A decisive phase

THE LIBERATION of the Eastern Province from the LTTE is a watershed event in the recent history of the ethnic conflict. Many think in terms of territory when they refer to the liberation of the East, but the bigger victory is freeing the people suppressed by the LTTE.

Since then, the Government has introduced a development programme for the East aptly titled Neganahira Navodaya (Eastern Resurgence) aimed at eventually bringing the East to the level of some of the more prosperous provinces, if not the Western Province. The beneficiaries of this development drive will naturally be the residents of the Eastern Province.

This is precisely what World Bank Managing Director Graeme Wheeler has advocated for the East. People-centred development, he said, should be the cornerstone of the plans for the province emerging from decades of conflict and neglect.

The East presents a clean slate for development. The development process has to be started almost from scratch. This is a huge challenge but also an opportunity in the sense that plans can be drawn literally from the ground up for orderly development.

The first priority is the resettlement of the displaced. The Government has made vast strides in this regard and a smooth completion of the process is envisaged.

The establishment of a totally civilian administration is also required, but this should not be at the expense of security concerns. In the meantime, Police stations and other Government institutions are moving into the newly cleared areas so that civilians can avail themselves of civilian administrative services.

As the World Bank Managing Director has suggested, the civilians should be closely involved in the development process. After all, they know best when it comes to development needs, which can differ from village to village, town to town.

The ideal platform through which this can be done is the village level Pradeshiya Sabha. It is thus up to the authorities to create an environment conducive to the holding of Local Government Elections in the East, which will enable the residents to elect their own representatives.

Finally it comes down to devolution at grassroots level which will have to be addressed in the future.

With the East firmly under the State, attention has been drawn to the North, some parts of which are dominated by the LTTE. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has spoken of the need to liberate the people of the North in the same manner.

Northerners living in uncleared areas in the North have to undergo untold hardships as a result of LTTE activities, including extortion and conscription of youngsters. Our Defence Column yesterday revealed that many teenagers and youth were fleeing uncleared areas to avoid LTTE conscription teams.

The LTTE is also likely to use civilians as a human shield during any Northern military offensive. The loss of arms ships has weakened the arms supply and the shortage of trained cadres has posed another problem.

It is in this context that we see yesterday’s air strike which killed Tiger Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan as another major blow for the LTTE. The ‘public face’ of the LTTE was killed in an air strike while attending a discussion among top LTTE figures.

The international community saw in Thamilselvan a seemingly moderate person who played a prominent role for the LTTE during several rounds of peace talks. But as a close confidante of Prabhakaran, there was no possibility of Thamilselvan straying from the anti-peace strategy of his leader.

Having started life as a militant, he ended his life as one even though he donned a civilian hat for quite some time.

Thamilselvan’s death is the latest in a series of events that has rocked the LTTE. Anton Balasingham’s death, the Karuna split, the loss of the East and areas such as Silavathura, the destruction of nearly 10 arms vessels by the Navy, the arrest of several high-profile LTTE operatives in foreign countries, the proscription of the group by EU and a number of countries and the military battles in the North have all taken their toll.

It would however be prudent to continue vigilance. Terrorists need to be lucky only once, as the Anuradhapura airbase attack proved. With several factors working against them, the Tigers may try their hand at causing death and destruction in Colombo and elsewhere.

Both the Security Forces and the public must remain extremely vigilant and intelligence divisions of the State must intensify their efforts to keep track of the sinister moves of the LTTE and prevent any incidents.