Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe flatly denied the Army’s involvement in the alleged attack on a political meeting of the Tamil National Alliance in Jaffna.!!!

Sustainable peace, most important - Major Gen. Hathurusinghe


By Shanika SRIYANANDA in Jaffna

Jaffna, despite a few politically motivated incidents, is peaceful. People are busy attending to their day-to-day activities, while Government officials and soldiers are busy rebuilding Jaffna, which was destroyed by the LTTE.

The Army, which knows the value of peace, after fighting for over 30 years with the world’s most ruthless terrorists - the LTTE- has now become the protectors of the Tamils. “The Army is now on a mission to maintain the hard earned peace. The soldiers know the value of peace more than anyone else. What is important in the post-war scenario is sustainable peace”, Security Forces Commander of Jaffna Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe said.

In an interview with the Sunday Observer, he explained the need for a new political leadership within the people of Jaffna and the Army’s efforts to restore normality, helping to rebuild lives and reducing the crime rate.

“The Army is changing its image. Earlier, our image was that of a fighting army, but now we are the protectors”, he said, adding that the most important and biggest challenge for the Army is to change people’s perceptions as the extremist ideology, though the LTTE was defeated, still prevails in Jaffna.

Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe flatly denied the Army’s involvement in the alleged attack on a political meeting of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Jaffna.

Following are the excerpts of the interview:

Q: How do you describe the situation in Jaffna?

A: If I put it into one sentence, I can say Jaffna is as peaceful as Colombo. You can enjoy the same peace, harmony and tranquillity found in the South in the North too. It differs with regard to how people pursue it. That definitely varies because 30 years of war against terrorism have provided us many definitions for peace. In my definition, there are two sides to peace - negative peace and positive peace. Negative peace is when people fight each other and you contain it. There you see a state of ‘no war’. There you have peace, but it is not sustainable and needs to be converted to positive peace. That is what the Government is doing at the moment. Positive peace is achieving total peace where the parties to the conflict and those who suffered due to that conflict enjoy equal levels of peace and harmony, which prevailed 30 years ago.

We are now gradually moving into positive peace, but it is not easy as it has many areas such as political, social, religious and ecological. The military, post-war, has a major contribution to make in achieving positive peace. We play a role in all spheres to normalise the lives of people, their livelihood, education and religious activities. Our responsibility at the moment is to help the Government achieve positive peace, making sure it is sustainable peace. Here the Army’s role is vital as we have the organisational and leadership capabilities, technical know-how and human resources to help the Government achieve sustainable peace, which leads to sustainable development.

Definition of peace
Q: What are the challenges the Army is facing in maintaining sustainable peace?

A: When you talk about the North, it is Jaffna. Of the over one million population in the North, over 617,000 people live in Jaffna. When you talk about its people, Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Amirthalingam, Prabhakaran and many other prominent Tamil personalities lived in the North. We find intellectuals, university students and a high standard of education in Jaffna. Although we have defeated the LTTE, its ideology still remains and the biggest challenge is changing that mindset.

It is a tedious and difficult process. This is where we are now getting into the process of changing people’s perceptions, their approach towards the Government and the Security Forces and how positively these organisations can help change this picture.

The second challenge is their militant attitude. Although we have successfully completed the rehabilitation of ex-LTTE cadre, the militancy remains as some people have not been exposed to rehabilitation. The latter day battles were fought in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu and there was no serious battle after 1995 in Jaffna. The militant mindset has not been fully tackled. I think time is the best healer and the people need to see the change to believe it.

Today, they are aware of what is going on in Jaffna and what the Government is doing to develop Jaffna and uplift the lives of its people by spending massive amounts of money to develop and restore infrastructure, housing, education, health and livelihoods. I want to say that the suffering these people went for over three decades was not due to the fault of any government, but owing to wrong ideology and wrong initiatives.

We have started changing mindsets among the young population - school and university students - through interaction sessions and programs to mix with children and youth in the South and also by bringing children from the South to the North.

We have to address the educated people in Jaffna. These people have seen the conflict and need to build confidence. They need good political leaders to emerge within them. There is a vacuum for young leaders, who are educated and with a new line of thinking. It is time for them to come forward.

The other challenge is to get the support of religious leaders who can influence the people more towards positive peace. In this sphere, Buddhist and Hindu religious dignitaries can play a major role.

Present situation
Q: If you compare the present situation with that of two years ago, to what extent have the mindsets of people changed?

A: Yes, there is a great improvement. I took over as the Security Forces Commander in December 2009 and we launched a program in March 2010 to engage in civil affairs. Since then, we have carried out many welfare activities for the people.

In 2010, we wanted to gauge the pulse of the people and organised an essay competition in two categories - one for university students and the other for schoolchildren. We received over 250 essays and a team of academics evaluated them. We got them translated to understand the message because the theme was ‘In peace and harmony what we could do’. The response was amazing, how the youth came out with their ideas. They had come out with expressions such as we do not want a separate country’, ‘Teach us Sinhala’ and Colombo must learn Tamil’, ‘Live together’, ‘Give us opportunities to rise’ and ‘We don’t want war any more’. These show that there is a need to get to know each other in the South and the North.

Then we started a Sinhala language teaching course with 80 students. There was a great demand to learn Sinhala, but due to constraints we could accommodate only 80. They had realised that a section of the Tamil diaspora had painted a different picture to them, but now they know that this is their country and they should live together in unity. This is the thinking of the average Jaffna person. Any time at night people can go here and there and nothing extraordinary happens here. The peaceful environment in the South now prevails in Jaffna.

Q: Despite all these positive stories, the crime rate in Jaffna was high a few months ago. Why?

A: Yes, most of the crimes were theft-related. Even people in the smallest houses here have two or three gold sovereigns. Here, the thieves mainly rob gold. We have found that some thieves had come to Jaffna from other areas in Wanni.

According to the Police, there were four robberies, two murders, one case of sexual harassment and nine suicides reported from the Jaffna peninsula.

The Government believes that law and order should be maintained here by the police like in any part of the country. We reduced the number of soldiers providing security in Jaffna. We never wanted the Jaffna town to look like a garrison town. The end result was the rising crime rate. Then people started requesting the Army to come back. The Bishop of Jaffna made a personal request to re-deploy the soldiers. He said he had been checked by soldiers more than five times while travelling, but still he was happy as they helped maintain peace in Jaffna without leaving room for any illegal activities.

Open for investors
Q: Jaffna is now open for investments and some members of the Tamil diaspora are keen to invest their money and knowledge in developing the North. Compared to their contribution to the LTTE, how significant is their contribution now to uplift the living standards of their own people?

A:Yes, I think they can do more for their people. The Tamil diaspora members that I met spend money on their families; they do not invest money here for a common goal. As they are not concerned about helping their own people, the Government is helping these people. The Government spent millions to develop Jaffna earlier and is again pumping a massive amount of money to rebuild the peninsula which was destroyed by the LTTE.

The best example is the water tank and hospital in Kilinochchi which were destroyed by the LTTE. The Government had invested in infrastructure facilities in the North twice or thrice during the past two decades. There is a limit to the support the Government can give to the North, but with all these constraints, the Government is pouring in money to look after the Northern people.

Sections of the Tamil diaspora, which sold false stories on genocide and hegemony to get asylum, send money monthly only for their familiy members here in Jaffna. Other than that, there is no major contribution from them to uplift the lives of the people here.

If they get together, they can make more investments for the betterment of the people of Jaffna. Though they now claim to have paid the LTTE as it was complusory, we have information that some volunteered to fund the day-dream of Prabhakaran. There are a few individuals who prepared forged letters for asylum seeking, charging over Rs. 500,000 per letter.

The Army, who fought hard to restore peace, knows the value of peace better than any one. Therefore, each and every soldier wants to maintain and preserve that hard-earned peace.

If the Jaffna Tamil diaspora really wants to support Tamils, they can invest more in sectors such as education, health, housing and livelihoods.

Q: One major complaint is that the Army still holds properties inside the High Security Zone (HSZ). What is the progress of handing over houses in the HSZ to their legitimate owners?

A: Since March, while the HSZ was in existence, we gave the people access to Thelippalai Hospital, temples and schools including leading schools such as Mahajana College and Union College. There was a HSZ in the Jaffna town which has also been dismantled. Over 40 percent of the HSZs have been released to the people. The remaining areas including the Eastern section of the HSZ will be released soon. We want to ensure that all areas are mine-free before releasing them to the people.

Financial assistance
Q: Those who have resettled in the HSZ request the Government to provide them financial assistance. Is there any plan to look into this request?

A: The Army helped people build houses and clear the overgrown vegetation in Wadamarachchi East and Thannikilappu in the HSZ, but due to various constraints the Army can’t play a major role in Thelippalai in helping them other than clearing the earth bunds that we built earlier. Compared to other areas, people here have rich family members abroad so they don’t want us to get involved in these activities. Most of them want to rebuild their old mansions, but it is not possible for the Army to help them financially. However, the Government is giving them the basic infrastructure facilities and basic grants. This area was released to the public recently and there is time for us to get involved to help them.

Resettling IDPs in Jaffna went on successfully. The Army is playing a major role in constructing houses for them, but not by using money from the Army. We collect money from friends and well-wishers in Colombo to build houses in the HSZ. In a nutshell, people want the Army to be with them.

Q: As the Security Forces Commander, you say that people want the Army to be with them, but there are complaints about the high presence of the Army in Jaffna. What do you have to say?

A: Yes, I agree. I myself thought the Army’s presence was heavy and that outsiders would see Jaffna as a garrison city. It was for this reason that we reduced the Army deployment in Jaffna. The outcome was, as I explained earlier, the crime rate going up and the Police being unable to handle them alone. Though some complain about the high presence of the Army, the majority of Jaffna people want the Army around them as they are used to having soldiers for decades. They are aware of what the Army can and cannot do. That is why the Bishop, all Kurukkals and the Vicar General requested the Army to remain in Jaffna and protect the people.

Role of Army
Q: While ordinary people commend the role of the Army, an allegation was made against the Army for attacking a political meeting of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). How do you say that the Army doesn’t have any involvement in this incident?

A: Yes, this needs a good clarification. This is not the first time the TNA had meetings in Jaffna. If the Army wants to attack them, we could have done it before. A committee has been appointed to look into the incident. As soon as this incident was reported, I ordered the General Officer Commanding of Jaffna Maj. Gen. Walgama to look into it. His initial investigation revealed that no politician was attacked and no one was injured. Not a single vehicle was damaged. I reiterate that there is no involvement of the Army in this incident.

Q: The Government is being accused of Sinhala colonisation in Jaffna by resettling Sinhala families. What is the truth?

A: I strongly refute this allegation. When you consider the population in Jaffna, which is over 617,000, there are only 67 Sinhalese families. This accusation too is absolutely baseless. But some Sinhalese sought their ownership saying that they were displaced in 1983 and need their original land. Those who criticise these actions should come and see the reality.

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