Tamils who have been displaced from their homes for decades have written to the United Nations human rights chief, urging him to appoint an expert panel to “monitor and report the progress on resettlement, relief, and restoration of the sociopolitical and economic structures”.
In a letter written to the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Al-Hussein, Tamils from Valikamam North in the Jaffna district said that the Sri Lankan military continues to occupy their houses.
“They are cultivating our lands and are involved in other economic activities,” said the letter. “Only the buildings that is being used by the military survived.”
Noting that the current Sri Lankan government had many several pledges to release land occupied by the military, the displaced group added that “however, there were no positive indications by the government to uphold the promises”.
“While measures to release lands are deliberately slow, work on acquiring lands for the expansion of the Palaly airbase and military requirement is taking place rapidly,” it said.
“The people became increasingly frustrated and began a fast unto death campaign and once again the President reassured that the people will be resettled soon. The timeframe given for resettlement has long expired and we have lost faith in the government. Therefore, we look to the international community to ensure our resettlement.”
Recalling the high commissioner’s visit to the North-East, and to Sabapathy and Kannagai Amman IDP camps in Maruthanar Madam, the displaced Tamils stated that,
“You studied the situation of the people and informed us that you would like to see us resettled in our lands during your next visit to Sri Lanka. Following your visit to our country, you had also mentioned about the plight of IDPs in your report.”
“Therefore, we request you to emphasize on the need to immediately hand over the lands in Valikamam North back to its original owners and also to release the harbour and coastal land for people to carry out their day to day activities during your oral submission on June 29, 2016,” it concluded.
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