Normalcy is impossible until abducted students have been released, a delegation of dignitaries told the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander in Jaffna.

"The immediate release of the abducted students is the only way to bring Jaffna peninsula educational activities back to normalcy," Jaffna Bishop Rt. Rev. Thomas Savundaranayagam told had said in a special meeting last Wednesday, TamilNet reported.

Fear and turmoil continue to grip the Jaffna peninsula due the disappearance of and increasing number students disappear, and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) allegedly responds by threatening to censor reports on the abductions.

At least 10 students have been reported missing, another two confirmed as having being killed and at least 2 students released after being tortured by Sri Lanka’s Military Intelligence division in the past two months alone.

The Sri Lanka Army’s refusal to open the Omanthai checkpoint, on the main A9 route between LTTE controlled territory and Vavuniya town, is endangering the lives of the sick, LTTE officials charged.

Summary of incidents – apart from major clashes – since 14 May

Food supplies are running out in refugee camps and aid workers are protesting the Sri Lankan government’s forcible resettlement.

L. Arupragasam is a happy man. The head teacher has finally returned to his school which is located in Kalavanchchikudi division, Batticaloa district, eastern Sri Lanka. Last December, Arupragasam, along with 230 of his students had to abandon the school so it could be used as a shelter for about 2,000 displaced people.

Like the Sri Lankan state, the international community has changed emphasis; the Diaspora is now mainly a problem.

It is undoubtedly inevitable that what you might call surgical military action against terrorism should take place.

Cases of murder, abduction, disappearance and intimidation surface almost daily in Sri Lanka as it slides into lawlessness and war.

The ‘war on terror’ will not bring peace to Sri Lanka.