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Developing the North

The appointment of a Task Force Committee to oversee the development of the North hot on the heels of the Eastern Reawaking programme is a commendable move and is a clear indication that the Government is bent on continuing with the emancipation of population that had undergone huge privations and misery during the long drawn out conflict.

It also means that the Government means business and is also going all out to militarily defeat the LTTE whilst devolving power through the political mechanism worked out through the APRC process.

The move also opens a new chapter in the lives of the people of the North who had borne the brunt of the three decades long war and a clear indication that the Government will reassert its writ in that part of the country which had been cut off from the national mainstream due to the conflict.

Cabinet approval had been received for setting up this Task Force headed by Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda and is a prelude to the establishment of the Northern Provincial Council.

According to our weekend paper the Sunday Observer the Committee had lost no time in formulating a work programme to be implemented in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

It is hoped that the Northern development programme would be undertaken with the same vigour with which the East is currently being developed following the eviction of the LTTE from the province. What has to be borne in mind is that the dynamics of the North are different to the East with different demands and aspirations of the people for their social and economic development.

One cannot get away from the inference that the Government had set its sights on developing the North on the premise that the LTTE will be completely vanquished in the near future and the people liberated as in the East.

Also unlike in the East the Government may have to start from scratch in the North which has been reduced to a virtual wasteland with the ravages of war taking a heavy toll. Recreating the infrastructure would present a monumental challenge and the Task force should also set its sights on building up the broken livelihoods of the people who had been cast off their moorings by a brutal war inflicted on them by the LTTE.

Attention would have to be paid on how to get economic activity in this once thriving landscape started and priorities identified that would bring immediate relief to the people. There is no doubt the devastation is vast in the North compared to the East and the rebuilding process would present a gigantic challenge.

Focus should be drawn towards the reconstruction of homes, schools and places of religious worship damaged during the long years of the conflict which would no doubt be a monumental undertaking. Attention should also be paid towards protecting the sensitivities of the people of the North who are by nature tradition bound in all undertakings.

There is a lot of thinking to do before a final blueprint is drawn up. Factored into the envisaged programmes should be the industry drive and enterprises associated with the people of the North so that optimum results could be attained.

Above all, while resurrecting a once thriving economy connecting it with the mainstream of national development, measures should also be taken to erase the scars of war from the minds of these people.

The rebuilding process should also take into account the vast damage inflicted on the education sector in the North particularly in the context of forcible recruitment of youth by the LTTE.

More than anything what is of paramount importance is cleansing the Jaffna population of the hatred and animosity and suspicion with which they had been looking at the their brethren in the South over long decades so that they would be integrated with the rest of their countrymen in amity and brotherhood shedding aside the cloak of enmity that had clung onto them all these years.

The process no doubt would be gargantuan one and it would mind boggling even to contemplate the cost of this exercise. No doubt international donors will come to our assistance to help the Government accomplish this colossal task.

Now that a political process had been activated through the APRC it is hoped that the international community would favourably view this programme launched by the Government to develop the North to bring these people on par with the rest of country offering them equal treatment and justice.

A true resurgence in the East

The Eastern Province which was neglected for decades due to terrorism will achieve the peak of the development once the newly launched projects under Neganahira Navodaya are completed. There is no doubt that the East will emerge as one of the most developed provinces once these projects are completed. This will be the biggest development revolution in Sri Lanka.

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Eastern Polls: Empowering people for Nation Building

After 20 years Provincial Council elections are to be held in the Eastern Province. Consequent to the Supreme Court ruling demerging the "temporarily" merged North East and the Government's decision to implement the 13th amendment as a first step to resolve the national question, elections have now been fixed for May 10.

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English as a Life Skill - an opportunity

The recently launched Presidential initiative termed "English as a Life Skill" brings in to focus the eminence this international language has gained in the modern world. Global economic realities are such that all our fervent efforts to forge a prosperous future may flounder if we are unable to connect with other nations meaningfully.

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