MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka -- The boats should have been out on the water off Sri Lanka's northern coast, hauling in nets teeming with fish. Instead, on one bright, recent morning, they were spread on the beach at Mullaitivu, as waves lapped at the shore and a few people milled about under palm trees.
The idyllic scenery masked, for a moment, the pain of a nation. In Mullaitivu, home to a large minority Tamil population, the country's extreme shortage of fuel has wiped out incomes and brought life to a standstill.
