WHAT THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTH WANT IS REAL “SPRING” AND NOT AN AGENCY RULE - TULF

21.06.2009
His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa,
President of Sri Lanka,
Temple Trees,
Colombo-03

Your Excellency,

WHAT THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTH WANT IS REAL “SPRING”
AND NOT AN AGENCY RULE.

I take the liberty to write to you what I feel and hear from the people of Jaffna about the situation prevailing here. Contrary to your expectations that “SPRING” will set in Jaffna, what the people here are experiencing is a silent cyclone, that stared at the time Jaffna was liberated 12 years back, gradually gained momentum and has now reached its climax with the abundance of facilities, made available to certain individuals, that are misused at random. The defeat of terrorism did not benefit Jaffna in any way.

You are not unaware of the alliance the TULF, PLOTE and EPRLF(Pathmanabha) have formed under the name Democratic Tamil National Alliance(DTNA). We strongly condemn violence and assure you and through you, to the country as a whole, that the alliance parties jointly and severally spurn violence. We being fully committed to non-violence, will endeavour to promote good-will among all sections of the people. We assure you that all our activities will, in all respects, benefit the ailing nation and in no way cause any damage in any form, either to its growth as a strong nation or for it to become a United Nation within which all will live happily, as equals with no feeling of superiority or inferiority complex.

I will be failing in my duty if I do not at this juncture bring to your notice, your Excellency, the constrains we have in restoring democracy back to its past glory in the North. The people who were undergoing untold hardships under the LTTE’s subjugation had been yeaning for well over quarter of a century to breath freely talk and act freely. I am perhaps the only one Tamil who had been agitating for the liberation of the people of Vanni and openly challenged the claim of the LTTE that they are the sole-representatives of the Tamil people. I made an appeal to the Secretary General of the United Nations to have the people of Vanni liberated. All the embarrassments and humiliations I suffered for taking this stand is not unknown to you.

Unfortunately the gun culture that got deeply rooted in our soil, more particularly is both the North and the East remains so, inspite of the several sacrifices the forces and the people of this country made during this period, to gain our lost freedom. I do not want to write a lengthy letter at this juncture. There are certain things that the country expects you to do. First and foremost please call for the surrender of weapons by all those who are not authorized to posses them. The Government’s security could be provided for those who need security. The recent brutal killings of innocent school girl for money, the repeated attacks on the press and many more such incidents justify your taking drastic steps to put a stop to this terror. Secondly please give publicity with photographs of those who are arrested and detained in connection with any such offence, so that people will know the links, such suspects have with others. This will help to round-up the entire gang and the people will also be greatly relived. The culprits should be brought to book, however high they may be and whatever connections they may have. People want to know what happened to the case in which the dead body of an individual was found buried behind the office of a political parties which was an armed group earlier, in the East What the country expects from you is to create a free and fearless society for which our 100% co-operation will be available.

The people are upset over the nomination of a gentleman whose track record is very bad, as the President of the Jaffna MPCS. On whose recommendation he was nominated I do not know but what I write about him are true. I hope you will recollect what RRAN was. Between 1998 and 2002 there was on Agency named “Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority for the North”. There was a Gentleman who chaired this authority. A close relative of his was appointed to work as an Engineer of the Authority in Jaffna, although he was not a qualified Engineer. He was only an Automobile Technician and was working very closely with the top officer in charge of Administration in Jaffna. These three jointly prepared the plans and estimates for various projects and got money from the RRAN amounting to about 120 million rupees and could not account for the amounts received. It is alleged that over 50 million had been swindled by the two of them excluding the chairmen, in respect of the following works.

1. Chavakachcheri Market
2. Kokuvil Market
3. Ice factory and cold-room for the Jaffna fisheries co-op
4. Kokuvil Manchathadi Temple
5. Naguleswaram Temple of Keerimalai
6. Mortuary for Jaffna

These are just a few among many others. In 2003 the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugee complained to the CID, which did the investigation and collected very valuable evidence. As a result the contract of the top officer was terminated. Due to some pressure the investigation too came to an abrupt end. The most strangest thing is that the LTTE opened their political office in the house belonging to this “Engineer” at Wyman Road, Jaffna free of charge. Shockingly this gentleman has now been appointed as the adviser to the Jaffna Municipal Council. The Jaffna Municipal Council never had such advisers and there is no provision for such appointments. How he got in to it is a real mystery. This gentleman is the President of the Jaffna MPCS which I hear, has no board. He is all in one. You are aware that all the MPCSs in Jaffna are running at a loss. He had donated one million repuees for a Minister’s fund and had been instrumental for 26 other co-operatives also to donate similar amounts.

Everyone knows the efforts I took during the past six years to eradicate terrorism and to liberate them from the LTTE’s subjugation. In the process the humiliations and embarrassments I suffered are beyond one’s tolerance and imaginations because some of the words and phrases used were unprintable. You will agree with me that among the Tamils I was fighting the LTTE almost all alone.

You have a duty to give a more democratic look for the North and the East. All political parties should be given a fair opportunity to function freely and fearlessly. The people know how to judge your performance during the period you serve as the President of the country.

We will not be confronting the Government. All what we want is a Tamil leadership genuinely elected by the people to seek a once and for all settlement for the ethnic problem.

Thanking you,

Yours Sincerely,

V. Anandasangaree,
President – TULF.