JAFFNA, Sri Lanka – Hundreds of anguished Tamils staged a noisy protest outside the Jaffna District Secretariat, demanding the immediate return of their precious land, which the military seized 36 years ago to battle the Tamil Tigers.
An estimated 500 men and women picketed the office complex for around three hours from 8.30 am, asking the authorities to press the military to surrender thousands of acres of land in Valikamam North area in Jaffna.
A separate vigil was organised at the Palaly Junction, near the boundary of the Valikamam North High Security Zone, attended by some 150 people.
Somasundaram Sugirthan, Chairman of the Valikamam North Divisional Council (Pradeshiya Sabha), said the protestors at the main event submitted a memorandum to the Northern Province Governor.
“People are really upset. This is sheer injustice,” Sugirthan told Jaffna Monitor. “The land was seized from ordinary people 36 years ago. The war (against the Tamil Tigers) ended 17 years ago. But the land is still not being returned.
“Why?” he asked. “The lives of thousands are affected because of this unjustified stand. People are badly hit economically. The people have had this land for generations. It must be given back.”
He said around 7,000 families felt betrayed by the military’s intransigence and that the land under occupation totaled some 2,700 acres.
The government took over the land after driving away people in 1990, when the war between the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) resumed after a brief lull.
Over the years, the military kept expanding its defence parameters. When the war ended in 2009, it was widely assumed that the land would be surrendered to the rightful legal owners, slowly at least if not immediately.
But the military has adamantly refused to relinquish control of the land, even though the security concerns that once justified its occupation ended long ago. On some of the land, the military has built commercial complexes and even engages in farming.
“While we are suffering, the land is being used for profit,” said one Tamil man whose land remains under the control of the military, which is overwhelmingly staffed by members of the Sinhalese majority community.
Many of those who have lost their ancestral land now live in rented homes.
“Our protests will continue till our demands are met,” added Sugirthan.
The Mayiliddy Resettlement Development Committee is demanding the immediate release of civilian land and the full resettlement of displaced families in their places of origin.
It has urged all political leaders, civil society groups, and people across the Northern Province to back the campaign, described as a struggle for land rights, livelihoods, and justice.
Some Tamils say that President Anura Dissanayake appears to favour returning the land to its Tamil owners, but has been unable to overcome the military’s refusal to relinquish the vast territory it has grown accustomed to controlling.
