Negenahira Udanaya or the Reawakening of the East

S B Karalliyadda

To recollect briefly the past history of this island nation going back to thousands of years it is recorded history that the inhabitants were of four tribes. The Nagas, Yakkas, Devas and Rakshas living and dominating in their areas of domicile.

These four tribes known as ‘Siv Helaya’ lived in this island then called Heladiva known as Sinhale or the land of the Sinhalese. It is this Sinhale Rata that the Kandyans handed over to the British under the Convention of March 2, 1815. What we got back from the British was a Ceylon under the Ceylon Order in Council 1947. No leader could ratify this erroneous conferment of independence as Ceylon.

Today we live in a Sri Lanka Democratic Socialist Republic under two main constitutions passed after independence. When Governor Wilmot Horton by declaration dated October 11, 1833, fifteen years after the convention created the first five provinces for Colonial administration, in the Eastern Province were included the Districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee. Pulingudiva the present Batticoloa was in the ancient Ruhunarata, Gokanna or Gokannapura the present Trinco was in Pihitirata. Digamadulla the present Ampara belonged to the Ruhunurata in the ancient Tri Sinhale.

Trincomalee and Batticoloa were our main sea ports. Hemamala and Danta brought the sacred tooth relic through the Lankapatuna port which is about nine kilometers from Seruwila. The sea ports through which our external and internal trade activities as well as foreign visits and arrivals were facilitated were located in these districts.

Trincomalee was a trade centre and historical evidence is available to prove this fact having recovered ancient Roman coins and other artefacts from Kattakulampattu in this area. The historic Gokanna Viharaya was in Fort Frederic. King Mahasen (BC 301-247) freed Fort Frederic then inhabited by Jains. The present Koneswaram Hindu Kovil worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists is situated in this Fort. It was full of pilgrims at the time of our visit. When Wickramabahu II(1111-1132) and his son Gajabahu II (1132-1133) died they were cremated in Kottiyar Pattu in Mavil-oya, the present Mavil-aru from where the last humanitarian operation by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces were launched.

Apart from the indigenous population there had been a migrant population in these areas who took the advantage of the freedom to travel within the British empire to seek better opportunities in the Island. According to ‘Sri Lanka - a Hand Book of Historical Statistics’ by Patrick Feable (G H Hall and Col) publication, the Eastern Province had a large amount of migrated Indian population when the Sinhalese moved to the South in Cholera and Malaria epidemics. The last census taken in 1981 give the population figures.

In a census taken in 1833 Batticaloa district had a total population of 270,491 and Trincomalee District 83,917.

See table 1

Tamil population is inclusive of Indian Tamils. There is a total of 10,857 Indian population in the Eastern Province (source: Dept. of Census and Statistics). A brief description of the population in the East as per special enumeration conducted in 2007 is below.

See table 2

The Ampara district was created in 1963. It is worth looking at the ground situation of these three districts where the Neganahira Udanaya was launched to understand the herculean task now in progress.

See table 3

Neganahira Udanaya

This programme covers the Districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee amply noted by the Mahinda Chintanaya to rejuvenate reconstruction, rehabilitation and re-settle those affected in the separatist Tiger guerrilla war. I was fortunate to witness these development activities in a recent visit to the area with members of my family and thought it appropriate to focus the attention on these development activities for the benefit of readers, funding agencies and the LTTE Diaspora who lobby for a separate Eelam living in Western countries and other political hierarchy who help the separatist elements.

These development activities are hitherto unknown or unseen to our masses. For example the new drinking water supply schemes cover a total area of 9996.0 km2 and an estimated mid year population of 15,390,000 as at 2009.

This writer was an official who worked in this area in 1988 with the European Commission funding the resettlement of displaced families affected by the ethnic cleansing of the area by the LTTE. Late General Denzil Kobbekaduwa was the Military Coordinator and late Ariyaratne was the Govt. Agent Trincomalee District. In this programme our area of focus was Muttur, Kantale and Seruwila AGA divisions which were worst affected by LTTE terror. These areas had a population of 57.5 percent Sinhalese, 22.6 percent Tamils and 19.7 percent Muslims.

Muttur, Werugal and Echalampattu were inaccessible due to the ground situation that prevailed as a result of intermittent LTTE separatist attacks.

The A G A Seruwila Mr Warnasuriya, the bulldozer driver Jayasinghe, the Technical Officers K M M D Karunaratne and R K U Ranatunga and the then Director of Irrigation with his whole family were killed by LTTE and one of our voluntary leaders Chitravelu of Meenkamam too was killed on 12.10.1988 for assisting us in the rehabilitation activities. Such was the situation then.

But today the situation has changed. A total of 60,000 households have been provided with drinking water. The people I met and had a chat about the present situation in one voice expressed the view that they are free today to move about in the area without any fear of landmines or covert LTTE attacks.

This they said was the greatest achievement that they saw after three decades of shell attacks. Today they enjoy in the open breathing fresh air.

Infrastructure development

In Ampara district 322 km, Batticaloa 247km and Trincomalee 118km of new roads have been constructed. Somawathie-Seruwila highway has been modernized. On the Poson Poya day the sacred areas of Somawathiya and Seruwila were full of pilgrims from all over the island travelling day and night.

The Muttur Police then occupied by the IPKF when we launched a re-construction and resettlement programme in 1988 is presently the Sri Lanka Police station.

Three new iron bridges are built connecting the lagoons so that the pilgrims to Seruwila can go overland in their vehicles upto the Chetiya. Now 33,000 volt power lines were seen all over the area. The Girihaduseya was given electricity connection when we witnessed the ceremony to celebrate this new service.

The hot water wells in Kinniya were full of tourists. The Trincomalee town, its natural harbour as well as China Fort are busy thriving trade centres.

I was told that all heavy machinery and equipment for the coal powered electricity generation project to be built by India in Sampur are shipped through the Trincomalee harbour. In fact we saw cargo ships entering the harbour while two other ships were anchored. People in the area enjoy their freedom and liberty. Nilaweli in which we built fifty houses for displaced fisherman in the ethnic violence in the nineteen eighties, now has thousands of houses built under Indian aid all over the district.

The beach resorts from Nilaweli upto Pulmudai was full of tourists enjoying the splendour of tranquility in the sea. The Navy provides boat rides and their Welfare Society caters to tourists with refreshments. When the Eelam was declared for the second time by Vardaraja Perumal the writer was in the 'Eelam' with some of the leading Cabinet Ministers today, who were then Opposition Members of Parliament on a visit to the Mahaweli Zone B. On that day we visited some of the LTTE training camps in the Batticaloa District.

How far we have come today and what we have been able to achieve from a de facto LTTE regime to the present free and unitary state should be appreciated by all the right thinking masses who stand for a unitary country. It is all due to the unambiguous stand taken by the President and the devotion and dedication of our Armed Forces that totally annihilated the LTTE scourge from this land about three years ago.

The grateful Sri Lankans should reciprocate in a fitting manner this unique achievement in our modern history. Though the battle is won in the land we still have to win the battle of attitudes and opinion in the Eelam lobby created by the separatist elements and the Western Eelam sympathizers. The hour is now ripe for all to join together to defeat these opinion markers.

The writer was a Public Servant and is an Ex Member of Parliament