HSZ issue blocks relocation of eighty displaced families

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 July 2003, 17:39 GMT]
Civilian officials in Jaffna are in a quandary to relocate about eighty internally displaced families now temporarily living in a low lying area in Point Pedro, as the security establishment, citing that the areas selected for resettlement are close to High Security Zones (HSZs), is blocking every move to find a suitable site, Jaffna district secretariat sources said.

These families were displaced from their own village Nagarkovil in Vadamarachchi east division in 1999 military operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and they are now residing in temporary huts put up in a low lying area in Point Pedro which is prone to floods, sources said

As onset of Northeast monsoon is only two months away, civil officials are working hard to relocate these families at Koddodai and Rajanagar areas, which are close to Nagarkovil that is now in the high security zone of the SLA.

But the security establishment has thwarted this attempt by saying Koddodai and Rajanagar also come under its high security zone, district secretariat sources said

Civil officials made a second attempt to relocate these displaced families by constructing a new refugee camp at Valalai highland area in Achchuveli in the north of Jaffna town. The security establishment had blocked this attempt too by saying that the particular site comes under the Palaly high security zone, district officials said.

Civil officials are still trying their best to find a suitable site, which do not come under HSZ to relocate these unfortunate displaced families to live comfortably until they are resettled in their own village Nagarkovil, sources said.