In terms of population too Jaffna is quiet compared to the usual bustle of Sri Lankan towns. Hundreds of thousands of people have left - fled to Canada, Australia, Europe and elsewhere. Everywhere there are army checkpoints and armed soldiers. We saw the remains of the famous library, the pride of Jaffna, wantonly destroyed by the army to deprive the students of education. Innumerable houses have been destroyed.
Many areas are no go, red signs with a skull and crossbones warn of land mines.
The dad of one of our Jaffna students had his leg blown off by a land mine while working on his land. At the moment there is a limited peace and talks are going on - for the first time in ages there seems to be some hope of starting to talk about the possibility of a settlement. In the mean time for the local people life after a fashion continues. The fishermen too are very limited in what they can catch, they are constantly subject to all sorts of restrictions on times and places where they can fish. The prawns were fantastic and I bought a huge crab for about 50 pence.