Dr.P.A.Samaraweera, Australia

JehanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Perera (JP) in his article titled, ‘Keeping hope ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ democratic responsiveness alive’ in The Island of 11th August says, ‘The Jaffna Civil Society members with whom I discussed these matters were not impressed by what I had witnessed… Eg., checking of vehicles along A9 road, large military presence, lack of normalcy, people living in temporary shacks, households inhabited by women …’ and so on. However,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ issues like these are not uncommon where there was war andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ there is gradualƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ rebuilding of the North and the East that isƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ taking place in the aftermath of the ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ war. In countries like Afghanistan and Iraq things would be no better.
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He also wishes , thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ NGO’s willƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ have more access for economic and humanitarian resources. JP may be aware that NGO’s played a dual role during the LTTE regime. All funds, resources, raw materials etc., they received went directly toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ LTTE hands and not to the people. So NGO’s at the time were a life-line for the terrorists to build up their terror activities.
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HeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ refers to ‘normal business of ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ civilians’, personal rights and human rights of the people. None of these were safeguarded by the LTTE and during their regime the people were herded like sheep and forced from pillor to post to be used as a human shieldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ .ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ And then did’nt the LTTE force them to live in temporary shacks? Since the end of the war, over 280,000 had been returned to their homes and this is within a short span of 12ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ months compared to displacement of civilians in other parts of the world.
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With regard to the welfare of children, for the LTTE, they were mereƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ recruits as combatants without any future. They never built a single school or encouraged them to go to school by supplying amenities like books or stationery. On the contrary, they indulged in forced recruitmentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  of childrenƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ as fightersƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ with a cyanide capsule on their neck, while sending the children of the LTTE leadership to prestigious universities overseas.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
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Most of the LTTE combatants who surrenderedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ had been returned to their homes. A number of ex-combatants sat for the recent ‘A’ level and ‘O’level exams. A couple of months ago there was a mass wedding ceremony for LTTE cadres. A large number of cadres who had been rehabilitated had taken up employment. The government had not not treated them as ‘criminals’ but as victims of LTTEƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ terrorists.
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The government has made vigorous attempts to rebuild the nation and demonstrated efforts to move forward against alleged war crimes and sullen efforts to destabilise by some hegemonies who bully smaller regimes. The government has also repealed some of the emergencyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ regulations enforced during the war.

Often we see in the papersƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ that on information given by LTTE cadres who are rehabilitated, arms and armaments areƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ unearthed frequently in the North which hadƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  been fortifiedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  by the terrorists for 3 decades. So does JP expect the armed forces to walk away handing over the North to the NGO’s?

For JPƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ does ‘lack of normalcy’ means that in the North there are no more ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ walking around with gunsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ but studentsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ attending schools and parents have noƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ more fear of their children being recruited as combatants? Also no more abductions of adults to fill in their cadres.
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JP who represents a NGO, aligned with some super powers and campaigned vehemently for pause in the war against the terrorists and he was for LTTE ruling the roost. Having failed to stop Sri Lanka in its march in 2009,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ he now appears as saviour of the Tamil community !
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JP claims that the Jaffna Civil Society members confirmed him with their problems. Why should they approachƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ him from Colombo,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ with their grievances,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  when they have their own MP’s, government officers and a civil administrationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  permanently established in the North to look after the welfare of the people?
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P.A.Samaraweera,
Australia.