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| Rajapaksa arrives in Jaffna with paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda. Photograph BBC Sinhala |
Soldiers are stationed across Jaffna today, as Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in Jaffna.
"Severe security here in Jaffna by armed soldiers," a Jaffna based journalist told the Tamil Guardian.
Rajapaksa arrived, accompanied by the paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda, on the Yal Devi train, which was reopened after the service was halted over 24 years during the armed conflict.
The North has been closed off to all foreign citizens since Friday citing apparent security risks posed by foreigners to Sri Lanka's national security. See here for more.
Several diaspora Tamils, returning to visit family and friends, were turned away at Omanthai check point by the military.
Rajapaksa is chairing the Special District Development Meeting in Jaffna today. The Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C. V. Wigneswaran and other TNA NPC members are boycotting the meeting, stating that it would be "inappropriate for us to attend the 13th October meeting as well as other politically motivated meetings in the Northern Province, particularly when in reality the NPC and the Tamil speaking peoples are continuing to be marginalised". See here for more.