War not over until normalcy returns - JCC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 April 2002, 19:03 GMT]
In the view of the people on the peninsula, the war is not over, the Jaffna Chamber of Commerce (JCC) told a group of Colombo businessmen Tuesday. The JCC stressed that until life returned to normal for Jaffna civilians, entrepreneurs from other parts of the island should not rush to exploit the lack of facilities on the peninsula.

Jaffna Railway station (Library photo)

"The Jaffna businessmen will be prepared for the infrastructure development of the economy in their areas once they decided that the war is over", Mr.Ratnalingam Jayasekaran, Secretary of the JCC said at a conference held Tuesday morning in Jaffna.

About forty-seven Colombo businessmen led by the President of the National Chamber of Commerce (NCC) Mr. Chandra Imbuldeniya attended the conference held at the office of the JCC.

The group of Colombo businessmen Tuesday morning arrived Palaly on a two-day visit to meet Jaffna businessmen to revive the Jaffna economy, which had been devastated by the brutal war for the past two decades.

The JCC Secretary further said that the visit of the Colombo businessmen to Jaffna at this stage would be of no use. He advised Colombo businessmen not to be hasty in opening business activities in Jaffna when the life of the people has not returned to normalcy, even after the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE.

Colombo businessmen were told "even now fishermen are unable to earn their livelihood because of restriction on fishing by the State armed forces. Government troops still occupy schools, temples and civilian houses. They have not vacated these places as stipulated by the ceasefire agreement."

Mr. Chandra Imbuldeniya, President of the National Chamber of Commerce on his arrival at Palaly expressed confidence that their visit to Jaffna would revive the business activities in the peninsula.