Last month around 60,000 people fled from Vavuniya and thousands more from other border areas following the collapse of Sri Lankan army camps in the Wanni area. When we visited Padaviya, a remote peasant area situated about 300 kilometres from Colombo, there were nine refugee camps crammed with 1,800 families or more than 7,000 people. Refugees had trekked 15 kilometres from villages in Welioya peasant settlement. The last 40 kilometres before Padaviya, we had to travel through a war-ravaged area. The military has set up a number of tough checkpoints.
Passengers have to get down from their vehicles and soldiers go through the bags and baggage.
The whole exercise takes about half an hour each time. Fifty to 60 soldiers man the checkpoint, which is surrounded by green oil barrels and sandbags. Getting closer to Padaviya we see abandoned, damaged houses and paddy fields covered with grass and bushes that tell us there has been no human habitation for years. As the LTTE started the offensive in the Wanni, the army fled the area. The police followed them.