Towards Eastern development

The gunning down of Eastern Province Chief Secretary Herath Abeyweera while shocking in the extreme should come as no surprise to those conversant with the modus operandi of the LTTE.

Abeyweera, a senior and much respected civil servant is only one among a long line State functionaries felled by the LTTE bullet while attempting to restore normality and ensure the smooth functioning of civilian life in the areas under their jurisdiction.

In this regard the name that readily springs to mind is former Jaffna Mayoress Sarojinee Yogeswaran. She too worked towards bringing a semblance of normality to the suffering population when she was ruthlessly stopped in her tracks.

The LTTE will of course not stop with this killing. Humbled by the Security Forces and driven from the East it will resort to desperate tactics in a bid to shore up the morale of its cadres while trying to prove a point to the world at large.

Therefore, restoring civilian life to satisfactory levels in the immediate aftermath of the victory is the biggest challenge confronting the Government while affording maximum protection to the State officials and civilians.

Being annihilated by the Security Forces in the East the Tigers who are on the run are bound to create a trail of destruction in their wake and the killing of the Provincial Secretary is perhaps the first of these atrocities to bolster it’s depleted image.

There would no doubt be more such killings and other attacks to detract from their defeat. The Government has taken cognisance of this reality. In a condolence message on the death of the Provincial Secretary President Mahinda Rajapaksa asserted that the “assassination would further strengthen the Government’s resolve not to give in to the forces of terror but would proceed with the task of restoring freedom and democracy to the East and all of Sri Lanka”.

It is now upto the Government to ensure the distraction caused by the sporadic depredations of the LTTE would not detract from its avowed mission of developing the East for which it has drawn an ambitious programme under the theme “Neganahira Udanaya”.

It should proceed with single minded purpose to get the programme off the ground and not squander the opportunity presented by the heroic deeds of our Forces. It should seize on the opportunity to make use of the exit of the LTTE to woo the Eastern population which has endured much suffering and privations all these years.

To begin with the Government should lose no time in embarking on an immediate Hearts and Minds operation to assuage feelings and heal the wounds of a largely alienated population which would make implementation of its economic programme that much easier.

No development programme is bound to succeed without people participation. There is a need for doing this fast lest the celebrations of victory detracts from this main goal. The proposal to hold local Government elections is a move in the right direction, for civil structures have to be in place for things to get moving.

This is also the time for the main Opposition to drop its polemics and hair splitting over the nature of the Thoppigala victory and make a constructive bid to help the Government in its monumental task of rebuilding the East. In the end the gains obtained will be for the country at large and not for one particular party.

The East as we all know is home to bountiful resources and the Government’s development programme should aim to tap all such resources in way that would inject a huge fillip to the national economy.

It should start by looking at the agricultural and fisheries sectors which have a vast potential that can make a significant contribution to the growth in production.

The acid test before the Government would be to convert this victory to a renaissance of the embattled East for the larger well being of the nation.