JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the leader of the Tamil National People's Front and a member of Parliament, on Wednesday accused the Sri Lankan government of creating false expectations among displaced communities in the country's north, saying military officials had rejected several requests for the return of civilian-owned land during a closed-door meeting earlier this week.
Mr. Gajendrakumar's remarks directly contradicted public statements by Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar, who had suggested that the discussions had produced positive results. The meeting was held at the Northern Province Governor's Secretariat.
"The meeting concluded without the military authorities providing any positive response regarding land releases," Mr. Gajendrakumar told reporters at his party's headquarters in Jaffna. He said several requests had been "categorically rejected," while others received only vague assurances that they would be "considered."
The government has not publicly responded to his allegations, and no formal announcement, gazette notification, or timeline for land releases has been issued.
The dispute came a day after senior defense officials — including the Deputy Minister of Defense and the Commander of the Army — toured military-held lands in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, and Mannar districts. Security sources had described those inspections as preliminary steps linked to possible future releases. Among the areas visited were lands near the Jaffna-Kilinochchi border at Iyakkachchi, portions of the Valikamam North High Security Zone near Palaly, and civilian-owned land adjacent to the Mullikulam Naval Base in Mannar district.
Officials familiar with the inspections indicated that preparatory administrative work — including mapping and coordination with district secretariats — could proceed following the visits, but stopped short of saying releases were imminent.
Mr. Gajendrakumar also criticized the government for excluding opposition lawmakers and locally elected officials from the discussions.
"If the discussion concerned Valikamam North land releases, representatives of the Valikamam North Pradeshiya Sabha should have been invited," he said. "Without inviting the genuine representatives elected by the people, the government is attempting to create false expectations among the public."
Military-occupied land remains among the most contentious unresolved issues in Sri Lanka's Tamil-majority north and east. Thousands of acres seized during and after the civil war — which ended in 2009 — remain under the control of the security forces nearly 17 years later. Successive governments have announced partial releases since the war's end, but displaced families and civil society groups say the process has repeatedly stalled and lacked transparency.
