See Lanka

One year after the end of the civil war, the island nation manifests a born-again feeling

by Kavitha Muralidharan

(June 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The change is distinctly perceptible. From the swelling crowds in front of the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai, hoping after years to go back to the comfort of their homes, to the roads in Colombo that are far less intimidating than in 2008, everything points to the tremendous transformation that the island country has undergone.

“I cannot wait to go back to my village in Trincomalee. There can never be a more opportune moment,” gushes Vijayanathan, 30, waiting in a long queue in Chennai for his temporary passport. “It has been a decade since I left Trincomalee. Though there were no problems in the east, I decided to wait for the war to get completely over. My friends say it is now safe to come back. I am a fisherman and I hope to resume fishing in the sea,” he says.

Says Parameshwari, 42, a grocery shop owner in Colombo: “Weeks after the war, we were still unsure about travelling to the north. But now we know the change is for real. We can move around freely.” The fact that four million people have travelled from the south of Sri Lanka to Jaffna in the last couple of months, speaks volume about the ‘new freedom experienced by the people’. “It is like visiting a new country that never existed for us,” says A. Pereira, a Colombo-based auto driver who recently visited Jaffna.

For many citizens, this is Sri Lanka reborn. “Earlier, couples would travel separately or alone so that one of them would be left to take care of the family if the other was killed in an LTTE attack. All that has changed now,” says Lakshman Hullugalle, director-general of the Media Centre for National Security. “The country has lived in three decades of terror. Any loud noise would send them into coils of fear about their lives. Terror was part of our lives. Such was the situation.”

According to Hullugalle, though the country became free in 1948, the real freedom could be experienced only in 2009. “For many, it was a surprise that they could walk around freely, without major security checks.”

The Rajapaksa government has declared May 18 as Victory Day and would commemorate it every year with celebrations. “This is not the victory of any one particular section. The victory is for all Sri Lankans cutting across the lines of caste, creed and race. This is the victory against terrorism. We feel our newly-discovered freedom ought to be celebrated,” says Hullugalle.

The change is showing up in other spheres, too. Ever since the end of the war, tourism in Sri Lanka has started looking up. “There has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of tourists since last year. The best we have had was in 2004 when about five lakh tourists visited the country. We had a peace accord in place then. Now after the war, in the first quarter of this year, we have a tourist inflow of about two lakh. Our target for the year is six lakh, but we are sure we will exceed our target,” says Madhubani Perera, director, marketing, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. She points out that the opportunity to host the International Indian Film Academy awards proves that the country is now terror-free. “We have declared 2011 as Visit Sri Lanka Year and we are very positive about the response.”

Having crushed the LTTE, Mahinda Rajapaksa won the presidential election in January with a record 57 per cent margin, defeating former army commander General Sarath Fonseka. Rajapaksa’s United People’s Freedom Alliance scored a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections in April. It won 144 out of 225 seats, an increase of 39 seats from the 2004 elections.

In a bid to retain the trust of the people, Rajapaksa has appointed a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission to analyse the events that happened between February 2002 and May 2009. The commission will recommend measures to avert recurrence of the tragic events.

“I am of the opinion that an opportune moment has arrived to reflect on the conflict phase and the sufferings the country has gone through as a whole and having regard to the common aspirations of all we have collectively resolved that our people are assured an era of peace, harmony and prosperity,” Rajapaksa mentioned in the warrant issued by him on the appointment of the commission.

But problems are far from over for the president and his team. Tamil leaders accuse him of not spelling out a proper political solution to the Tamil problem. “The government seems to have no plan for a political solution. The Tamils in the refugee camps and outside are still living in bad conditions. The government should do something to help them lead a dignified life in Sri Lanka,” says Selvam Adaikalanathan, Tamil National Alliance MP and leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation.

He says the Tamils are not allowed to mourn the deaths of their friends and relatives in the war. “The government is keen on the victory celebrations, but while doing so, they are preventing the Tamils from even mourning the deaths of their loved ones. They have told many Tamils that they should postpone the mourning ceremony till the victory celebrations are over. That is ridiculous,” he says.

Fonseka, who was elected MP, attends parliament sessions from prison. He was arrested in February, soon after he lost the presidential elections, on charges of ‘fraudulent activities and other military offences’. Differences between Fonseka and Rajapaksa had erupted over who should claim credit for the final victory in the civil war.

Fonseka was appointed as the chief of the defence staff soon after the war, but the general saw it as an attempt to sideline him. He quit the post and contested the presidential poll against Rajapaksa as the opposition candidate. Critics say his arrest was sheer political vendetta. “My husband has been arrested on false charges and I am sure someday truth will triumph. He has not given up his political ambitions. After clearing the charges against him, he will become politically active again and work to save this country,” says Anoma Fonseka, his wife. But government sources say Fonseka could soon be charged with sedition and that he had plotted to assassinate Rajapaksa and his family soon after the elections.

The government is on its toes to prevent regrouping of the Tamil Tigers. “We know we have still not defeated the ideology of terrorism. But right now, there is no such possibility of any regrouping. Terrorism has lost the support of the people. There might be an international network which wants to keep terrorist activities alive for its own benefits. We are on our toes. We would not let this hard-earned freedom to be frittered away,” says Hullugalle. The challenge would perhaps be in making the freedom equal for all.

Geared for growth

As the regional director (sales) of a group that has survived the 30-year-old civil war in Sri Lanka, Amal Goonetilleke has seen it all. “The Taj Group was here even before 30 years and we are perhaps the only group to stay in Sri Lanka. We are committed to the country,” she says.

The commitment and the perseverance seem to be paying off now. “Tourists have started coming in and we have registered a steady 20 per cent increase in all the three properties in Sri Lanka.” The Taj Group has plans to expand now that the war is over and Sri Lanka is being promoted as a major tourist destination. But Amal says the priority now is to refurbish the existing properties. “We need to satisfy our customers when they start coming in. So refurbishment is our priority.”

Amal, who is also the vice-president of Sri Lankan Hotels’ Association, says the entire hotel industry is benefiting from the end of the crisis. ‘‘Flights to Sri Lanka are now full and we are looking at new markets. There has been a surge in the Asian market, but we are also looking at Scandinavian countries, east Europe and Austria. Several organisations from these countries have entered into contracts with some of the hoteliers here.”

Fear remains

A ride on Ravi Chandran’s three-wheeler could be an initiation to terror tourism. “This was a shop where they had found a bomb long ago,” he says, pointing to a luxurious mall in Colombo. “This was where a Tamil MP was killed,” he says, while passing a temple.

As a Sri Lankan Tamil living in Colombo for over 25 years, Ravi Chandran, 39, feels very much part of the war. “It was dreadful. The end of the war seems like an end of a never-ending nightmare. We feared both sides. Today we are relieved.” But he admits rather reluctantly that relief does not necessarily mean civil rights. “For the Tamils, the struggle is far from over. We are in peace, but we are not really happy,” says the auto-rickshaw driver.

Fear lingers. “Of course, the security checks have come down, but still there are checkpoints. Sometimes it is intimidating. Even in Colombo, there are Sinhala areas and Tamil areas. For Tamils to live without any intimidation, I think the government should make sure that they live together and that the Tamils are treated well,” says Ravi Chandran.

That would probably take a few more years, but Ravi Chandran, for obvious reasons, dare not say that.