After 30 years of a
terrible war,
visiting Jaffna from the South is wonderful, but
visiting Jaffna during the war was a surprise !
During the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in 2005 my family and I visited Jaffna for the first time and for the second time after 6 years. When going back to Jaffna vast differences caught my eye at a glance.
In 2005 all the people had to make an application in front of the L.T.T.E., in the ‘Omantha’ checkpoint to enter Jaffna. It was like taking visa to enter another country. After entering the terrorists’ region, all you could see were policemen, hospitals, banks and
checkpoints which belonged to the L.T.T.E.
But now, not a single sign of the terrorists can be seen unless destroyed buildings and uprooted palm trees.
Hundreds of paddy and tobacco fields can be seen on the sides of the Point Pedro road. As it’s the red onion harvesting season, trucks filled with kilos of onion rush towards the fair nearby to sell their goods. We went into one of the fairs to see the variation in goods.
“This New Year we got more profit,” said one of the sellers. In this fair we got to know that 1kg of Jaffna grapes are sold at Rs.300/-. During the
journey at Jaffna to get religious
blessings we visited the Naga Vihara temple.
There the chief monk applied oil according to the traditions of the New Year.
Staying in Jaffna for three days provided me vast knowledge and I
witnessed the difference of the intentions and life styles of the people during the war and after the war.
|
E-mail
