Thoppigala and after

With the liberation of Thoppigala and the complete routing of the Tigers in what was considered their last stronghold in the Eastern Province, the State's humanitarian mission in the region enters a qualitatively new phase.

This position could be taken because these resounding military victories by the Security Forces would not be allowed to affect the State's search for a political solution to our conflict.

Besides, priority would be attached by the State to the socio-economic reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Eastern Province, which process plays a pivotal role in satisfying the basic needs of the Eastern populace.

We need hardly say that it is the successful carrying forward of this process which would end any disaffection among the people and induce in them a firm loyalty to the State and to a united and whole Sri Lanka.

However, it is the military defeat of the LTTE which paves the way for these developments and we join the rest of the Lankan polity in saluting the singular triumphs of the Lankan Security Forces in the Eastern Province.

We warmly commend our Security Forces on this momentous occasion and call on them to keep-up the good work in the North too. President Mahinda Rajapaksa could very well have spoken for the whole of Sri Lanka when he said that "the nation would never forget the Forces and the Police who made the supreme sacrifice and sustained injuries and disabilities during this mission to liberate the East".

Having accomplished one component of the solution to the situation in the East, all systems need to be in place and activated to implement the second component of the conflict resolution strategy which is the socio-economic rejuvenation of the Eastern Province.

The latter process should have got well underway after the Mavilaru and Vakarai triumphs. Not only must the development needs of the East be targeted, such a process needs to come under the purview of a civilian administration as well.

That is, an administrative set-up with which the people could identify themselves. It is an administration of this kind which would know the needs of the people most intimately.

Therefore, the firm establishment of a civilian administration over the entirety of the East needs to be seen as a top priority. Meanwhile, the State should succour this process by providing the essential requirements of the people as it is doing in the North. The well being of the people of the North-East should be a constant priority of the State. This consideration should be uppermost in the minds of the authorities.

However, the crowning achievement in the rebuilding of the Eastern Province would be the conduct of elections to local government and regional institutions. The process of establishing a civilian administration would culminate in the holding of such polls which would be a catalyst in the realisation of the people's will.

In other words, the democratic process would be established in full in the East and thus would be cemented the political normalisation of the region.

It could be seen, therefore, that a number of important chores await the State in the East. May they be attended to swiftly, is our wish.