Kilinochchi's infrastructure facilities woos investors

by Dhaneshi Yatawara

Excerpts of the interview with Kilinochchi Security Forces Commandr, Major General Udaya Perera:

Kilinochchi Security Forces Commander, Major General Udaya Perera Pic: Susantha Wijegunasekera

Q: The Army insists on working on the 5R concepts though there is still much talk about demilitarisation. What is the situation in Kilinochchi? How are the security forces involved in development activities?

A: The Army is a part of the total government initiative. When all departments and organisations are put together the network forms a seamless institute. All institutes work very closely in Kilinochchi.

That has produced good results in Kilinochchi. As a citizen's Army we are part of the Government as any other department. To support the farming and fishing industries we were involved in organising an agri and trade fair that was held from July 25-27.

Many local and foreign private companies and farmer organisations took part. In kilinochchi there are about 116 farmer organisations. There are about 1,537 small scale business ventures.

The local people had exposure to better technology. Its important because out of the total population in Kilinochchi over 26,470 are farmer families. In 2010 irrigated land was 10,327 hectares. In 2011 it went up to 22,616 hectares. Paddy harvest was 5,120 MT in 2010 and in 2011 it went up to 45,633 MT.

Q: What is the reaction of the investors - considering that the infrastructure is still developing? We see less number of factories being open in Kilinochchi. Why are the investors not coming in?

A: Its a matter of time. The reason why the investors did not come in was that infrastructure facilities were not up to standard until recent past. If investors come in now they can see the improvements and infrastructure in place.

And Im sure with the present situation any one would like to come. In Kilinochchi the road network is coming up well. So with a bad road network the investors will definitely not come. Now the connectivity is there.

It will be improved by the railway connection soon. The latest is the Iranamadu airfield. Now air connectivity is also there. Electricity is not an issue in Kilinochchi. Because the grid station was opened by recently, we have uninterrupted power supply in Kilinochchi. Its an excellent service. Considering water supply, the biggest water resource of the Northern Province is in Kilinocchci.

It is the Iranamadu tank.

Today there will is no pipe-borne water in Kilinochchi but soon that also will be in place. However pipe-borne water is not an issue. It is a matter of tapping this source.

There is a fine intelligent labour force in Kilinochchi. It is a matter of fine tuning the labour force. This human resource was not tapped for the past so many years. The mentality of these people is that they do not want to go out of the area.

The mentality and the culture is such that they want to stay here. These people have not gone to free trade zones in Katunayake or Colombo garment factories or anywhere else. A leading textile giant smartly identified this and was the first to set up their factories in Kilinochci.

Q: What is the present situation of your area of responsibility? How would you explain the transformation that has taken place in the district?

A: Mankulam, Kilinochchi and Paranthan are cities we can be proud of. Today you do not get scars of war in those places. This is the place where the most crucial battles took place. This was the most important ground for LTTE.

Then LTTE knew loose of Kilinochchi means that is the first step towards their defeat. We also knew if we liberate kilinochchi that will be the giant step towards victory. That was the apex point. They had a superb defence here. It was like a fortress.

The battle were hi tempo. So the area became totally damaged and today they have come up from scratch. Thus we do not have any physical scars of war in this land. We are trying our best to erase the mental scars - it will take a little while longer.

Q: What is the situation of the de-mining work in the Kilinochchi district? Any areas remained to be de-mined?

A: Its negligible. The areas that are to be de-mined are less than 1% of the total area that is completed. Rest of the areas are all jungles and barren land not suitable for human habitation. Practically that has no effect on the day to day life of the people or for development.

Q: Are there any resettlements that are taking place? What is the situation?

A: We have completed almost all. Very few families still live with their relatives. They are unable to return to their original lands because of land disputes and because of any other matter. Their lands are claimed by someone else.

What ever the land where Army has established themselves are immediately returned to the civilians when individuals claim. Most of the places Army has their establishments are previously owned by the LTTE. So there are no land problems in Kilinochchi. All settled.

Q: Do you see any danger in removing Military from major part of the Kilinochchi since this has been a nurturing centre for the terrorists? Do you think there are threats remaining based on information from military intelligence?

A: There is a danger. Because of the proxy wars that is advocated by various fractions. These proxies can be activated - may be by international community, diaspora or any other party interested in doing so.

The threat is their because the LTTE authenticity is continuously carried out by certain factions of the diaspora. So they always want this terrorist ideology to remain. They want to create an issue in Sri Lanka in order to validate their reasons given for living in those countries.

If there are no issues in the homeland they will have to return. Majority of the population in Kilinochchi want to remain peacefully. They want to be with the rest of the country. Dangers can come from outside.

Q: Among the Tamil Diaspora there are people who have migrated more than a decade ago. There are people who have obtained Permanent Resident status as well who who face no risk of being returned home though the threats back in their homeland have vanished. You have served as the Deputy High Commissioner for Malaysia as well. What is the real situation as per your opinion?

A: That is the picture many of you see. Yes there are people who have obtained Permanent Residence status. There are people who have not obtained as well.

There are a significant number of people who are living there only with the refugee status. They are very active in those countries.

The people who went during the war time, in 2006 - 2007 and there after, including leading LTTE operatives are there. During my tenure in Malaysia this is the situation that prevailed.

There were a considerable number of refugees in Malaysia too. In the main cities of countries like Canada, Australia, UK there are a considerable number of Sri Lankan Tamils living under refugee status. They are the people who mostly demonstrate protests.

The other aspect is using these ideologies as a business. Even the people who have got citizenship are hammering in pro-terrorist ideologies because it is a thriving business.

They keep the ideologies alive - they say so. But actually it is a living for them - a luxurious living. If the Northerns reject their ideology they will loose their grounds. Even human trafficking is big business. There are agents living in cities like Sydney, Melbourne or even in transit points like Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia who thrive on this business. It is complicated ugly business anyway. That is my assessment.