Jaffna IDPs appeal to LTTE for their resettlement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2004, 14:25 GMT]
A group of representatives representing hundreds of thousands of internally displaced families (IDP) due to the occupation of their houses and agricultural lands in Jaffna district by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday met with Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Killinochchi and explained their plight for the last fifteen years, sources in Kilinochchi said.




Representatives brought to the notice of Mr.Thamilchelvan that their struggle through non-violent means have failed to provide any redress to their sufferings and returning to their own houses and villages.

They appealed to Mr.Thamilchelvan that the LTTE mandated by the Tamil people, as their sole representative should take immediate steps for them to return to their houses and lands now being occupied by the SLA.

About sixty members of the Associations of the Missing Persons in Jaffna district also participated in the discussion, sources said

At the conclusion of the discussion, a memorandum was handed over to Mr.Thamilchelvan for further action, sources said.

Excerpts from the memorandum follow:

" We, the people displaced from Valigamam North in the Jaffna district are languishing for the last 15 years in welfare centres and refugee camps undergoing untold hardships and misery.

" We are a people who worked hard and lived with prosperity in our soil. Because of military occupation we lost our dwellings, farmlands and the sea and struggling in the welfare centres and refugee camps without livelihood. One generation has been destined to continue with denial of access to their homestead and the next generation has not yet seen theirs.

" We have been engaged in many a demonstration during the past to free ourselves from this tragedy. Time has passed in vain without realizing any benefits. It is at this frustrating point; the cease-fire agreement and the political negotiations began.

"We believed that our live would be resurrected during this peacetime. We also believed that talks would recommence on the basis of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals submitted by our sole representatives, the LTTE. We continued to live with fantasy dreams of our own homestead; but nothing happened.

"It is a story of continued disappointment and misery. We feel that the Sinhala government and the chauvinistic forces are preparing themselves to impose on us another war. This has shattered our hopes and pushed us to the fringe of frustration.

"As our representatives, we request of you to take meaningful steps to recommence the talks on the basis of the ISGA through international pressure on the government.