The Muslims of Mannar were forced to leave in 1990. Most of them were fishermen and farmers. Some of them have changed their traditional job over a period, and doing business to earn a better income.

A large number of people are still living in cadjan huts, where a few of the displaced people have managed to build houses on their own. They have been living in these tiny huts for seventeen years.

There are 650 families-1,700 persons living in Arafa Nagar, which is situated in Nuraichcolai, near Katpity in North-West Sri Lanka.

The refugees are very frustrated, saying that they are a forgotten community. They are left alone to survive.