This study was carried out in Vavuniya and Puttalam as part of a larger study of war-induced forced migration in Sri Lanka. It documented and examined the socio-economic conditions of the displaced, and the local communities, along with the more significant changes in the local political economies. Forced migrations were an endemic phenomenon of the internal war in Sri Lanka that started in 1983, and this study examines the impact of long-term impact of prolonged displacement of large numbers of people, focusing on the internally displaced people of the Tamil community in Vavuniya, and the displaced people belonging to the Muslim community in Puttlam.