Senior government officer in Jaffna, Government Agent (GA) S Pathmanathan, told visiting journalists in mid-April that repairs to school buildings are carried out with NGO involvement and the government has not provided any assistance to rebuild houses and shops. Many returning families find that their houses are either damaged or occupied by other families or soldiers.
Over 40,000 have returned to Jaffna by ships from the mainland Vanni through the eastern Trincomalee port. A further 3,000 have arrived in small boats from Nachchikudah in Vanni, as conditions there deteriorate. According to the JCPS, resettlement assistance of Rs 5,000 promised by the government has been paid only to a very few people.
After the 12-hour daily curfew in the Jaffna peninsula was reduced by three hours from 18 April the military had agreed to resettle 1,500 families in Valikamam North which has remained a security zone. The Punnalai bridge linking the peninsula to Karainagar Island will be opened for food lorries but remain closed to the public.
Many problems in Jaffna remain and observers say people fear over personal security. There is still no information on the 656 people disappeared in Jaffna last year which is one of the highest in the world. Amnesty International says such large disappearances in a year while the government claims to address the problem, is outrageous. Over 600 Jaffna parents have formed an Association of the Parents of the Disappeared.
In a letter to Batticaloa MP P Joseph Defence Ministry’s Additional Secretary Mahinda Bandusena says that the Army’s involvement in the murder of six Tamils, including a student, whose bodies were recovered from shallow graves in Thenmaratchy last November, would be investigated.
Four civilian women were injured in a Tiger grenade attack at Thirunelveli on 4 April. Three Tigers were killed in an Army ambush at Alaveddy, five miles south-west of Palaly airbase, three days later. Ten soldiers died in a landmine attack at Nagarkovil in Vadamaratchy. The Tigers shot dead an Army officer on 1 May at Ariyalai, east of Jaffna town.
Visiting German Deputy Foreign minister Werner Hoyer pledged Rs 330 million ($6.6 million) for reconstruction. Reports say that following recommendations of a UN assessment team to Jaffna last September, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has provided funds for the supply of seed paddy and equipment to 35,000 Jaffna families.