Sri Lanka's military victory over the Tamil Tigers in the multi-ethnic east of the island means little to displaced people such as 12-year-old Suna Madushandan who can not go home.
Along with the rest of his family, he ran for his life when their home in Sampur, in the northeastern district of Trincomalee, was showered with mortar bombs fired by advancing government forces in 2006.
"My stomach and leg were hit," he says, displaying the scars. His mother, Mary Sinnamah, points to the scars from shrapnel wounds near his eight-year-old sister Sandawani's ear.
"Since the start of April, there were 21,201 internally displaced people here," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
That total includes 8,000 people from Trincomalee who have sought shelter in the lagoon town of Batticaloa, 303 kilometres (190 miles) from Colombo.
They were all caught in the crossfire of a struggle for land between government troops and Tamil Tigers who are fighting for an independent state in the Northeast of the island.
They have been sleeping in schools, churches, government buildings and relatives' homes since 2006 when the military began a push to flush the rebels from their eastern stronghold.
The east is now in government hands, but 10 months on thousands still live in makeshift camps, surviving on aid agency handouts and sleeping on plastic mats on concrete floors.
"The government is working hard to resettle people by September," said Catholic priest Father Sylvester Sritharan, who runs three shelters.
"But Sampur has now been demarcated a high security zone and people can't go back," he said.
The new place is jungle and there isn't enough work
The government has offered alternative land, but some people, including maths teacher N. Paramanandan and 341 other former Sampur residents, have refused to budge from their temporary shelter in Sinhala Maha Vidyalaya in Batticaloa.
"The new place is jungle. There are wild animals. It's not safe and there isn't enough work," Paramanandan said in his "home" -- a former classroom where each family's living space is separated by a blue plastic sheet.
Mortar fire killed three of Yogeswari Thewendran's sons, while a shell burnt through her right hand.
She used to be a farm hand but now cannot find work to provide for her two remaining boys, aged six and eight.
Lack of jobs, food and water shortages, and poor sanitation are among key issues facing the people camped in Batticaloa, according to UN relief agencies.
"There are so many people looking for work alongside local residents. There's not enough work being created," Sritharan said.
Reminders of the war's destructive legacy can be seen everywhere in the windowless concrete buildings and crumbled ruins of homes that are steadily being overgrown by creepers and other vegetation.
The local economy -- largely driven by fishing and farming -- was shattered by years of living under the shadow of the gun, and the December 2004 tsunami that razed beachside homes and businesses, and killed hundreds in the area.
The government wants to begin rebuilding the war-ravaged east and in March conducted polls -- the first in 14 years -- to select people to run local administrations.
Running on the government ticket the breakaway Tiger faction, the TMVP, secured the majority of votes but they have been accused by rights groups of abuses such as kidnappings, executions and recruiting child soldiers.
The polls were a curtain-raiser for the government to hold larger provincial council elections on May 10, to give more autonomy to minority Tamils.
The May elections are part of the government's master plan for greater devolution in minority Tamil areas that it hopes will undermine the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Sri Lanka's military promised at the start of this year to wipe out the Tigers by the end of June.
Fears elections could usher in 'rule by the bullet'
But there are worries among some of the locals, such as businessman T. Perimbarajah, that the TMVP will extend its position by winning the provincial elections.
"There's a fear that if the militiamen take control, they will rule by the bullet," he said.
A strong military presence is still visible in Batticaloa with soldiers manning barbed-wire checkpoints across the district and armed troops patrolling the streets.
Former farmer Kumaraswamy Perimbarajah, 50, cycles along bumpy roads to nearby Punani village to collect 100 kilos of firewood from which he earns just five dollars a day to feed his wife and two teenage sons.
He said he was delighted to vote in the recent polls after last filling in a ballot paper in 1994.
"These elections are good," he said, but added he didn't think they would change much.
"The roads will stay potholed and I won't be able to get electricity for my house," he said.
For others, such as 52-year-old former Qatar housemaid Kanagamani Sarvanamuttu, displaced by years of war, the local elections are meaningless.
"What use are these elections? I want to go back to my village and rebuild my life. The contestants said nothing about resettling us quickly," she said
Along with the rest of his family, he ran for his life when their home in Sampur, in the northeastern district of Trincomalee, was showered with mortar bombs fired by advancing government forces in 2006.
"My stomach and leg were hit," he says, displaying the scars. His mother, Mary Sinnamah, points to the scars from shrapnel wounds near his eight-year-old sister Sandawani's ear.
"Since the start of April, there were 21,201 internally displaced people here," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
That total includes 8,000 people from Trincomalee who have sought shelter in the lagoon town of Batticaloa, 303 kilometres (190 miles) from Colombo.
They were all caught in the crossfire of a struggle for land between government troops and Tamil Tigers who are fighting for an independent state in the Northeast of the island.
They have been sleeping in schools, churches, government buildings and relatives' homes since 2006 when the military began a push to flush the rebels from their eastern stronghold.
The east is now in government hands, but 10 months on thousands still live in makeshift camps, surviving on aid agency handouts and sleeping on plastic mats on concrete floors.
"The government is working hard to resettle people by September," said Catholic priest Father Sylvester Sritharan, who runs three shelters.
"But Sampur has now been demarcated a high security zone and people can't go back," he said.
The new place is jungle and there isn't enough work
The government has offered alternative land, but some people, including maths teacher N. Paramanandan and 341 other former Sampur residents, have refused to budge from their temporary shelter in Sinhala Maha Vidyalaya in Batticaloa.
"The new place is jungle. There are wild animals. It's not safe and there isn't enough work," Paramanandan said in his "home" -- a former classroom where each family's living space is separated by a blue plastic sheet.
Mortar fire killed three of Yogeswari Thewendran's sons, while a shell burnt through her right hand.
She used to be a farm hand but now cannot find work to provide for her two remaining boys, aged six and eight.
Lack of jobs, food and water shortages, and poor sanitation are among key issues facing the people camped in Batticaloa, according to UN relief agencies.
"There are so many people looking for work alongside local residents. There's not enough work being created," Sritharan said.
Reminders of the war's destructive legacy can be seen everywhere in the windowless concrete buildings and crumbled ruins of homes that are steadily being overgrown by creepers and other vegetation.
The local economy -- largely driven by fishing and farming -- was shattered by years of living under the shadow of the gun, and the December 2004 tsunami that razed beachside homes and businesses, and killed hundreds in the area.
The government wants to begin rebuilding the war-ravaged east and in March conducted polls -- the first in 14 years -- to select people to run local administrations.
Running on the government ticket the breakaway Tiger faction, the TMVP, secured the majority of votes but they have been accused by rights groups of abuses such as kidnappings, executions and recruiting child soldiers.
The polls were a curtain-raiser for the government to hold larger provincial council elections on May 10, to give more autonomy to minority Tamils.
The May elections are part of the government's master plan for greater devolution in minority Tamil areas that it hopes will undermine the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Sri Lanka's military promised at the start of this year to wipe out the Tigers by the end of June.
Fears elections could usher in 'rule by the bullet'
But there are worries among some of the locals, such as businessman T. Perimbarajah, that the TMVP will extend its position by winning the provincial elections.
"There's a fear that if the militiamen take control, they will rule by the bullet," he said.
A strong military presence is still visible in Batticaloa with soldiers manning barbed-wire checkpoints across the district and armed troops patrolling the streets.
Former farmer Kumaraswamy Perimbarajah, 50, cycles along bumpy roads to nearby Punani village to collect 100 kilos of firewood from which he earns just five dollars a day to feed his wife and two teenage sons.
He said he was delighted to vote in the recent polls after last filling in a ballot paper in 1994.
"These elections are good," he said, but added he didn't think they would change much.
"The roads will stay potholed and I won't be able to get electricity for my house," he said.
For others, such as 52-year-old former Qatar housemaid Kanagamani Sarvanamuttu, displaced by years of war, the local elections are meaningless.
"What use are these elections? I want to go back to my village and rebuild my life. The contestants said nothing about resettling us quickly," she said
