JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Senior Sri Lankan defense officials traveled to the country's Northern Province on Tuesday to inspect lands that have remained under military control for years, in what security sources described as early steps in a process that could eventually return some of those parcels to their civilian owners — though the scope, timeline, and ultimate outcome of any releases remain unclear.
The Deputy Minister of Defense and the Commander of the Army conducted field inspections across the Jaffna, Kilinochchi, and Mannar districts, according to security sources and local officials familiar with the visit. The assessments focused on areas within former high-security zones and military-controlled land that displaced residents and civil society groups have long demanded be returned to them.
No formal announcement, gazette notification, or public statement had been issued by Tuesday evening, and officials declined to specify which parcels were under active consideration or when, if ever, releases might occur.
Among the areas reportedly reviewed was a roughly 20-acre plot in Iyakkachchi, straddling the border between Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts, as well as an approximately 20-acre tract east of Palaly Road within the Valikamam North High Security Zone, according to sources familiar with the discussions. In Kankesanthurai, a coconut estate of historical significance near a building currently used by the military as a holiday facility was also said to be under consideration.
The inspections also extended to Mannar district, where officials examined civilian-owned land within or adjacent to the Mullikulam Naval Base, the sources said.
Security officials indicated that preparatory administrative work — including the drafting of maps and coordination with district secretariats — could be accelerated in the wake of the visits. But they stopped short of characterizing the inspections as a prelude to imminent action, and the gap between field assessments and formal land releases has historically been wide.
The visits come against a backdrop of sustained pressure from displaced communities across the north, many of whom have been waiting for more than a decade and a half since the end of the country's civil war in 2009 for the return of lands occupied by the military during and after the conflict. Previous governments have announced partial releases over the years, but large areas remain under security forces' control, a source of persistent grievance in a region that bore the heaviest costs of the war.
