by Ranjit J Perera

Created on: November 30, 2010

Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe the Jaffna Security Forces Commander, was awarded the Gusi Peace Prize at a glittering ceremony at the Philippine International Convention Centre in Manila this month. The award recognized his contribution towards the peace process in Sri Lanka.

The Gusi Peace Prize is a Philippines-based international award honoring individuals from around the world who have distinguished themselves in working towards the attainment of peace and respect for human life and dignity. The awards are made to fifteen individuals or groups each year after the thirteen member committee sifts through more than 1,000 proposals.

This is believed to be the first time in the history of the Gusi Awards that an award has been made to a serviceman despite the fact that the founder of the Gusi Peace Prize was himself a Captain in the Philippine Army. The award to Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe is also the only award made in 2010 for a peace process.

Among the other recipients is Dr. Michael Nobel who received the prize for Education and Humanitarianism. He is the great grand nephew of the founder of the Nobel Peace Prize, Alfred Nobel.

Major General Hathurusinghe joined the Sri Lanka Army as a Cadet in 1980 and rose through the ranks with a distinguished record with battlefield command experience as the Sri Lankan Army battled the separatist Tamil Tiger rebel group and routed them in May 2009. Hathurusinghe whose military decorations include the Pumaboomi Medal, Wadamarachchi Operations Medal, Army Long Service Medal, Deshaputra Medal (Purple Heart), Riviresa Operations Medal, North & East Operations Medal, 60th Independence Medal, Army 50th Anniversary Medal and Rana Soora Gallantry Medal is a soldier who has been tasked a more difficult job than waging and winning a war. His responsibility now is one of re-establishing a relationship that is built on confidence and trust between the Sri Lanka Army and the Tamil civilians in the heartland of Jaffna.

For most Tamils the experience of the war was traumatic. They were caught between an armed group that claimed to be the sole representatives fighting for the liberation of a Tamil homeland and from whom they had to hide their children for fear of forced conscription on the one hand, and an onslaught of the security forces who found it difficult to distinguish between rebels and civilians as the rebels in civilian clothes easily merged with the general population on the other. As a result, many found themselves

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