Students and civilians cycle past election posters on Kalladi bridge

Successive Governments in the post Independent Sri Lanka failed in their efforts of addressing the genuine grievances of the Tamil community as they approached the problem through a person who cannot be content by any means.

It was Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran who had become a stumbling block in the process of addressing the Tamil grievances in the North and East as he could not quench his thirst for blood after claiming the lives of thousands of innocent civilians in the three decades long conflict.

Due to his thirst for blood the entire country has been dragged in to this conflict which has been continued for nearly three decades without seeing any solution since it was not practical to appease and fulfill the requirements of the people living with illusionary minds. And Prabhakaran is the best living example for this.

Primary factor

That was the primary factor why all efforts made by successive Governments to address the issue reach a dead end.

The top to bottom approach had never been successful in addressing the issue of Tamil question.

Therefore, any effort to address the grievances of the Tamil community should start from zero and should continue in a step by step process so that it will not make any effect on the country.

With the liberation of the Eastern province the Government brought the embroiled Eastern province into zero point, in which the civilian population could think of a future sans any influence by the LTTE.

It was with such a great effort and amidst false propaganda campaign by the Southern polity, the Government achieved this task successfully in the year 2007 in a step by step process, reaching its pinnacle with the Thoppigala victory.

With this successful achievement it has now initiated the step by step process to address the issues concerning different ethnic groups living in the Eastern province with the launch of Eastern Reawakening programme.

The Batticaloa Local Government election has turned out to be the starting point in the process of establishing political freedom for the civilian population in the Eastern province allowing them to elect their own representatives to the Local bodies.

Hot topic

The elections in Batticaloa has turned out to be a hot topic for the Southern polity especially for the main Opposition, United National Party and also some disgruntled NGOs who dislike the idea of normality returning to the Eastern province.

It was with this background many political parties who have not even visited Batticaloa for the past two decades are making illusionary accounts about the situation without having a first hand account on the situation based on the current situation prevailing there.

Security arrangements in Batticaloa general elections Pic: by Sudath Nishantha and Dushmantha Mayadunna

The elections for the nine Local bodies - Batticaloa Municipal Council, Eravurpattu Pradeshiya Sabha, Koralepattu Pradeshiya Sabha, Koralepattu North Pradeshiya Sabha, Manmunai South and Eruvilpattu Pradeshiya Sabha, Manmunai Pradeshiya Sabha, Manmunai West Pradeshiya Sabha, Manmunai South West Pradeshiya Sabha and Porativupattu Pradeshiya Sabha are scheduled to be conducted in peaceful conditions.

According to Elections Department 270,473 registered voters are scheduled to exercise their franchise on this decisive day.

Practically it is difficult task to establish a good picture in a mind of a person having prejudices on a situation and also in those who are not willing to accept the changes which had taken place in Batticaloa after the entire Eastern province was liberated from the clutches of the LTTE.

A major portion of the Batticaloa district was under the control of the LTTE once general elections was conducted in 2004 and also the Presidential Elections in 2005.

There was no question or complaint about the holding of elections in the East during that period. In practical terms it was only the Polonnaruwa Batticaloa Main Supply Route and the Batticaloa city and the connecting road to Ampara and suburbs that were under the control of the Security Forces when those elections were conducted.

Even though the Batticaloa city was under the control of the Security Forces the LTTE had dominance over the Tamil population living there with indirect control over the Muslim population with guns pointed at them.

The General Election in 2004 was conducted at a time when Karuna had defected from the LTTE. Therefore it was a time in which armed groups were roaming in the city and factional fighting was continuing in the Eastern theatre.

There was no freedom for political parties to engage in their elections campaign and they had no opportunity for the voters to exercise their universal franchise as their lives were threatened by the LTTE. Police and Security Forces did not have control over the armed Tiger cadres roaming in the East.

If such an environment was conducive for the conduct of elections it is extremely difficult to understand the rationale behind the Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe's argument that, the current situation in Batticaloa is not conducive for elections at a time the entire Eastern province is free from the LTTE.

The other complaint on the Batticaloa elections is about the members of the TMVP. The basic complaint about the TMVP is that armed TMVP cadres are operating in Batticaloa creating fear psychosis among the voters.

Baseless point

This argument becomes a baseless point as the Supreme Court has dismissed the petition filed by PAFFREL requesting to disarm the armed groups in the East since the Elections Commissioner stated that he had not received such complaints upto now.

So it was clear proof that the main Opposition and vested interested NGOs are engaged in a malicious campaign to give a wrong impression about the Batticaloa elections.

However, there is an obvious reason behind these complaints against the TMVP. It was due to their presence in the East, the LTTE could not induct their cadres in the East to engage in sabotage activities or even to sabotage the elections scheduled to be held on Monday.

So the LTTE wants to remove these TMVP members from the elections campaign to create a conducive environment for their terror operations. It has been revealed that the LTTE is trying their best to activate their sleeping Tiger cadres through 'Ram' now operating in Ampara area taking the cover of the thick jungles there.

Apart from this Keerthi who is based in Wanni is also trying to build up contacts with the sleeper LTTE cadres there in Batticaloa.

All their efforts have become futile due to the intense cordon and search operations now being conducted in the Batticaloa district in search of these Tiger cadres and also due to reluctance of the Tiger cadres to visit Batticaloa.

Personnel security

The increased security measures were taken by the Police after providing personnel security for 255 candidates out of the total of 831 candidates contesting the elections for 101 seats in nine Local bodies in the district.

The Police Department has allocated 600 Policemen for these 255 candidates who had sought Police protection after filing their nominations for the Local Polls.

The increased security measures now in effect in the Batticaloa district, according to the Eastern range DIG Mahinda Balasuriya also includes 62 mobile patrolling units and 39 road blocks.

For the last three days of the elections campaign the number of road blocks in effect will be increased to 47 and they will continue in the post elections period also.

For security arrangements for the elections the Police has deployed 5620 Police personnel including 1,500 Policemen from outside Police stations. The deployment of 500 Police Special Task Force personnel and 300 Army strengthen the security measures for the elections.

So far the elections campaign has turned out to be best conducted elections with only 28 election related incidents reported during the election campaign.

Out of the 28 incidents 17 have already been settled after discussing with the political parties and four cases have been forwarded to the Courts. Three cases of throwing hand grenades have been reported and no one had been injured in these incidents. One case of stabbing has been reported.

So the ground situation has turned out to be one of the best environments for the conduct of elections with Police and Security Forces preparing to face any last moment attempts by the LTTE to sabotage the elections.

Under the present conditions it is very unlikely the LTTE can make a major impact on the elections in Batticaloa due to frequent cordon and search operations conducted by the Security Forces and Police raiding their safe houses and sleeper Tiger cadres.

Only option

Therefore, the only option available with the LTTE is to deploy suicide cadres to sabotage the elections to give a bad picture to the international community about the elections in Batticaloa.

But even these plans will also be countered by the Security Forces as they are fully equipped with an intelligence network to identify those Tiger cadres prior to accomplishing their objectives in a desperate situation.

So the hopes for a free and fair elections in Batticaloa, which is considered as the stepping stone towards upholding vibrant democracy in the Eastern province, rise above all the false propaganda carried out by various political parties and organisation to sabotage it.

The realisation of these hopes will put the national security of the country on a higher pedestal as it enables to douse the flames that battered the Tamil community in a three decade long conflict giving a starting point to go for a wider political solution to the conflict.

Courtesy - Daily News