Tamils hunt for news of relatives
 Thousands of civilians are fleeing the conflict zone |
Thomas Cruz says he is undergoing treatment for depression and that his health has been badly affected by what is happening in north-eastern Sri Lanka.
For more than six months all the telephone lines to the rebel-controlled areas, except the official lines connecting government offices and hospitals, have been cut off.
But some Sri Lankan Tamils there have been able to speak to relatives abroad via satellite phones provided by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
 |  My family were living in a bunker covered by a tent  Pathmanathan Vasegaran |
"My mother is old and suffers from diabetes. She can hardly walk. She was displaced many times. When she called me last, she told me there was no medicine even for ordinary fever and a shortage of food and other essentials.
"I have no idea where she is. I hope my sister is taking care of her. Whenever I see the news, I get disturbed. Every day scores are getting killed. When I think about this I am not able to sleep at all," he says.
Relief camps
More than 110,000 civilians are estimated to have left the war zone in the past three weeks, since the Sri Lankan army destroyed earth-work defences built by the Tigers.
But 50,000 people are estimated to be still trapped, according to the United Nations.
 Thomas Cruz, pictured far left, says he is having treatment for depression |
Those who made it out safe have been housed in relief camps set up by the government in Vavuniya.
Pathmanathan Vasegaran, a student studying in Manchester in north-west England, lost contact with his family two months ago.
"My relatives who reached Vavuniya camp have passed on information that my parents are still in the LTTE-controlled area. When I last spoke to my family, they said they were living in a bunker covered by a tent.
"When I get up in the morning, the first thing I see is the news. I study the list of those killed and injured. Now since the death toll is going up, they are not giving names and other details. I used to watch TV footage in the hope of spotting them.
"I used to send money to them via the LTTE, but now even that is not possible," he says.
The options of using these illegal channels is drying up and Tamil relatives want the Sri Lankan government to help them to send money to their loved ones in the Vavuniya camp.
Post offices
The government says it has opened banks in a relief village (where camps of the displaced are located) and promised to open more branches in other camps too.
| In February, my second cousin's daughter Kanimozhi was killed. We saw her photo in a web-based news portal Lakshmi Jayakumar |
"We have given a telephone connection to one of the newly established relief villages; another three will be connected within a week. We will also be opening post offices in the relief camps. This will help them to communicate with their relatives," he says.
"We are yet to complete the registration of the people who have come to these camps. Once that is done anyone who needs information about their relatives can contact my ministry or the concerned government agency to get details," Mr Bathiudeen says.
But many Sri Lankan Tamils abroad are not convinced by the government's assurances.
Some, like Lakshmi Jayakumar, who took part in recent protests held in Parliament Square in London, wants more action from the international community to end the sufferings of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
"Some of our relatives are in Wanni. We were not able to speak to them after December. A few of them were in Valingarmadam. In February, my second cousin's daughter Kanimozhi was killed there. We saw her photo in a web-based news portal. After that I called up another relative in Lanka who confirmed the news.
"When I think about the fate of my relatives back home, I am not even able to cook for my children here," says Lakshmi.
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