Arun Perera
This is the summarized journal piece of writing about my trip to Jaffna Peninsula on 26th to 30th September 2011, as a field trip by our college, “Srilanka College of Journalism” (SLCJ).
Monday, 26th September 2011
14 Hours to Reach Jaffna: Early morning I left to the city of Jaffna, the capital city of the northern province of Srilanka, along with my college (Srilanka college of journalism) colleagues on a field trip.
We left Colombo around 7am, and reached Kurunegala at 10am for breakfast. We then passed Dambulla and reached Anuradhapura, the sacred City, for lunch at around 2pm. From there it was a long ride till we reached A59, a check point before the Northern Province, at 4:30pm.
Around 8pm we reached the hotel ‘Gnanam’, where we were supposed to stay. It was a 14 hour drive to Jaffna from Colombo on a tour bus.
During the ride, I was lucky to see some of the aftermath of the long lasted civil war. Ever since we entered Northern Province, we saw nothing but only wreckages on both sides of the highway. Demolished houses, burnt trees and lifeless deserts.
We had dinner after a hot bath and slept hoping to see some extraordinary sites the next day.
Tuesday 27th September
Hindu Temple: After breakfast we hurried to see the famous Hindu Temple in Jaffna known as “Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil or Nallur Murugan Kovil” in Nallur. There we saw highly devoted Hindus performing their prayers and experienced their culture within that marvelous temple of great architecture and history.
This current building of the temple was first built in 1749 A.D and holds a great account of history and Hindu sacred stories.
Meeting with the Srilankan Army Commander General in Jaffna, Mr. Mahinda Hathurusinghe: we visited Civil Affairs and Public Relations Office, Security Forces Head Quarters, Jaffna to meet the commander general of Northern Province. He gave us a brief presentation about the aftermath of civil war and the roles of army in rebuilding the community.
“We are shifting our image from fighter to protector” says, Commander General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, during his presentation. And basic summary of the presentation was about army efforts in re-building a totally devastated region.
Visit to Jaffna University Cultural Exhibition: After lunch we visited Jaffna University to see a cultural exhibition. There we saw old but golden equipments used by the locals in their daily lives. We also saw religious sculptures and remains of some rich cultural pieces of historical arts destroyed during the civil war.
Meeting with Jaffna district Fishermen: We went to an ice plant near the coastal area of Jaffna city to meet the president of “Jaffna District Fishermen Co-operative Society Unions Federation”. He spoke about their concern over Indian vessels fishing in SriLankan territory and difficulties caused by lack of equipments and boats which were lost during the civil war.
Wednesday, 28th September 2011
Visit to Mines and Demining fields: We woke up at 6am and had our breakfast and then we were taken to a demining field somewhere in Muhamalai. There UN demining agency officials briefed us about their work there. We were briefed about how they do the demining and challenges faced by them.
We were told how fields were contaminated with mines and how it is slowing down the process of resettlement.
Then we saw a real field where soldiers were in the process of demining. It was a sight where I could actually imagine live war and could somewhat feel how it would have looked like during those times. It was a heavily fire exchanged war zone. The “Muhamalai Forward Defence Line” was the Army Defence Line separating the Sri Lankan Army and LTTE militiry in North Central Kilinochchi from South Central Jaffna. . It was a breathtaking experience.
Meeting with the Government Agent (GA) for the Northern Province, Mrs. Emelda Sukumar: We were presented with the statistical figures of resettlement and the project details during a meeting with the GA at her office in Jaffna Town.
During her presentation I came to understand how much effort Srilankan government has put on to rebuilding war affected areas and developing the livelihood of people. In cost it was billions, and in effort it was just unbelievable. The figures show total completion of rebuilding is approximately 5% so far, which means there is a long way to go. All the ongoing projects and upcoming project details were presented, and it looks like those areas and people will be coming back to life soon.
The presentation was concluded with a Q&A session, where she gave more details about the progress. It was an interesting discussion full of information and humor too.
Meeting with Dean Arts, Faculty of Arts, Jaffna University: After that we went to Jaffna university to meet Dean Arts, Prof *****. He spoke about the roles and responsibilities of media during reconciliation and about maintaining a sustainable peace in that area. He also talked about language barrier and its conflicts in many aspects, between Tamils, Sinhalese and other people.
Then we came back to hotel and had our Indian Cuisine dinner and went to bed with a mindful of information and exposures of the day. Hoping the next day, also the last day, to be much more exciting and interesting.
Thursday, 29th September 2011
Jaffna Fort: We started the day with a great tasty breakfast and went to Jaffna Fort, which was built by Portuguese in 16th century when they invaded Jaffna.
Many incredible pieces of outstanding architectural structures were demolished during the civil war, when it was under LTTE from 1986 – 1996 and when SriLankan army recaptured the place in 1995 after 50 day siege during the Operation ‘Riviresa’.
It is being renovated now and will be back in original look soon. The civil war has destroyed many historical places. Those wonderful structures are now on ground zero for someone to wonder.
Jaffna Public Library: We then visited the Jaffna Public Library, one of the biggest library in South Asia, which was once burnt down in 1981. Government convicted LTTE of the terrorist attack while other sources say it was burnt down by the Government. Anyhow it was a mind-blowing structure and it projects the image of highly intellectual minds of the people of north.
Visit to Media Relation Training Center, Jaffna University (MRTC): We were welcomed by students studying media related courses and journalism at MRTC of Jaffna, by gifting us a hand-woven tourist hat. But we never felt like tourist even though we wore it, it was more like home.
We had a small meeting with senior journalists in Jaffna and officials of MRTC there. After their speeches on free media and civil war related reporting, we went into a hot debate as one of the editors of a Tamil newspaper claimed that he is a free-media activist while being way too biased.
After the Q&A session and debating, we shared our experience of the trip with them.We were served lunch there at MRTC by them with a strong farewell by the students.
Boat Ride to Nagadeepa: We then had almost an hour and half a drive to the northern cost Jaffna peninsula, passing few islands connected with reclaimed land bridges, to take a boat ride to Nainathivu / Nainatheevu (also known as Nagadipa or) is a small but notable island, where one of the first settlers called Naga People (Snake Woshipers) lives.
It was approximately 15 minutes ferry ride. And the ferry was scary because it was too packed, small and like a box with few holes which floats.
It was once in a lifetime opportunity to visit one of the northern islands of Srilanka. Nagadepa itself was a piece of history full of rich culture and astonishing sites and happy people. The island is also one of the naval bases for Srilankan Army.
Friday, 30th September 2011
This day is the day we came back to Colombo on a 14 hour drive. We woke up at 4:30 am and left the hotel at 5am. We stopped at the entrance of Elephant Pass, located in the gateway of Jaffna Peninsula. It has thus regularly been the site of battles during the civil war. We saw the monument (demolished terrorist bulldozer) to remember the sacrifice of a Srilankan army man who attacked a terrorist bulldozer and gave up his life in demolishing it on a suicide mission.
We had our breakfast there and then continued our journey back. We had lunch in Anuradhapura and evening tea in Kurunegala on our way back to Colombo. We reached Colombo around 8pm.
Experience in Short: The entire trip was once in a life time experience, which I believe will have a huge influence in my future. The experience I had, the knowledge and information I acquired and the images I saw beyond the sites, gave me a reflection of what I shall do as responsible human being in making at least one life better for those with none.
I wish to visit Jaffna again, as a journalist this time, not as a journalist in-the-making. And I wish to uncover stories which have been untold for decades. I wish to bring out true stories behind the enemy lines and write about scars beyond the smiles. I wish to write my appreciation for Srilankan Army on their effort in reviving and bringing back life to a dead land. I wish to engage my pen to play my role to maintain peace in that area where people suffered for more than 2 decades. I wish to return there soon. In simple, it was an “Amazingly Awesome” experience in life.
