It is reported that the Government is taking active steps to reconstruct the Jaffna Public Library, destroyed in 1982 by deliberate conspiracy hatched by powerful men from the South in authority then and carried out physically by bus-loads of armed men transported from Colombo to the horror of the people of Jaffna.
The fact that these thugs were enthusiastically helped by some misguided men of the forces then stationed in Jaffna was also an indication that the rapidly-thinning link uniting the Tamil and the Sinhalese in one motherland is being rudely snapped. One, therefore, sees the proposed action now is in many ways an act of collective atonement aimed at healing the deep wounds inflicted on the Tamil psyche by the pre-planned destruction of a symbol of Tamil culture - a sanctified place of learning. This bestial act of coercion and armed thuggery on the unarmed people of Jaffna became, quite rightly, an object of international condemnation and marred the fair name of the majority community in this country - most of whom not merely were innocent of this despicable crime but even today condemn it in the most unequivocal terms. The price the country has paid since then when Northern youth, not merely refused to yield to this intimidation; but also decided on armed resistance as the final recourse through extra- parliamentary means to assert what they considered as their legitimate and inalienable rights.
It is reported that the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs under the Chairmanship of an influential Cabinet Minister will head this Committee, that will be formed of distinguished citizens in the country drawn from the major communities. The Government's action is to be applauded, because what was destroyed was not merely a structure and some books but the sentiments and susceptibilities of an ancient and cultured people. The act was aimed at bringing to its knees a proud people with a very strong cultural ethos to maintain which they will be prepared, as we can see now, to go to great lengths. The process of restoration and the restoration itself should not merely attempt to capture repairing the structure alone. The Committee should show the country and the world that what was destroyed belonged to ALL SRI LANKANS. And, the restoration is in fact the restoration of one of Sri Lanka's greatest and proudest cultural heritages and as many Sri Lankans as possible from all communities - in whatever humble sum, must be asked to contribute to this important effort at national integration. No doubt many a friendly country will come forward to re-do the damage done and this indeed must be welcome, because it is a tribute to the esteem with which this much-maligned land is held by the world community. However, nothing will match the spontaneous gesture of our people - helping in cash and kind - to re-do a national outrage so that we can all come out of this collective shame.
I am reminded of the restoration of the Coventry Cathedral in England after the 2nd World War, brought down by the firepower of the German Luftwaffe. When plans for restoration were known many German Pilots, who took part in the air raids came along from Germany, some of them carrying symbolic bricks and other material and helped re-build the Cathedral. The Architects of the Cathedral cordoned off and have marked for preservation the destroyed part of the Cathedral so that posterity will know that at some point of man's irrational anger and behaviour he acted no different to a beast. The very same men who were part of the process of destruction of the Coventry Cathedral, in this act of atonement when tempers calmed - helped rebuild what they destroyed. Today, carcasses of the destroyed Cathedral and the serene and beautiful new Coventry Cathedral are there for everyone to see. This is indeed one of the finest examples of the humaneness of man that came out of the debris of the Second World War. I hope our own team that goes to restore the Library also will set aside a part of the destroyed building to show generations to come the good and the bad this country went through in her recent bloody history so that this shall never, ever be repeated.
The time to forgive and forget in Sri Lanka has come. If we drool only on the wounds of the past we will lose both the present and the future. The people of this generation have suffered enough. We have a duty to provide a safe, secure and harmonious land to our children, as did our fathers to us and their fathers to them. The government's effort to re-build the Jaffna Public Library to its past glory and the nation's effort at trying to unite in a spirit of fraternity and peace must be fully supported by each and everyone in this land.
I refer to the article which was published in The Sunday Times of October 27,1996, and being the Administrative Director of Children's Relief Service Foundation which is registered under the Department of Probation & Child Care, I have a doubt whether this article is referring to the two orphanages, "Sri Premananda" boys orphanage and "Gaston Dillan" girls orphanage which comes under our foundation. The reason for my doubt is that there are no other orphanages found in this area.
We further inform that we manage these two orphanages under the supervision of the Assistant Commissioner of Probation & Child Care in the Central and the North Central Provinces.
We started this foundation in 1987 with the assistance of prominent personages. By 1992 with the help of the local and foreign philanthropists, we expanded our services. In this connection we have always worked within the rules and regulations laid down by the Department of Probation & Child Care.
If the accusation stated in this article is aimed at the children of our orphanages, I'm on behalf of the foundation strongly condemn all accusations stated. The article is distorted, inaccurate and wholly subject to suit the writer. It is not fair to generalize. Just as much as all Sri Lankans are not murderers even though we have one of the highest murder rates in the world. So rationally all Belgians are not paedophiles.
We are totally responsible to the guardians of the children, Department of Probation & Child Care and specially for Institutions and prominent personages who are helping us to do this service.
We have carefully planned and trying to achieve to build up a clear and a very good future for these children.
By the article appeared in The Sunday Times it is not necessary to mention the gravity of the damage done to our children of the orphanage and their future. And as the names are not mentioned as to those who have complained the orphanages, this itself shows the writer's lack of objectivity.
I challenge the writer to prove that these children are taken to hotels and that they are subjected to "Child Sex".
Kirama Dharmananda,
Narahenpita could justly be proud of the 'Smiling Policeman' doing duty each day at the Narahenpita junction, about whom many readers have shown spontaneous appreciation. To offset this pleasant spectacle unfortunately, Narahenpita has also many 'smiling craters' on the approach road, the smiles getting wider and deeper with each passing day, this has reference to two smiling depressions on either side of the rail track at the railway crossing (amongst many others).
Displaying the typical Sri Lankan trait of tolerance, countless motorists have kept smiling for the last couple of months, waiting for the day when somebody will think of setting these minor irritants to right, with the consequent lowering of pressures, saving of some little fuel (at the not inconsiderable price of Rs. 50/- per litre) at the nearby bottle neck, and lessening maintenance cost of vehicles. Ms. Goolbai Gunasekara may derive some consolation from the fact that it is not only the residents of Kotte who keep looking heavenward for some little miracle to happen!
Channa Gunasekara,
Colombo 5.
More letters to the editor - The horrendous tragedy of Krishanthi * Whither the SLBC?
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