SLA occupies resident's land to construct new camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 May 2003, 17:22 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has forcibly occupied the private land of Mr.C.Vaikunthavasan, a resident of Point Pedro in the Vadamarachchi division of the Jaffna district, since May 29, according to a complaint that Mr. Vaikunthavasan made on Friday to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in Jaffna, sources said.

In a letter to the Jaffna regional coordinator of the HRC, Mr.Vaikunthavasan said that he possessed a piece of land along the Thumpalai road at the Maniayakaran junction in Point Pedro and suddenly on Thursday a group of SLA soldiers entered his lands with military equipment to establish a new camp. He said that the SLA soldiers are now in the process of clearing his land for constructing a new camp.

"At a time when the SLA is engaged in removing its military camps from residential areas according to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the GOSL and the LTTE, is it justifiable for the SLA to occupy my own land forcibly to construct a new camp?” asked Mr. Vaikunthavasan.

He urged the HRC coordinator to intervene and take immediate action to stop the construction of the new army camp on his residential land.

Copies of this letter have been sent to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the LTTE’s Jaffna district political headquarters for necessary action, sources said.