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DateLine Sunday, 16 March 2008

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Government Gazette

Democracy triumphs

Democracy triumphed at the first ever Batticaloa Local Government election in 14 years. Last Monday’s poll to elect 101 members to nine local bodies, including the Batticaloa Municipal Council were calm and peaceful. Compared to most elections since 1977, the LG polls in the Batticaloa District were free of any major incidents.

The largest election monitoring body in Sri Lanka - PAFFREL also confirmed that the election was free and fair without any major incidents. PAFFREL deployed more than 300 monitors including 20 foreign observers.

Almost all major political parties, except the United National Party, which boycotted the election for reasons best known to them, said that it was a peaceful election. Even the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) representatives, who complained of a couple of isolated minor incidents, also confirmed that it was just and fair.

Unfortunately, a few opportunist UNP politicians, did not subscribe to this view. Perhaps, they did not like to see democracy being restored.

They did not see anything significant in eradicating Velupillai Prabhakaran’s terror rule in the East and allowing people in the area to get an opportunity to elect their own Local Government representatives.

While the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and a few of his backbenchers such as Lakshman Kiriella protested against the outcome of Monday’s election, UNP’s National Organiser and former Minister S.B. Dissanayake was sincere and emblazoned the truth which may look bitter for political opportunists and for those who are after power.

Dissanayake regretted that his party boycotted the elections. He said that the UNP made “a big mistake” by not contesting the elections and depriving their supporters a chance to vote.

There was a news report of a die-hard UNP supporter who was unaware of the UNP’s boycott, who challenged polling booth officials for not having the UNP’s elephant symbol on the ballot paper for him to cast his vote.

The helpless election officials on duty unsuccessfully tried to convince the exasperated UNP supporter who ultimately tore the ballot into shreds. This is a mere example to show how foolish the UNP was in taking this short-sighted move.

Why did the Government embark on humanitarian operations in Mavil Aru, Sampur, Vakarei and Thoppigala? It was not merely to gain ground or any other purpose but to grant true liberation to the people living in the East. Eradicating terrorism from the Eastern Province does not necessarily mean that all problems of the innocent civilians there would be solved.

The Government is determined to offer ‘true liberation’ to innocent Tamils living in the North too. President Mahinda Rajapaksa last week underlined his determination to extend the democracy now being enjoyed by the Eastern polity to the people of Killinochchi and Mullaithivu Districts too in the near future.

Following last year’s triumphant military operations, the East no longer has to be identified with the North and referred to as the ‘North-East’.

The Eastern masses no longer have to be under the Wanni terrorists. They are now enjoying liberation in the true sense of the word and not the type of liberation that Prabhakaran has been spinning to fool the Tamil Diaspora and the international community.

As the President emphasised, we should never permit the Wanni terrorists to dominate the people in the East. The Government has fully liberated the East from the clutches of terrorism, paving the way for a fair and free election.

Though the UNP leader makes a big noise over the Local Government elections in the Batticaloa District, it was he who officially accepted a ‘border’ between the LTTE-held areas and other parts of Sri Lanka.

When Wickremesinghe was the Prime Minister, he signed the infamous Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) under which the once popular reference of Maaim Gammanna (Border Villages) came to light. This was because Wickremesinghe officially accepted a territory controlled by the LTTE.

Winning democratic rights after 14 long years was a great achievement for the people in Batticaloa. The Government now plans to hold the Provincial Council elections to implement the decentralisation of power introduced under the 13th Amendment.

The freedom enjoyed by the civil society to exercise their franchise was amply demonstrated and that was of more importance than the results and the victor. The Government restored their democratic rights, replacing the gun culture which prevailed in the East. Nurturing and protecting that freedom is of paramount importance.

The so-called human rights organisations were apparently never concerned about the plight, sufferings and the rights of innocent civilians in the North and East, but there were many who were profoundly concerned about the human rights of the LTTE terrorists.

For some countries in the West, terrorists here are freedom fighters. But they do not give the same definition when it comes to terrorism in their own countries. People who show undue concern about an isolated incident or two turn a blind eye on mass scale human rights’ violations in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.

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