SLA turns down request to handback homes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 July 2004, 09:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka army Saturday turned down a request by displaced residents of Eluthumadduval North in Jaffna to reclaim their homes occupied by troops since 2000. The area was taken over by the SLA after the fall of the Elephant Pass base in April that year.

SLA occupies 156 homes in Eluthumadduval North near Mirusuvil.

The displaced residents of the area wrote to the SLA in Mirusuvil last week urging the SLA to return their houses as the military had released occupied homes in other parts of the Thenmaradchi Division.

"The army informed us today by letter that it will not give our homes back," said Mr. M. Thirunavukkarasu, a spokesman for the displaced families of Eluthumadduval North.