JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Tamil residents displaced from the Valikamam North region more than three decades ago were expected to march on the Jaffna District Secretariat on Monday to demand the return of ancestral land that remains under military control, 17 years after the end of Sri Lanka's civil war.
The protest, organized by the Mayiliddy Resettlement Development Committee, marks the anniversary of the displacement, which began on June 15, 1990, when residents were ordered from their homes as fighting intensified across the Jaffna Peninsula. Large tracts of the region, including thousands of privately owned plots, were later absorbed into a military-run high-security zone.
The committee is demanding the immediate release of civilian land and the full resettlement of displaced families in their places of origin. In a statement, it called on political leaders, civil society groups, and residents across the Northern Province to support the campaign, which it described as a struggle for land rights, livelihoods, and justice.
Tens of thousands of Tamils were forced from Valikamam North at the height of the war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Many have been unable to return even after the war ended in 2009 with the group's defeat, because large portions of their property remain occupied by the military.
A separate vigil was scheduled at Palaly Junction, near the boundary of the Valikamam North High Security Zone, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday.
