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THE OBSERVER

The Oldest English Newspaper in South Asia
Founded 4.2.1834
P. O. Box 1217,
35, D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha,
Colombo 10, Sri Lanka.
Telephone: Editor - 94-1-429226; Fax: 94-1-429230

The road to Jaffna

Leaving aside un-anticipated hitches - and there could be many after all the devastation - the A9 highway, popularly known among the Peninsula's citizenry as the Jaffna-Kandy road, will be jointly declared open by both the Government and the LTTE this Friday after a lapse of nearly fifteen years.

A whole generation of Sri Lankans have reached their teens with an understanding of the geography of their island home that did not include a land route to and from the Jaffna Peninsula.

For children of the South, a large part of the North of the island, including the largest peninsula, the Elephant Pass causeway, Jaffna's many lagoons, Naga Dipa, the largest Dutch Fortress and many other interesting geo-physical, and historical features of our country were not accessible and hardly seemed part of this country. For children of the Peninsula, the 'Kandy Road' neither reached Kandy and its Sri Dalada Maligawa, nor the exotic climes and scenery of the Udarata, Kataragama and, Colombo's urban attractions. The economic links that once tied North and South can now be revived. The dynamism of Jaffna's business class and its farmers and fisher folk can now tap the large markets of the South. Consumers in the South can benefit from the ready availability of produce from the North while market prices for these products will stabilise.

The economic linkages will enhance the social ties. The already existing cultural affinities will evolve into a closer kinship between all previously divided ethnic communities. The proximity and amity will help break down decades of suspicion and hostility.

In all, the steps taken by both the Government and the LTTE that are leading to this development augur well for the building of confidence between the two sides for the larger task of a political settlement of the conflict. The road to Jaffna, if used wisely, could become the road to peace.

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