Refugees refuse to go back without a guarantee on safety

The eastern Sri Lankan town was captured by the Sri Lanka security forces in early January.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa and armed forces commanders made a surprise visit to Vakarai and other captured areas on Saturday.

Rajapaksa pledged to 'liberate' Tamils and bring normalcy to the captured areas.

17,000 refugees

Nearly 17,000 refugees from over 4000 families are now living in temporary camps or with relatives.

	President pledged to bring normalcy to recently captured areas

The refugees who earlier lived in 37 villages near Vakarai under LTTE-control fled their homes as violence escalated between Sri Lanka troops and Tamil Tigers.

Most of them are willing go back to their homes.

But the government should guarantee a safe return and pledge not to continue with attacks or search operations, they say.

Search operations

"There is no point of going back if we were to be arrested and sent to Boossa detention camp," a refugee told journalist Shanthi Selvadorai who visited a camp in Valaichchenai.

"We need to live a normal life".

Many refugees stressed that no militant group should be given free reign in and around Vakarai.

Presence of the militant groups, whether LTTE or anti-LTTE faction, would create more tension in already volatile eastern district, they said.