North-South towns: Tightening the bonds

Since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009, successive governments have attempted a range of steps to enhance the reconciliation process. In 2011, the Sri Lankan Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) issued its initial proposals for addressing the root causes of the protracted war and reconciling with the past. When the newly elected government in January 2015 backed a Resolution of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the program of reconciliation got a further impetus.

Even though over ten years have passed since the conclusion of the civil war, reconciliation is difficult since the people still live in the past. 
However, there are several approaches to promoting reconciliation among communities. Some may include political and social initiatives: effective government, accountability and fairness, accepting diversity, and understanding communities. And also, through economic involvement: establishing chances for economic interaction across communities improves mutual understanding and dependence. 

Trade links and relationships were lost due to the 30-year war, but the Colombo Municipal Council and several North Municipal Councils together rekindled the relationships between North and South earlier this December. 
95 members of Valikamam West Divisional Council, Valikamam South Divisional Council, and Jaffna Municipal Council visited the Colombo Municipal Council on 9th December for a three-day visit to prepare the necessary background to help each other by exchanging comradeship, solidarity, and institutional knowledge.

CMC Mayor Rosy Senanayake speaking to Daily Mirror said that the comradeship and solidarity between the North and South are showing a lot of improvement, and the growing bonds are immeasurable. “According to the invitation of the chairman of Valikamam South West Divisional Council, Jebanesan Antonypillai,  our council went on a trip to Jaffna earlier this year. The media criticized and accused us a lot regarding this trip. As a result of that visit, groups from the North came to Colombo to strengthen our bonds further. Before the end of this year, all members of our council had a great interest in showing our love, kindness, and compassion to the people of the north”, she said. 

Mayor also said that the hardships of the Northern communities have always been a concern for her, and solid action must be taken to elevate the lives of the Northern communities. 
“I always wanted to arrange programmes in North as a helping hand to our people. Even when they spoke to the people from the south, they spoke with fear and disbelief. Colombo is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious city where 29.6% are Tamil people. Among them, many people are related to the people of the north”, she added. 

Always wanted to arrange programmes in North as a helping hand to our people. Even when they spoke to the people from the south, they spoke with fear and disbelief. Colombo is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious city where 29.6% are Tamil people. Among them, many people are related to the people of the north

She also added that during the visit to the North in February this year, the Divisional council and Municipal council members of the North requested water bowsers and Gully bowsers to serve the people in the area. “Accordingly, we gifted them two water bowsers, two trailer tractors, and a tipper lorry was given to them. We will also take steps to provide a gully browser soon. Today, when the morality of the country is deteriorating, when there is no respect for each other, especially where many parties get themselves benefit by creating a racist environment and dividing the North and South for their personal gains,  what we should do is work together as children of one mother with love, mercy, kindness, and harmony. The bond that was shared between us during these visits cannot be priced”, CMC Mayor underlined. 

Chairman of Valikamam South West Divisional Council, Jebanesan Antonypillai, also spoke with Daily Mirror regarding the three-day visit to Colombo to tighten the bonds between the North and South. “The journey to Colombo has been a hundred per cent success, and it was a new experience for us. The Mayor of Colombo Municipal Council extended full cooperation to us, and the members of the council were friendly with us. We had in-depth discussions with CMC, and they brought forward many solutions to solve the burning issues in the North, which are very useful and are new insights for us. In fact, it was like a workshop for us. They also taught us in detail about how to generate extra income methods”, he said. 

Most importantly, he added that elections to local councils have not been held for more than 30 years due to the war, and they only faced elections three times.” The CMC has held elections 6-7 times. Indeed, our people do not have any security related to local councils. In particular, our work was to develop roads, maintain electric lights, and remove garbage. But all the members, including myself, have learned that the Colombo Municipal Council is doing everything like a national government. The laws shared by the CMC and us are the same, but our capacity is only around 10 per cent when compared to the CMC. CMC has a budget of Rs. 16 billion, and we have only Rs. 170 million. There is a huge disparity between the two councils, and that directly affects the service. What is stopping us from progressing? How to control costs? How to increase costs? , all these were addressed during our visit. As the President, Prime Minister, and Ministers all travel from Colombo,  the problems of the CMC  are brought to the attention of the Parliament. Still, the attention to the Northern bodies is minimal. In particular, it has been around 45 years since our council has been doing assessments; on the contrary, Colombo is assessed every year”, he underlined. 

The current Mayor of Jaffna Municipal Council, V. Manivannan, also spoke with Daily Mirror and pinpointed that the three-day visit to Colombo was extremely useful and the Northern councils seek guidance and support from the other Councils, especially for technical assistance and their experience on new methodologies. “Colombo is the commercial capital of the country. We are a war-torn city. Therefore, there are huge differences in the activities of the two city councils, and it isn’t easy to compare them and us. It is an assembly that runs after the Parliament. We have three engineers. But they have a hundred engineers. Anyhow what is needed is not the reconciliation between the North and the south because any of us do not have anything against the other, and we are already united. What we need now is solutions to the problems in North, and this visit was an encouragement for that,” he underlined.