Vakarai rising to new heights

Rasika Somarathna in Vakarai

The once battle scarred Vakarai, a coastal fishing village nestling among a beautiful lagoon, isolated rock formations and sandy beaches, on the A 15 route (Trincomalee-Batticaloa) is on the fast track to development.

Vakarai which was also battered by the 2004 tsunami is rising again with new roads, bridges, schools, boutiques, Government offices, hospitals, houses coming up in all corners.

More importantly the smiles are back on the faces of the people in Vakarai who had to overcome many challenges and hardships due to terrorism.

Vakarai became a focal point in the early phase of the recently concluded humanitarian operation.

The human catastrophe created by the LTTE by the end of October 2006, obligated the country to take stern action against terrorism.

In June 2006, the LTTE closed down Mavil-Aru sluice gates denying water supply to 15,000 civilians and disrupted their livelihood by destroying over 30,000 acres of agricultural land.

Later in July 2006 LTTE made a desperate attempt to capture South of Trincomalee by attacking Muttur, Mahindapura and Thoppur areas. Hundreds of civilians died and over 20,000 were displaced.

From August to September in the same year the LTTE launched a major military offensive to capture the Jaffna peninsula inflicting further misery on the civilians.

Even though they failed in their attempt; the LTTE managed to close down the A-9 road by making it unsafe and creating a serious humanitarian crisis in the peninsula.

During all these atrocities the Government only responded with limited defensive operations and continued to stay committed to the CFA.

In this backdrop, the Government had no option but to engage in an offensive to liberate a section of its citizens who were being kept as hostages by a terrorist outfit. The battle of Vakarai was set about as a result.

The military operation in Vakarai was conducted in two main phases, within a time span of barely three months.

The main objective of phase 1 was to facilitate safe evacuation of the civilians.

By the end of Phase I the Army cleared off 8-10 km into the Trikonamadu jungle encompassing the Kaddamuravikulam, Karuvappanchenai, and Madurankerni Kulam areas.

Following the completion of the Stage I, the infantry troops in small groups made inroads into the newly captured territories and built fortifications.

During Phase I a total number of 7709 civilians including 2271 children had arrived at the government controlled areas.

As the phase I of the operation was completed, a total number of 21504 civilians including 9838 children had sought refuge with security forces.

On September 19th the advancing troops captured the Vakarai town.

Fighting against severe odds the Forces liberated over 40,000 civilians who lived under LTTE tyranny for over 10 years.