The link between South and North

There is a question that many ask today. It is how the North can be protected after it is liberated.

It is easy to answer this in words and satisfy a minority in Colombo that is always pleased with questions and answers. Yet, I believe that what is greater is to implement a program, rather than answering questions and doing nothing.

Therefore this is how we defend the North that we have liberated. By reconstructing the Yal Devi Railway Line we are defending the North. Many years ago all of us travelled together in the Yal Devi. The unfortunate events of the recent past brought this to an end. We participate today in the new launch of Travel in Freedom in the Yal Devi. It is the undeniable reality that in the past the sound of the Yal Devi was akin to the heartbeat of the nation.

Three years ago we not only explained how we would liberate the North and East but also how we would defend the liberated areas. We stated in the Mahinda Chinthana our intention to reconstruct the Northern Railway Line to the Jaffna peninsula and Mannar Line. Within three years we are ready to carry out this pledge in a memorable and honourable way.

I would say again that the rhythm we heard from the Yal Devi was not the sound of a train but the pulse of the nation. Then the Yal Devi train had 11 compartments. Public servants from Jaffna who worked in Colombo all left for home every weekend by the Yal Devi.

Every Sunday night they would return also by the Yal Devi, to carry on the work in government offices. The SLFP was then very strong in Jaffna. As the party’s youngest MP I went to Jaffna by Yal Devi to meet our party leaders there. Yal Devi was a symbol of a single and undivided country.

Like the emblem of State, the Yal Devi was also a resource which contributed to the effective functioning of the public service throughout the country. It symbolized public administration spread far and wide.

Terrorist revenge

That is why the LTTE terrorists took revenge from the Sri Lankan nation by attacking the Yal Devi. An attack on a train such as the Yal Devi contributes much more to the breakup of friendship between two communities than an attack on an Army Camp or a Police Station. On January 1, 1985, the LTTE terrorists by attacking the Yal Devi for the first time, at a place between Mankulam and Murukkandi, began damaging the friendly relations between our communities.

Paranthan attack

The attack destroyed all 11 compartments of the train. The terrorists again attacked the Yal Devi at Paranthan in March, 1986. The same month they set fire to the Yal Devi at Omanthai. Again, in the same month, they laid a land-mine targeting the Yal Devi between Puliyankulam and Vavuniya. Yet, the friendship train between the nation’s communities did not stop running.

It continued to run for the people of Jaffna, braving bomb attacks and arson. Again in 1987 the terrorists destroyed the rail rack between Vavuniya and Kilinochchi. We repaired the track and replaced the compartments and the Yal Devi continued to run.

The terrorists would have then realized that they would not be able to divide the country as long as the Yal Devi ran. The Railway Department incurred an annual loss of Rs. 600 million due to repeated terrorist attacks on this particular train that symbolized unity. In June 1990 Yal Devi stopped running.

It was the intention of the terrorists to break up the friendly relations among our communities by attacking the Yal Devi. They knew that our friendship would remain strong as long as the Yal Devi ran. During this time there was good friendship among our people in the northern and southern ends of the country.

The people of both the North and the South eagerly wait to see the Yal Devi get on track again. The new sound of the Yal Devi will augur the arrival of the Northern Spring to the people of Jaffna.

Nation’s pulse

the Yal Devi resonated with the pulse of the Sri Lankan nation. In a sense, Yal Devi is a cultural messenger.

How many songs and poems were composed about the Yal Devi since the termination of its run? Why could not our artistes fail to avoid Yal Devi when composing poems and songs on Sinhala - Tamil friendship? I remember our Governor of the North Central Province also lamenting about the Yal Devi in one of his popular songs.

Ethnic friendship

In some regions the friendship between some countries ends with the termination of a railway line between them. One ethnic group kills members of another group and sends the bodies by train to the other country, which ends the train services.

That is the story of the ‘Last Train’. However, the Yal Devi had no such communal catastrophe linked to it. Therefore, the people of Jaffna still love the Yal Devi. The people of both the North and the South are eagerly awaiting the resumption of the Yal Devi run. The Jaffna people should consider the sound of the Yal Devi as the sound of the Cuckoo bird that precedes the arrival of the Northern Spring. It was on April 23, 1956 that the Yal Devi was introduced on the Northern Railway Line.

Today, I request the Transport Minister to run the Yal Devi train at least five more kilometers beyond Vavuniya by the coming April 23, and consolidate the nation’s resolve that our war heroes have done. It would show our resolve for co-existence. What we are attempting now is to breathe new life into the heart of the nation; to start the journey that would unite the entire nation after 19 years.

The entire nation should unite for this journey. I asked the Transport Minister who is keen to revive this line, how many railway stations will have to be rebuilt from Vavuniya to Kankesanturai. There are 11 major stations and 13 sub-stations to be developed from Vavuniya to Jaffna alone, and a total of 28 stations.

These 28 railway stations are not a burden to the growing friendship between our communities. I decided to rebuild the Jaffna station employing the people of my own village, Hambantota. Engineers, masons, carpenters etc. from Hambantota would go and rebuild the Jaffna station. Likewise people from other districts should contribute and participate to build the other stations.

When we do so, the Tamil people would realize that the terrorists are there to destroy them, while we are there to assist in building up their lives. On this occasion I call upon India, China.

Pakistan, Japan and other countries that helped us in our struggle against terrorism to come forward and assist us in this reconstruction, so that terrorism would not be able to raise its head again. In the struggle against terrorism we realized that you are our genuine friends.

New links

Yal Devi was the pulse of the nation

Today we see a new link that joins the Palmyrah tree of the north with the Coconut tree of the south.

Let us all be united in building this friendship.

Let us all go forward to achieve this unity, as the children of one mother.

We can rise strong when we are united.

This is the moment when we are trying to unite. This is the moment in which the Sri Lankan territory forcibly divided by the terrorists, is being brought together. This is the moment when territories won by the heroic troops are being merged. Your support at this moment will be a tower of strength to us. Uthuru - Mithuru - Northern Friendship - is the joyous ring of unity. Therefore, I have decided to donate my April salary to this noble mission.

The Secretary to the President has informed me that the entire staff of the President’s Office is also donating their April salaries for this great cause. I believe all citizens of the world who love peace and co-existence, and oppose terrorism, would contribute to this mission.

Every single sleeper on this rail track should show the love for a united country. All those who love the country should join to build this track. I wish that the Yal Devi rail track that would be constructed would show to the entire world the desire of our people to live in one country.

That is the great commitment we could make to see that there would not be a last train journey in our country any more.

I take this opportunity to express the gratitude of the Government to the Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, the Transport Ministry, and to the Railway Department for coming forward to accomplish this mission.