New Year 'gift' for Kilinochchi
Pramod DE SILVA
It will not be wrong to say that Kilinochchi has received two New
Year gifts in just four months. On January 2, 2009, Security Forces
regained Kilinochchi, heralding a new era for this major Northern city
that was dominated by the LTTE for around two decades.
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Relishing the camaraderie with the A-team |
Kilinochchi was their administrative hub after the fall of Jaffna.
It is where they had the so-called LTTE Peace Secretariat, the Voice
of Tigers Radio and several other military and administrative buildings.
It is where the Tiger leaders met visiting foreign dignitaries during
the flawed ceasefire period. Yet, this was a facade.
The people of Kilinochchi suffered under the tyranny of the LTTE,
which ironically claimed to 'liberate' all Tamils.
Now, Kilinochchi is free. The Tigers are no more in Kilinochchi or
for that matter, in the entire North except for a diminishing and very
small land area.
Normality is slowly but steadily returning to this war-ravaged city.
Kilinochchi's New Year gift was a surprise visit to the city by
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the architect of the campaign to restore
unity to the Motherland.
In fact, this was the first visit ever to Kilinochchi by a Head of
State in 60 years. |
