The WSWS team visited Dharmapuram, a village badly affected by the war and located 13 kilometres east of Kilinochchi, along the Paranthan-Mullaithivu road. Most locals had fled to the Mullaithivu district during the last stages of the war. The village was captured from the LTTE on January 15.

After their resettlement, refugees were provided with dry rations for six months; now they are without proper jobs or an income, and often go without food for days at a time. Elderly residents who lost their family breadwinners during the war are desperately struggling for food each day.  There are instances when the orphaned old people are forced to beg for their meals from neighbours who are also living in poverty.

Most people are still living in huts made from tarpaulins issued by the UNHCR.

Villagers also face water shortages. There are a few wells in the area but no running water facilities. Many families are forced to use a small pond for bathing and clothes washing. The same pond is also used by animals. There are no toilet facilities and there is no electricity. Unsafe bottle lamps are used for light with children attempting to study in the dim light.

Dharmapuram has a small government hospital but it lacks basic equipment and staff. It also serves neighbouring Kalmadu, Vattakachchi, Udayarkaddu and Vishwamadu villages.

All those WSWS team spoke to were bitter about their conditions and criticised all political parties, who they said, ‘come to us only for votes’.
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One woman said: “Geethanjali [a Kilinochchi district organiser for the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party] visits here. She’s always talking about a ‘better life for women’ and attempting to collect people for their meetings, but she does nothing useful for us.”
Another villager spoke about the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). “They’re useless. In the last elections, we voted for them and after that they never visited here.”

– edited excerpts from a WSWS article by Subash Somachandran