Population plunge in Jaffna peninsula

Sri Lanka’s first national census in 30 years has shown a dramatic 20 per cent drop in the population of the Jaffna peninsula, the long-time base of LTTE during the island’s ethnic conflict.

According to a preliminary census report released Wednesday, the population in Jaffna, which the LTTE once ran as a de facto separate state in the north-east, has fallen from 734,000 in 1981 to 583,000.

Work on the census began last year.

The report offered no analysis, but a Tamil legislator in the national parliament said it reflected an exodus during the fighting between Tamil rebels and government forces from 1972 to 2011 that claimed an estimated 100,000 lives, AFP reports.