In mid-June, 104 EPDP members lost their seats after failing to take oaths as councillors. The TULF-controlled Valikamam North regional council adopted a resolution on 19 June suspending its own activities. In place of Mrs Yogeswaran, the TULF chose Colombo lawyer P Sivapalan, who was sworn in as the new Jaffna Mayor on 29 June.
Doubts have been raised whether the local councils can continue to function with the current wave of uncertainty and fear. Colombo newspaper The Island columnist DBS Jeyaraj says although the LTTE threat is the primary reason for the collapse of the local councils, the government also stands indicted of failing to provide meaningful measures for their functioning.
Local NGOs say that after two years, people who returned following the Army capture of Jaffna, have not received adequate assistance to restart their lives, even after many visits and assessments by government officers and UN agencies.
Over 50% of those resettled have not received the initial payment of Rs 5,000. Some 5,500 people are still living in 56 refugee camps unable to return to their homes. Shortage of medicines and doctors in hospitals continues. NGO representatives say that no assistance has been provided to repair the 81,000 houses damaged in the fighting.
Fears over arrest and detention continue to persist. Thirteen young men arrested in March and April and held in Jaffna were transferred to Kalutara prison in June. On 7 June Kokkuvil Technical College student S Lavakumar was arrested in Kaithady. The following day, M Sivakumar was taken away by armed men accompanied by a masked informer in Jaffna town.
Relatives say S Kanthasamy and R Kanagaraj were arrested by police in Jaffna town in mid-June. Perumal Jeyarasa of Sulipuram was detained on 11 June. Three members of the same family were arrested in Sulipuram in late June. The bodies of three women were found in a cemetery at Chavakachcheri in early June. Two more bodies were recovered at Madduvil on 1 July.