Elthumadduval families seek resettlement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 March 2002, 17:03 GMT]
Seven hundred forty families displaced from the southern Jaffna have written to Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe urging him to allow them resettle in their villages of Eluthumadduval and Karambaikkurichchi as part of the effort to restore normalcy in the north and east under the terms of the cease-fire agreement between his government and the Liberation Tigers.

An LTTE trooper at the command centre for the Eluthumadduval FDL. (Photo:TamilNet)

The A9 road to Jaffna which is blocked by the Forward Defence Lines of the LTTE and the Sri Lanka army has to be reopened on 22 March according in terms of the agreement.

The Tigers say that they have already demined and prepared their side of the A9 road at Eluthumadduval for the re-opening.

A spokesman for the families told TamilNet that the families want to return to their homes because reopening the road at Eluthumdduval means that their villages in this sector are safe for resettlement.

He said the families from Eluthumadduval and Karambaikurichchi were displaced in May 2000 due to heavy fighting and bombing. The families had made several appeals to the Sri Lanka army to let them resettle. The SLA had refused to grant them permission to return so far.

"The SLA cannot insist on keeping our villages as part of its security zone if it is sincere about opening the road to public traffic", the spokesman for the displaced families said.

Muhamaalai Pradeshiya Sabha sub office in Muhamalai destroyed in SLA bombing. Photo:TamilNet

Related Articles:
14.03.02   Pall over last obstacle on road to Jaffna