Little light at the end of the tunnel
One month after the Kebitigollewa tragedy, The
Sunday Times goes back...
By Chandani Kirinde and Nalaka
Nonis
The sounds of wailing have died down in the villages
around Kebitigollewa. A few plastic wreaths lie on top of the mass
grave, where 67 people lie buried. The place where the jam-packed
commuter passenger bus was hit by the explosion shows no signs of
the deadly incident that snuffed out so many lives in a few seconds.
What remains today are abandoned homes, deserted roads and closed
schools. Hundreds of villagers fled their homes to take refuge in
safer environs with only a few of the brave choosing to stay behind.
This is the sad plight of the villagers of Indigollewa,
Yakawewa, Halmillawetiya, Thalgahawewa, Meegaswewa and Kalugahawewa
for whom the nightmare of that tragic day is far from over. While
government authorities as well as the military and police are trying
to persuade the villagers to return to their homes, they are far
from reassured.
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Taking no chances: Looking for any suspicious
objects
Pix by Dinuka Liyanawatta |
Today the area around the Kebitigollewa town is
dotted with white tents to which mainly women and children have
been confined while the majority of men who are employed in the
home guard force are away on duty. The last time they fled their
villages after a terrorist attack in the area in 1995, they remained
displaced for over five years and it was only after the 2002 February
Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) that many of the villagers returned home.
J.Dhanapala of Halmillawetiya is one among the
few still staying on in his village since that fateful day. Of the
86 families that resided there, only nine remain.” Seven people
from our village died, some of who were my relatives. But I was
born here and I have lived here thorough all the years of the conflict
and I will not go now,” a defiant Mr.Dhanapala said.
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Tharushi Kavinda: In blissful slumber |
The terrorist attack has struck a severe blow to
the economic conditions of the villagers many of whom are farmers.
“We have no income at all since the attack. We cannot go to
our paddy fields, we cannot go into the jungle to collect bees honey
or sand, both of which gave us a good income. We are surviving on
what we had collected before the attack,” he said.
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J. Dhanapala: Won’t budger |
Several weeks before the attack on the bus, two
of the villagers were shot dead by the LTTE and some of them had
also seen foot prints which they believed belonged to LTTE cadres.
“We asked for additional security and for the road to be cleared
but nothing was done till the attack on the bus,” he lamented.
The tragedy has affected the young and old alike.
One and half month old Tharushi Kavinda was just 15 days old when
the incident occurred. Blissfully unaware of the cruel goings on
around her, Tharushi now sleeps on the ground with a tent to shelter
her from the scorching sun. Her mother Swarnamala and grandmother
are with her while her father who is a home guard is on duty in
the village at Yakawewa which is now abandoned expect for policemen
and home guards who have been assigned there on duty.
“The security is inadequate for us to return to the village.
There are no buses plying on the road and if a child falls sick,
there is no way for us to come to the Kebitigollewa town after dark,”
Swarnamala said.
A single CTB bus started plying on the road last
Wednesday, nearly a month after the attack, but many of the villagers
are scared to travel on the same route although the sides of the
road have been cleared by the army who also carry out a route clearing
operations each morning.
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Going to school amidst tight security |
Today about 500 families live in five temporary
shelters- including tents and a temple premise-close to the Kebitigollewa
town.Less than 100 families remain in the six villages that were
affected. Many have also moved into homes of relatives in safer
areas.
An official of the Divisional Secretariat in Kebitigollewa
said the displaced are being provided with dry rations and security.
However many of the displaced were worried that the lack of sanitary
facilities and water shortage could lead to health hazzards if they
had to stay in the tents for a long time.
The Kebitigollewa Madya Maha Vidyalaya which was
transformed into a massive funeral parlour to place the coffins
of the bus attack victims is also slowly returning to normality
with students trickling back to school since last Wednesday.
Two students of the school were among those killed
in the blast while another was injured. The displaced villagers
who were staying in the school since the tragedy were last week
moved into tents and other temporary shelters. The school reopened
fully last Wednesday but the authorities are still facing the problem
of accommodating about 400 additional students from Halmillawetiya
School that closed after the attack.
Kebitigollewa MMV principal W.S.Seneviratna said
the displaced students would be admitted to the school but additional
class rooms would be needed to accommodate them. “ We have
adequate staff but we need more room for these students. We have
about 50 students in each class at present so we cannot take in
anymore,” Mr.Seveviratne said. He added that the Chief Minister
of the North Central Province Bertie Premalal Dissanayake who visited
the school on Wednesday had assured that a temporary building would
be put up within two weeks to accommodate the displaced children.
The villagers say if they are to return to their
homes, a bunker line should be established along the area between
the North Central Province and Mullaitivu- the area from where the
terrorists infiltrate these villages. Director General of the Home
Guard Force Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera said this would become
a reality soon with the forward defense line in place and the strengthening
of the home guard units.
So while the government grapples with the task
of reassuring the villagers to get them to return to their homes,
the villagers watch and wait to see if the promises of strengthening
security becomes a reality so that they can go back home.
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