SLA refuses permission to Minister Douglas Devananda to take IDPs to Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 November 2009, 16:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Thenmaraadchi in Jaffna peninsula refused permission Thursday when Jaffna based Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda tried to take Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were evicted when SLA occupied Thenmaraadchi in 1990 to show their villages where they are to be resettled, sources in Jaffna said. Hundreds of men and women taken by Minister Douglas Devananda had to return disappointed to their camps or to the houses of relatives where they have been staying for more than 18 years being turned back at Aasaippi’l’ai Eattam near Ezhuthumadduvaa’l in Thenmaraadchi, the sources added.



SLA officers did not allow the IDPs to go to Kanakampam area in Ezhuthumadduva’l in Thenmaraadchi saying that the road to the place goes through the SLA bases in the area.

The disappointed IDPs showed their discontent to the Minister when his efforts to take them to their villages failed.

Thousands of acres of paddy fields and vegetable gardens in Mirusuvil, Ezhuthumadduvaa’l and Kanakampam which were the sole livelihood of the IDPs had been lying idle after being occupied by SLA when it erected the Front Defence Line (FDL) positions in Mukamaalai and the villages around it.

Though the FDL positions have been removed claiming the war is over SLA is refusing to permit the owners of the properties in the area to return to their villages.