Changing face of North: Region growing faster than any other
A morning scene in Jaffna town. Pic by Indika Handuwela
A morning scene in Jaffna town. Pic by Indika Handuwela
By Our Political Editor-Sunday, February 21, 2016
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Hindu Primary school students in the town area panicked. A teacher asked them to lie flat on the ground in the mistaken belief that an air raid was imminent. Some screaming and others trembling did just that. Still fresh in their minds were the days when Air Force raids on Tiger guerrilla hideouts saw them being goaded into underground bunkers, amidst deafening explosions. Once more they were being forced to re-live that trauma. Elsewhere, farmers in their fields or those on different chores in the town and outskirts looked confused. That included cyclists and motorists who stopped on the roads to stare at the skies.JAFFNA: The thundering roar of a MiG-27 engine on training sorties over the skies of this peninsula revived memories of the brutal three-decade-long separatist war.
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) spokesperson, Group Captain Chandima Alwis, said a routine training exercise with the Navy was under way on Tuesday and Thursday. He confirmed Russian built MiG-27 ground attack aircraft were deployed for this purpose. That they chose the skies over Jaffna, perhaps unwittingly, was to say the least, a grossly insensitive move. More so, when this northern city has almost shed the scars of the wounds caused by the separatist war. Gone are the buildings with pockmarks, the result of intense gunfire. What were once the offices or bases of Tiger guerrillas are no more. Multi-storeyed buildings or shops have come up in their place. Hotels are springing up in many areas and tourists, particularly large groups of budget travellers, are frequenting the smaller restaurants, some with air conditioned rooms on offer.
