ramanan and Poovanan were punctual, meticulous and always dressed in white. Our discussions were restricted, according to the representative of the SLRC, to speaking on anything that did not include the fact that the LTTE used child soldiers and committed murders incessantly of civilian, old persons, women and children.

Unbiased, I did slip in questions that had the others shaking their heads. My punishment was that I was left out of the second part of the journey - to the east of the island. The LTTE's drive for peace had clauses.

They were supremely confident and had the State grovelling about the division of a country. The basis was the merger of the north and east and devolution.

Between these meetings our group travelled around the Vanni on roads that had depressions deep enough to drown in if they were waterlogged. Fortunately they were not. I was impressed by the driving skills of the SLRC man.

Sinhala speaking Tamil

We were housed in a two room town house which had a toilet 50 yards away in a field.

I needed an interpreter for interviews and we found a man who had lived in Ratnapura most of his life. He was the cook and our "home port" was the house he looked after. Why did he leave Ratnapura? After the 1983 riots they were sent to settle in Kilinochchi by the government at the time. He worked for the Army then. Subsequently the LTTE had won most of the Vanni back and the cook was asked to stay on.

The LTTE had spies all around so the people were uncommunicative about their lives. I looked for the obvious.

In their eyes one could see desperation, their smiles forced, and their children hungry even begging for food. Overall, the natural beauty of the environs was stupefying; but then what good is beauty if freedom is a farce. On the day we returned there was to be a gala opening of the A9 and the media were present. We could not answer their questions. De-briefed by the Brigade Commander there was not much help we could be. The LTTE men had played close to their chests. The A9 was a potholed mess.

Train to Palai

On March 24 this year I took the train to Palai. I was going towards the part the SLRC veto did not allow me to see and among those places was Elephant Pass, the scene of many battles.

Elephant Pass had been lost in a debacle in 2000 counting 359 deaths among the troops while 349 went missing and nearly 2,500 were injured.

Months earlier the A9 was lost to the LTTE who had now virtually all of the Vanni and were playing "Government of Eelam" with their own policemen, lawyers, judges, banks and even Ministers.

I saw it all when I was assigned to Jaffna after the fall of "The Pass" and saw hasty high level meetings. The LTTE were forced to withdraw and when they had, the pawns reshuffled.

I was in Palai. The guest house I lived in borders the A9. I could stand outside and stop the buses to Ampara or Jaffna and I could see baffled the progress made in five years!

My first thoughts were to see where it all ended. The armies of the North and South met at Elephant Pass and I stopped at the monument that is lit powered by a generator when electricity is now as democratic as voting - a right. Further south is war hero Gamini Kularatne's monument, equally well lit.

The sun and the sea is at hand here...

The ride was brilliant. Smooth, relaxing and fast: it was not rocking, rolling and screeching like the train did.

Not far down the A9 is Paranthan was another martially significant junction where the east meets the west. Many lives were lost trying to gain or keep control of this vital artery.

I decide to go east to Mullaithivu but a stop for vadais and sweet plain tea at a 'restaurant' alongside the bus station. I chance to meet two people who were delighted with the progress made since May 2009.

Kathiravel Sinnathamby is a senior citizen and Dharshini a young 21 year old. The old man told me that life had been impossible before the LTTE was vanquished. Kerosene oil lamps for lighting; hardly any good food; the impossibility to farm because of the buried mines, bone rattling buses for public transport! He described misery. Escape was hard if not impossible.

The poor transport system and the spies saw to that. Permission was required to move from one district to another and when younger people were conscripted while the older ones were always suspected of being spies! Extortion called taxes had to be paid by relatives lucky enough to be on social benefits in the industrialised west. The real refugees were in South India and in camps and I agreed.

"Today there was complete freedom" he says in perfect Sinhalese. The man had worked in Anuradhapura in the 50s and 60s. "We have electricity, good roads and a better life.

Dharshini is content. Her father's restaurant is doing well. Many people drop in for tea and a chat during the breaks. She is in charge of her life and hopes that she will be able to go to a University in the Vanni.

I said I hoped so too.

The Forces make friends

Neither saw the security forces as invaders. They feel secure today than they ever did. Sinnathamby said the people had realised that the Security Forces are there to protect them.

Outside I met a man selling boiled corn on the cob. He pointed me in the direction of the Mullaithivu bus stand. The bus was already crowded but I was offered a seat by a young man thanks to my grey hair. This is the second time it happened. The young here are respectful and respectable.

Heading towards Puthukkudiyiuppu (PDK to the Sinhalese), the Chalai and Nanthikadal lagoons I go past a lot of small towns Vishvamadu, Udayragal, Udayakaddu, and Vallapuram even a place called Ottuvaal.

They are full of main street shoppers. Biscuits, cakes, sweets and chocolates were not available until they were liberated and those not chauvinistic are willing to accept exchange.

In PDK town I saw a young 'poosari' a Hindu priest. I needed an interpreter but when I asked him if he minded me taking a photograph ('padam' with a finger pointed to my camera), he was all smiles.

My question to him was "Why had the western media never asked a Hindu priest to talk of the situation in the Vanni?" His reply was that he did not know.

It is the dry zone in every sense. No alcohol is available in most areas but this was a town with an army camp. If there was any trouble now the forces could rely on the people to tell them who the trouble makers are. They trust each other now that contact has been made and kept.

"There's a tavern in the town". I got myself a half bottle of Old Arrack (called 'a monkey' in our schooling sixties, so that the prefect of games did not get a clue) here in PDK.

Resettlement and land mines

So I decided to go to Jaffna and see where the front lines were. As divisional Secretary P. Jeyarani told me earlier, Muhamalai has the most number of mines but that village has still not been cleared. This has retarded of settling villagers from the area.

In Kilinochchi proposed and seconded is a heart warming project that will heal the wounds of thirty years. There is the Harmony Centre sponsor by the Army that is opened to all and is just by the A9.

There are no gates, but a giant TV screen dominates the well laid out park. Children and adults can find entertainment.

The army has also organised a day care centre for working mothers the army provides child care professionals coaching others. There is also a Beauty Salon where young girls will be taught trades so that they can be employed when they are ready.

The public will only pay a minimal price for the products used. The army officers coordinate the centre trying to erase the negative image the people of the Vanni have had because of LTTE propaganda.

The stigma of a controlling body will be wiped out and all the personnel are in plain clothes so as to be less patronising. The Police too are in their role as peace keeping friends.

I have been here I have seen enough to say that the people are happier, healthier and have only praise for those who have saved them from a fascist regime.

The Vanni is a beautiful part of Sri Lanka. Lagoons, steams, coves probably filled with sea animals and fish; birds feeding.

What is lacking though are the small hotels and the bed and breakfasts to encourage locals to visit a part of the country they lack. The minor roads that connect villages to the A9 however, could have been better.