HSZ villagers face displacement due to SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 11:07 GMT]
Residents of villages located close to the Point Pedro harbor High Security Zone (HSZ) face imminent displacement due to increasing harassment by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers of the 52-4 Brigade located in Point Pedro, said civil society organizations in complaints registered with the Human Rights Commission and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Jaffna Monday, sources in Jaffna said.

SLA has increased conduction regular cordon and search operations in Kottady and Suparmadam villages in Point Pedro. The complaints added that the villagers are being threatened during the searches which often happen during the middle of the night.

Residents said that SLA soldiers subject them investigations and questioning when relatives or friends visit them.

Meanwhile, in a letter sent to the fisheries union of these villages, 52-4 Brigade Head quarters have informed that residents should not entertain visitors from outside. SLA has also informed that they will not harm nor cause damage to properties of the residents, fisheries officials said.

Residents of many villages surrounding the HSZ were displaced when they came under Sri Lanka Army (SLA) control in 1996. Situation was slowly returning to normalcy after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers in 2002.