By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

By assembling in Kilinochchi, the government is making a clear statement of its role in reunifying the island after years of civil war

He was speaking after chairing an unprecedented cabinet meeting in the town of Kilinochchi, which was the headquarters of the separatist Tamil Tigers until just before their military defeat last year.

The government has confirmed that northern Sri Lanka will now host permanent military garrisons.

President Rajapaksa told public servants in Kilinochchi that local lives must be rebuilt, saying that the authorities were resettling displaced Tamil civilians in their homes with unparalleled speed.

Resettling IDPs

This comes after international criticism that they were being kept in closed camps for too long.

	Mr. Rajapaksa has confirmed that northern Sri Lanka will now host permanent military garrisons

Meeting about two thousand recent returnees, the president made a presentation of farming equipment and sewing machines.

As he is done on key occasions before, the president used a combination of languages – the local Tamil language, English, and his own Sinhala.

By holding these meetings and a cabinet session in the former Tamil Tiger headquarters, Kilinochchi, the government is stressing that its writ runs all over the island and the days of separatism are gone.

“Previously, one could not move in that place,” a government spokesman told the BBC. Normalisation in the mainly Tamil north is only just starting.

Some of those returning home complain at the heavy military presence there.

But the defence secretary has just told officers in the north that there will be permanent garrisons in the former rebel strongholds of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu to strengthen security.

There will also be new homes there for officers of the mainly Sinhalese army.