The A9 route opened to the hearts of the Tamil people. Until the reopening of the road, the people in the South had no access to the people in the North due to the ethnic war that divided them and made them suspicious of each other.

Leave alone the intentions of the Tigers about the war, I believe it will be a lesson to every opinion maker in the South to travel to the North on the A9 and see for himself the devastation the war had caused.

Who is responsible for this carnage? No one should even attempt to answer this question as it would be like the proverbial query on which came first - the chick or the egg?

Even the most virulent racist who believes in ethnic cleansing may change his views if he takes the A9 route to Jaffna.

The hopelessness of the people who have been devastated by the ravages of war is evident in their plight which no civilised human being would ever condone.

Even the most moderate Sinhalese in the South when confronted with the carnage caused by a suicide bomber would lose his equanimity and then pose the inevitable question, 'why cannot we carpet bomb or flatten Jaffna?' If one believes that by destroying Jaffna the Sinhalese could win the war, he will soon realise that there are no more buildings to be flattened in the Jaffna peninsula except within a few kilometres in Jaffna.

An eerie feeling devours the soul when one passes through towns such as Mankulam, Chunnakam and Tenamarachchi area where weeds, grass and trees have replaced the buildings and houses inhabited by the Tamil population.

When you proceed to Keerimalai Tank where there is a fresh water pool adjoining the sea you wade through a road passing the KKS cement factory. The entire area is forbidden to the civilians.

Next to the KKS cement factory is the Palaly Airport. Thousands of people have been driven from their homes.

The houses they lived in shows the tenacity of the people. The houses are solidly built and would have lasted for centuries if not for the devastation caused by the war.

On either side of the road the jungle has overtaken the buildings. It has been denuded of human beings for more than ten years - not even a dog, cat or a crow could be seen on either side of the road that leads to Keerimalai.

With all this devastation and despite the fear that the peace process would collapse at any moment, it is unbelievable that the Jaffna people could still smile.

What is truly shocking is the manner in which the Jaffna people welcomed you in spite of the propaganda carried out by various groups which sought to create hatred towards the people in the South, especially the Sinhalese.

The hospitality of the Jaffna people which is a remarkable trait has not been dimmed a bit. They would welcome you with open arms and treat you with so much kindness, love and warmth, that for a moment you ponder whether you have been fighting an ethnic war on the basis that these people are enemies of the majority race.

In the midst of all these, the Tamil lawyers should be paid a special tribute for enduring a living in hell for the past decade or so.

Many have migrated to other countries but still a large number of Tamil lawyers have remained behind.

Every time the LTTE takes over Jaffna and has its own court houses, many lawyers do other things like cultivation.

Others are forced to practise in LTTE courts, but they never gave up the hope for a peaceful or a negotiated settlement to the ethnic war.

They always believed that a day would come when they would continue their practice and the courts will be established.

Even with 26 books in the Jaffna Law Library, they never gave up under the most difficult conditions. They continued to keep the flag of democracy flying.

People of Jaffna do not resent or have any reservations about the judicial system which is in operation, in the south.

They believe, like the people in the South, that it is the most acceptable justice system available to the people of this country. It is not a perfect system.

It has many lacunas and pitfalls but human beings are yet to device a justice system superior to what they have been accustomed to. Even the LTTE has translated the Criminal Procedure Code, Penal Code and the Evidence Ordinance into Tamil. The only difference is that the sections are different to the codes in the South. The Thesawalamai law is also incorporated as a part of quasi Criminal Proceedings.

During the power cuts, we cursed politicians, engineers and even the rain-gods.

But the lawyers in Jaffna have been practising their profession without power. For entertainment there is no television as there is no power.

The President of the Jaffna Bar Association comes to court in a Morris Oxford car that run on kerosene oil.

Other lawyers use Vespa motorcycles or push-cycles. Only the Jaffna High Court Judge has a modern car. The life of a Jaffna lawyer is full of limitations - limitations on his income, on his entertainment, on his transport and even his social life.

When the sun sets, one wonders what they would be doing. Even social drinking is limited to Palmirah arrack.

I do not think people belonging to other ethnic groups would have survived the social, cultural and intellectual degradation the professionals in Jaffna have experienced.

But the greatest tribute one could pay to the Jaffna lawyer is to appreciate their tenacity and fight for survival in the hope of that one day peace will dawn upon Jaffna and they will be able to enjoy the freedom and the social status they enjoyed as members of a noble profession.

For the Jaffna lawyers, hope springs eternal that is what it is when nothing else does.

It is an object lesson to be appreciated and emulated by all those who live in the South whose quality of life is better than their brethren in the North.

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