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| Sunday, 28 July 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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The Return to Jaffna - 1 by FACTOTUM For the two Engineers, one domiciled in Canada and the other in Hong Kong, the return to Jaffna in the company of others to whom the compulsion to leave had not been so severe, would certainly have brought back nostalgic memories of those early days when palmyrah branches beckoned to give them shade from the noon day sun and the Yal Devi charged down the rail road to disgorge them in the capital city of the peninsula. One of the two returnees touching on the physical and social impacts of the war, within the constraints of less than a week's stay there in Jaffna while on a brief sojourn from Canada, set the scene. As the story unfolded the trauma and tragedy of the long war and longer still, the unmindful and wanton actions that let things adrift surfaced. Traces of the rail road are hardly discernible now. Rebuilding it, retrieving the old path from the invading jungle would be a big challenge. Elephant Pass is so silted that one has gone over it not knowing that the neck has been bridged. There are hardly any palmyrah palms to wave invitingly as one goes along a road that needs mending. The war has taken its toll. Desolation and devastation are evident everywhere. Setting off from Kandy, now so crowded and depressing, they take the A9, known to them more familiarly as the Kandy-Vavuniya road. Dambulla and Kekirawa emerge developed townships but no such positive changes are seen in Vavuniya. From Omanthai all the way up to Kilinochchi there are no signs of destruction - there's nothing to destroy. But beyond, there are no traces of those familiar buildings that dotted the landscape - the Rest House at Kilinochchi, the chemical factory at Paranthan and whatever other landmarks that were the geography of those parts then. Chavakachcheri has taken the severemost beating. The Jaffna Town Centre is bereft of those ever so busy places of local administration - the Town Hall and the Court Houses. Then that haven of pleasant respite - the Rest House is gone. But to compensate as it were Jaffna College has donned a new and better look. The causeway to the islands is falling apart. Old houses there are no more. The Court House in Kayts is simply not there. KKS and Palaly present similar scenarios. Near Chunakam displaced fishermen are now in camps, honing skills to venture out into new trades. The most traumatic social implication of the vigorous conflict was the evacuation of the city in 1995-96 leaving behind the aged, the sick and the maimed. Some perished on the way. The poor and vulnerable were left no choice but to remain in the Vanni jungles. The more resourceful left the country or moved to places away from the theatre of war among kith and kin. Some returned to Jaffna, a majority of women and the old. Over a 500,000 evacuees have dispersed. School students are so malnourished that they cannot last the full length of a football game, few can go beyond half time. Landmines are a severe constraint on farming activities. Farmers lacked fuel and energy. There were no markets for their produce. The fishermen were the worst affected. Of 11,000 families 6000 are displaced. For the remaining 5000 families fishing was permitted within the bounds of 500 metres and their quick return was ensured by the meagre ration of half a loaf. No change of clothing was permitted when setting out to sea. Power has now been restored and the survivors mostly vegetarians are looking forward to tranquil times. (concluding part next week) |
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