Moothoor IDPs demand to be resettled in their own villages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 10:50 GMT]
Hundreds of men, women and children displaced from Champoor East and West, Kooniththeevu and Kadatkaraicheanai Village Officer divisions in Trincomalee district gathered in Batticaloa Koaddaimunai Methodist Church premises Wednesday on completing the third year of their forced displacement due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives in 2206, to pray and fast from morning till evening in an effort to draw the authorities' attention to their plea to be resettled in their original villages, Moothoor East Internally Displaced Peoples’ Welfare Association, which organized the event said.

Bishop of Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts, Rt. Rev. Kingsley Swampillai, Ramakrishna Mission Chief, Ajarathmananthaji and heads of other religions took part in the above event.

The villages mentioned above have been declared High Security Zone (HSZ) by the SLA.

Around 1750 families from the above village divisions are languishing in temporary welfare centres in Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts.

The IDPs said that though they had made representations to the government officials and ministers nothing had happened.

The IDPs have refused to be resettled in the area chosen by the government as it is unsuitable and continue to demand to resettle them in their original villages, the organizers of the event said.

The IDPs have requested to reduce the area of HSZ so that at least Kadatkaraicheanai village officer division could be made available for resettlement, they added.

Chronology: