Jaffna, the capital of the Northern Province, is once again in the limelight thanks to a slew of Government initiatives to develop the Province whilst addressing the grievances of the Northern Tamil community. Jaffna had undergone many trials and tribulations, having experienced a devastating war that lasted almost 30 years.
There is no doubt that the war scarred the North beyond any tangible measure. Jaffna itself, under Government control since the mid-1990s, remained relatively intact but the agony and trauma of war had still permeated the hearts and minds of its denizens.
At its core, Jaffna thrives on one thing – perseverance. This is how they survived 30 years of war and conflict. They did not abandon agriculture, education or industry even at the height of the war. Although known for its harsh, dry climate and the scarcity of water, farmers in Jaffna have grown many food varieties to a level that is not even seen in the more fertile areas in the country. They also continued the education of children and university students almost uninterrupted despite the conflict and the conscription of children for the LTTE.
Despite the resilience of the people in Jaffna, one major problem hindered their resettlement. Even after the war, Jaffna and the North in general suffered from the adverse effects of Anti-Personnel Mines. These devices, costing as little as US$ 3 each, can lie buried and inert for hundreds of years until someone sets their foot on it. Many deaths and injuries have resulted from landmines in the North. They are notoriously difficult to remove though – it could cost up to US$ 1,000 to remove just one of these.
Fortunately, the Sri Lanka Army and specialist NGOs such as MAG and the Halo Trust, funded by the international community, have removed most of the landmines and cleared thousands of hectares of land for agriculture and resettlement. The North is expected to be completely mine-free by 2028.
The Security Forces took over a large number of civilian properties and lands in the North during the war years. Most of these have now been handed over to the original owners and the NPP Government has expedited the process of completing these handovers.
Moreover, only the most essential Security Forces camps still remain in the North. It is also essential to recruit the Northern youth to the Security Forces and Police, so that they also get a sense of belonging to the motherland from a security and law and order perspective. We cannot forget that apart from the ethnic angle, the lack of opportunities for the Northern youth also contributed to the rise of the LTTE, which exploited such grievances to its advantage.
The war itself is not the only tragedy that has scarred the denizens of Jaffna mentally. The burning of the magnificent Public Library, containing rare Tamil scholarly and literary works not even found in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, by State-sponsored goons in 1981 was an unpardonable crime. The Library was later rebuilt, but lost something of its soul in the conflagration.
The North, at one point, is just 20 Km away from Tamil Nadu(TN) in India. There are linguistic, cultural and people-to-people connections between the two regions. Sri Lanka’s North and India were physically linked via the Adam’s Bridge at one point of time, but now the only way to travel between the two regions is by sea or air.
Indeed, the resumption of the ferry service between KKS and Nagapattinam in TN will be a boon for those wishing to travel between Jaffna and TN at a lesser cost. There is also a daily air connection to Chennai from the Jaffna International Airport, which will soon have IndiGo flights to Bengaluru and Trichy as well. The runway at JAF should be extended to at least 3,000 metres to accommodate bigger planes such as the Airbus A320/321. It should then be possible to have flights to regional destinations such as Singapore, Bangkok, Mumbai, UAE and the Maldives from JAF. In the meantime, the resumption of train services from Colombo to Jaffna on newly repaired rail tracks has enabled travel between the two destinations in around five hours.
We should not lose sight of the elephant in the room vis-à-vis Jaffna and TN – the fisheries issue. Poaching by Indian trawlers in Sri Lanka’s side of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) has threatened the livelihood of Northern fishermen. The Governments of India and Sri Lanka, with the active involvement of fisheries associations on both sides, should tackle this problem with the urgency it deserves since lives are literally on the line.
Even amid these difficulties, there is no doubt that Jaffna is rising. Now is the time for the thousands of Northern citizens who left these shores in the aftermath of Black July to either return or make a bigger contribution to the North from their adopted countries. The Government must also make an honest effort to begin a dialogue with the Tamil Diaspora groups and invite them to invest in the resourcefulness of the Northern masses.
Jaffna and the North have recorded rapid development since the war ended 16 years ago. But physical development alone is not enough. It should be complemented by a comprehensive effort to address the grievances of the Northern community and evolve a solution to the national question. This should essentially lead to a Sri Lankan identity where we call ourselves Sri Lankans instead of clinging on to racial monikers. In evolving a solution to the ethnic impasse, we will essentially have to deal with the dark chapters of the past and the war itself, but we cannot move forward as one people, one nation without confronting them and evolving solutions.
