Sinhalese terrorists are invading Jaffna this time around!

Now that the A9 is open once again the Northern City is being assaulted once more by hoards of Sinhalese. But this time they are coming in busloads instead of armored tanks and are armed with cameras instead of guns. I drove into Jaffna yesterday. What really amazed me were the bus loads of people who were making use of the holidays to visit the north. There were literally busloads full of families taking a trip. For a moment one would think they were on the route to Kataragama during the season. What was a beautiful sight was all the security forces personnel exchanging waves with everyone. The holiday atmosphere was infectious. But sadly this was not a holiday town. In fact though everyone was moving about with gay abandon there were certain sights which would send a chill through your spine. For instance there were land mine signs all over the place along with shattered buildings and structures which made me wonder what it would have been like to live in this place when the war was going on. Of course what was funny was the busloads of people who were thronging around this place and snapping away to glory. And one of my Colleagues said this is what you call “Terror Tourism”! Which I thought was absolutely true. And of course if you combine these two words just like one would do in the travel trade what you come up with is Terrorists. Which again was quite ironic. While it’s a great thing that so many are taking this opportunity to visit Jaffna they have to be extremely aware of the fact that this is an area which is just coming out of war. And sometimes danger could be lurking beneath the surface. This point was driven home to me when I was walking on the side of the road of elephant pass and a soldier rushed to me and said be careful as there still could be landmines lying around though the area has been cleared. Because just two weeks ago one of their seniors had stepped on one in the same area and lost a leg. I just hope no such incidents will happen to these terrorists and rain on everyone’s parade.

These pics were taken from my phone the quality it not too good but more proper pics will be up soon once I get back home where I will have access to a decent broad band connection :)