Supreme Court requests details on HSZ displaced

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2006, 14:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court requested details of families displaced from the High Security Zone in Valigamam North and who requested court intervention to allow them to resettle back in their homes, legal sources in Colombo said. The Court ordered the report to be submitted before the 8th April when it took up for further inquiry the Fundamental Rights (FR) applications filed by Mr.Mavai Senathirajah, Jaffna district parliamentarian, who was also displaced due to the HSZ.

Attorney C Vinayagamoorthy appeared for the plaintiffs.

Jaffna Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians and officials of the Jaffna district Pradeshya Sabahs have intensified efforts across Jaffna district to collect and catalog the details requested by the Supreme Court, civil society sources said.

Thousands of residents of Valigamam North have been displaced after the demarcation of HSZ in Valigamam North in 1990 and have been living with relatives and refugee camps for the last sixteen years.

The Supreme Court on an earlier date directed the Attorney General to submit a report from the Jaffna Government Agent whether the petitioners could be allowed to cultivate their lands, located in the high security zones, legal sources said.

When the FR applications came up for further inquiry earlier, Mr. Chamintha Fernando, Solicitor General submitted to court that they were unable to get the GA's report but wanted more time to do so..