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).
None have been rebuilt. Most of the 'resettled' live in tents or fragile shacks.
Some people struggle to make a living through rickety tea stalls for travellers - but have to compete against the Army's.
See also our earlier posts:
'So much for ‘resettlement’ ... ' (Jan 2011)
'Terror in Jaffna: blocking international efforts' (Jan 2011)
'Military budget 100 times that of resettlement ' (Oct 2010)
