A9 highway has become a controversial issue in Sri Lankan politics. The Geneva peace talks between the government and the LTTE collapsed over the failure to reach a consensus on re-opening the A9 highway.

The A9 highway was closed on 11th of August following the intense fighting between the government and the LTTE. As a result, the Jaffna peninsula was cut off from the rest of the country.

With the A9 highway lying closed for the three months, there has been a humanitarian crisis in the peninsula. The people there have faced food crisis, economic crisis, unemployment problem, medical problems, health problems and starvation and no steps have been taken by the government to alleviate their sufferings for three long months.

The problem is, the government views the A9 highway issue merely as a demand by the LTTE. It refuses to view it as a humanitarian issue that affects the Tamil people in the peninsula. The refusal of the government to re-open the A9 highway for security reasons is not acknoweledged by the international community.

Even that one off Aid Convoy to the peninsula through the A9 highway is due to the result of the pressure by the international community to resolve the human crisis in Jaffna. But the LTTE has rejected the opening of the A9 highway only on one occasion as a mere drama and that there was no intention of solving the real human problems.

An English translation of the Editorial in Thinakkural, a Tamil daily, based in Colombo

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