Water disputes will cause continued war in a divided Sri Lanka

Sarath Bulathsinghala August 17, 2006

It is said that the wars in the 21st Century will be over sharing of fresh water supplies. Already the flash points are emerging in many places around the world. Sharing of Ganges and Brahmaputra are cases in point between India and Bangladesh. The possible flash points in Africa are the Nile, the Niger, the Volta and the Zambezi river basins. These are among numerous others that already exist or are waiting to happen.

There is little doubt that the Mahaveli Accelerated Development Project accelerated the Ealamists to take up arms. With Mahaveli water becoming available in a wide area of the Eastern Province for irrigation and power, it was time for the Ealamists to show their colors and begin ethnic cleansing. Tbhereafter what happened is history.

Ealam as claimed in 1998

Ealam as claimed in 1998

The LTTE triggered incident at Mavil Aru (Mahaveli Oya) water sluice is still continuing. This is the first of many more to come in the future. The people live in the regions affected by separatist terrorism are mainly peasant farmers. What happened at Mavil Aru will be repeated many times over in the coming years if the designs of the terrorist LTTE are not reigned in early.

The border that the Tamil Separatists want for their mythical Ealam has changed over the years to include more and more areas. In the west they include areas further south of Chilaw and in the east areas up to Hambantota are included. Whatever this border it is an extremely long one devoid of any natural boundaries such as mountain ranges or rivers. Only thing that is easy to see is that the across there are numerous water ways - rivers, streams and canals. The potential flash points can occur from Kala Oya, Moderagam Aru, Malwatu Oya in the west of the countr, Ma Oya, Yan Oya, Pankulam Aru, Mahaveli Ganga, in the North East to Maduru Oya, Maha Oya, Gal Oya, Karanda Oya, Heda Oya, Wila Oya and Kumbukkan Oya in the South East.

If in the coming days our politicians agree to give in to international pressure to demarcate a border either for a federated province or for a separate state then one thing is clear that there will not be any peace across this border. Policing such a border will be a daunting task for any country and nightmare for a country like Sri Lanka which is already under terrorist threat.

Conflicts for sharing of water will immediately result. These conflicts will not end till the Tamils Terrorists - the LTTE have acquired access to the head waters of the Mahaveli. This they will initiate by destabilizing the Upcountry estate sector and the toils of Sri Lanka will never cease. It will be permanent war.