UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator John Holmes while voicing his concern about the freedom of movement of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) today also welcomed the pace of resettlement of the war displaced civilians in the North and said that the number of the remaining civilians in the camp is now below 1,35,000.Briefing the media today at the end of his three day visit together with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister , Rohitha Bogollogama , Sir John Holmes said that the displaced civilians are ‘glad’ to be returning to their homes.He also said that although he is ‘encouraged’ by the signs of ‘flexibility’ in terms of opening of the road link between Jaffna and Colombo and other steps which are being taken by the government and called on them to initiate a consultative process with the returnees. He said that this is important in terms of political reconciliation and for permanent peace to come about.Admitting that de mining is a major challenge before the Sri Lankan Government , John Holmes mentioned that the intention of the government appears positive in resettling them .The UN, he said that after the resettlement process will focus on recovery and rehabilitation.He also admired the resilience of the people of Mannar and mentioned that a good start has been made there and within 3-4 weeks of the resettlement process having been started one can see a lot of activity in terms of civil life returning to normalcy.John Homes was here to get a first hand assessment of the resettlement process. He visited Jaffna , Vavuniya and Mannar and spoke to the recently resettled civilians there. Earlier, this evening he also met the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.