JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Displaced residents of Palaly in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna Peninsula protested for a 10th consecutive week on Sunday, demanding the return of ancestral and privately owned land that remains under the control of the security forces, as representatives of nearly all major Tamil political parties joined the demonstration.
The weekly protest at Palaly Junction is part of a broader campaign for the release of civilian land in Valikamam North, where demonstrations have also been taking place in Myliddy and Vasavilan. Residents have been gathering every Sunday, pressing the government to allow families displaced from the area to return to their homes and properties.
Representatives of almost all Tamil political parties, with the exception of the governing National People’s Power, took part in Sunday’s protest. Among those present were M.A. Sumanthiran, general secretary of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, and Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, the party’s parliamentary group leader.
Mr. Rasamanickam warned that frustration with the government was growing as similar campaigns over military-held civilian land emerged elsewhere in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
“People are running out of patience with the government,” Mr. Rasamanickam said during his visit to the protests at Palaly Junction and Vasavilan. “These protests are no longer isolated incidents.”
He said demonstrations demanding the release of civilian land were now taking place across the North and East and that residents could not be expected to wait indefinitely for their properties to be returned.
At Palaly Junction, protesters raised slogans calling on the government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to return their land. “We want our land” and “Return our ancestral lands to us,” they chanted.
The protesters also called on Mr. Dissanayake to translate his recent statements on land releases into action.
Mr. Rasamanickam challenged the continued use of national security considerations to retain civilian property nearly 17 years after the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war.
“National security cannot become a permanent justification for denying people access to their own property,” he said.
He argued that if the government accepted that areas designated as High Security Zones during the war did not necessarily need to retain that status today, the same reasoning should apply to civilian land that remains occupied.
Mr. Rasamanickam said the dispute extended beyond ownership of individual plots, pointing to continued restrictions involving St. Sebastian’s Church, Myliddy Roman Catholic School and Vasavilan Sri Velupillai Vidyalayam.
“These are people’s homes, schools, places of worship and communities,” he said. “Their lives have been disrupted for decades.”
He called on the government to establish a time-bound program to identify all remaining civilian land held by the military, explain why individual parcels continued to be retained and set deadlines for returning land to its owners.
“Selective releases are not enough,” he said.
The weekly demonstrations have also led to legal action against some participants. Palaly police and an assistant superintendent of police have filed a case in the Mallakam Magistrate’s Court against five people, accusing them of obstructing public transportation during an earlier land-release protest.
Those facing proceedings include Anusiya Jeyakanth, a member of the Velanai Pradeshiya Sabha, and Venthan, identified as the leader of the Democratic Party. Police have also recorded a statement from one person in connection with the case, according to reports.
At the previous week’s demonstration, residents dressed in black and carried black flags as they marched from the site where St. Sebastian’s Church once stood to Palaly Junction. They gathered near a security checkpoint and called for their ancestral lands to be released.
Mr. Rasamanickam said he would continue to raise the issue in Parliament, warning that the government should take seriously the frustration reflected in the growing number of land protests.
The residents, meanwhile, said the weekly demonstrations would continue until their lands were returned and they were able to resume their lives there.
