As a result of the closure of the A9 high way to Jaffna, more than half a million people of Jaffna face a humanitarian crisis. Their problems are manifold. Unemployment, scarcity for essential commodities and medicines and price hike are some.

There are attempts to hoodwink the world that essential commodities will be dispatched by sea and air. These are not feasible suggestions.

Transporting such large quantities of essential commodities to meet the requirements of more than half a million people by plane is not practical. Furthermore transporting them by ship is also unpractical in view of the rainy season ahead.

The human suffering is entirely due to the closure of the A9 high way by the security forces. This is an unfortunate tragedy deliberately directed on the Tamil people of the Jaffna peninsula by the refusal to re-open the A0 highway.

Opening the A9 high way, which is the only route to Jaffna by road, is a humanitarian issue. That is the only road access to the people of Jaffna for transport and other needs. So it’s a basic problem of the people of Jaffna that must be attempted urgently with sympathy and understanding.

In fact the opening of the A9 high way is one of the provisions embodied in the Ceasefire Agreement. The government has allowed the closure of the A9 highway and flouted the Ceasefire Agreement creating human suffering to the people of Jaffna.

According to news reports from the State media, the government proposes to raise this question of the opening of the A9 highway as their trump card at the Geneva talks. There are reports that a senior official of the Government Peace Secretariat has stated that the government is likely to re-open the A9 highway unless the LTTE is prepared for compromise at the negotiating table. It is disgraceful to make such a statement.

Let us wait and see how the LTTE that has gone for negotiations after having shown their might in military strength is going to face this proposed trump of the government.

An English translation of the Editorial in Uthayan, a Tamil daily, based in Jaffna

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