On 14 January, the day of the Tamil Thaipongal harvest festival, the Jaffna Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies sent a letter to the Trade minister saying that the prices of flour, rice, sugar, fuel, bread, lentils and milk food had risen sharply and calling for his intervention. Hundreds of people demonstrated before the Jaffna government secretariat on 18 January against the price rise.
The delay of food ships to Jaffna has also affected the issue of dry rations to the internally displaced people (IDP). Nearly 27% of the peninsula's current population of 545,000 are IDPs. Some 8,800 of the 145,000 IDPs are in refugee camps and others live with relatives.
The Sri Lankan Army is occupying many buildings in Jaffna, and military officers have assured the HRC that these would be vacated gradually. HRC chairman Faiz Mustapha says that the issue of identity cards by the Army to Jaffna residents is illegal and that the practice continues despite urging the military on a number of occasions to end the practice.
In the last ten years, northern fishermen have lost equipment worth Rs 550 million ($5.7 million) due to military operations, including 490 catamarans and 610 boats. Reports say that the number of fishermen in Jaffna has fallen from 30,000 to 6,500 as a result of restrictions on fishing. A large number of fishermen staged a demonstration before the Jaffna secretariat on 30 January demanding the removal of all the restrictions.
Jaffna magistrate RT Vignarajah ordered the military authorities in early January not to allow Tamil group EPDP members Manmatharajah and Napoleon to leave the Jaffna islands. The two men are wanted in connection with the killing of two people during general elections in December. The order came after police told the magistrate that the Navy had prevented them entering the Jaffna islands to arrest the two persons.