Sri Lanka cabinet meets in former rebel-held area

By Charles Haviland - BBC Sinhala
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The Sri Lankan cabinet is holding a special meeting in the former capital of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, Kilinochchi in the far north of the island.

The town was the guerrillas’ stronghold for 11 years until January 2009. By assembling there, the government is making a clear statement of its role in reunifying the island after years of civil war.

For years during their separatist war, and long after losing Jaffna further north, the Tamil Tigers held Kilinochchi.

It served as their command centre with the trappings of a state-within-a-state – law courts; administrative offices; a tax system and a bank.

Eighteen months ago, though, it fell to the Sri Lankan army and they established a strategic base right inside the buildings used earlier by their deadly foe.

For the Sri Lankan cabinet to meet in this town is a potent symbol of the government’s achievement in vanquishing the Tigers and reunifying an island whose land was divided for so long.

The government’s critics, however, say it must now do more to heal the island’s ethnic divisions, which are still raw, especially in the north and east.

Some opposition MPs have condemned the Kilinochchi cabinet meeting as a waste of money, with one saying he expects hundreds of luxury vehicles to converge on the town.

A prominent moderate Tamil politician, V. Anandasangaree, said he felt that that constant government visits were “irritating” local people still in shock after the war or searching for missing family members.

The government spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, said constructive criticism was welcome but that ministry officials would be available to solve people’s problems and it would be money well spent.

Chaired by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the cabinet ministers will review the progress of reconstruction in the former war zone whose people are only graudally returning to their homes.

A massive war memorial has recently been built in Kilinochchi. Recent visitors there say other construction work is proceeding slowly, hampered by the density of landmines in the area.

© BBC Sinhala