See WSWS's photo gallery here, taken on the once heavily fought for A9 highway through Vanni to Jaffna.

Despite the end of the war, foreigners need permission to visit the Vanni region, once home to 300,000 Tamils, all of whom were displaced in Sri Lanka's onslaught.

The UN says 160,000 houses in Vanni were destroyed or damaged in the final phase of the war (2006-9).

Whilst Sri Lanka and its international allies labour to present an image of emerging 'post-conflict' normalcy - and even of 'reconciliation' in the offing - events in Jaffna this week made clear the country's future is exactly the reverse. The military's desecration of the ashes of LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan's mother, and its anxious, violent efforts in preceding days to prevent public mourning of her death underline not only the popular sentiment amongst Tamils, but the state's unshakable insecurity. In short, the seventy-year long antagonism between the Sinhala ethnocracy and the Tamil people will endure and grow. This is not a matter of ancient hatreds, but of state policy and the politics to come.

“Sixes hit (by Sri Lankans) shatter the roof of the English palace and things in it tumble.”

- verse from Sri Lanka’s official song for the cricket World Cup.

Well after the start of the cricket World Cup, President Mahinda Rajapaksa Wednesday ordered his country’s official song to be taken off air.

Rajapaksa told reporters he was displeased with its contents because it insults foreign teams.

“In the one and a half year period [since the end of the war] there has not been evidence of higher foreign direct investment, in fact foreign direct investment has declined rather than increased.

“Despite the IMF and World Bank giving favourable assessments of the economy, … the international investment community does not appear to consider Sri Lanka a favourable destination for investment.”

When Sri Lanka resumed its war against the Tamil Tigers in mid 2006, the first offensives were directed at Sampur and nearby areas in Trincomalee district.

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Higher Education has brought in new measures to make universities responsible for ensuring their graduates can be 'guaranteed' to get jobs anywhere in the world.

See report here.

“If they cannot accomplish this what is the use of having such universities?" Secretary to the ministry Sunil Jayantha Navaratne argues.

“The [Sri Lankan] authorities continue to execute policies in line with the IMF programme's goals”

- Brian Aitken, head of IMF review mission, Feb 18.

Sri Lanka swapped a Chinese-made train for the Indian ones to be used on the service when the Galle-Matara high-speed line was inaugurated Wednesday.

Senior police officers in Tamil Nadu this week dismissed claims that LTTE cadres would attack top political leaders during the forthcoming state Assembly elections

On Sunday The Hindu newspaper quoted Indian intelligence sources as saying the Ministry of Home Affairs had sent alerts about possible attacks.