Colombo stages eyewash resettlement amidst military cantonment in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2015, 23:11 GMT]
211 families, who registered on Friday to resettle in Vasaavi'laan East in Valikaamam North and were allowed to visit and see their villages, have complained that the Colombo regime was still upholding the militarisation of their villages in the former ‘High Security Zone’. The SL military is still occupying their residential areas. Even the few houses situated in the area being released to the people have been totally demolished while the houses within the areas fenced off for continued military use are intact. In addition, most of the lands being released are either agricultural lands or quarry lands unfit for resettlement or agriculture, they complained. The SL military is still occupying the fertile agricultural lands, which have been converted into farms run by the military.

SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe and former SL President Chandrika Kumaratunga are scheduled to visit the area on Monday on a heavily orchestrated propaganda projecting the release of lands as a major step in the resettlement.



The SL military is still the deciding force on what should be released to the public, S. Sugirthan, the chairman of the Valikaamam North civic body told TamilNet.

The SL military has shifted its notorious torture camp from Achchezhu into Oddakap-pulam in 2011. Occupying the most residential area of the village, the SL military is only releasing part of the lands surrounding the cantonment.

The village, Oddaka-pulam, was the most known traditional village in Vassav'liaan East prior to SL military occupation. 411 families have registered themselves for resettlement in the J/244 GS area and 106 families are from Oddakap-pulam. People from nearby Vada-moolai, Then-moolai and Thoalakaddi villages also complain that their fertile lands and residential areas are still under military occupation.

The well-known church of Thoalakaddi has also not been released to the public, they said.



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