 Photographs: K Amirthalingam |
As many as 500 Tamil protestors went on hunger strike at the Kiliveddy refugee camp in Trincomalee on Tuesday, demanding to be resettled in their original village in Sampur – land that has been seized by the Sri Lankan military for a High Security Zone.
'Give our lands back' and 'stop atrocities on Sampur people' read placards held by the protestors, who had gathered at the camp entrance and joined the hunger strike.
"We voted for regime change hoping resettlement," the Tamil Civil Society Forum reported the protestors as saying. "But our issues doesn't figure on the 100 day programme".
In addition to being immediately resettled, they also demanded that they be allowed to reopen the Sampur Mahavidyalayam school, which is being occupied by the Sri Lankan navy. The school building is currently being used a base for the security forces.
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The villagers have also been denied permission to rebuild a Hindu temple in the village, which was damaged during the armed conflict.
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The protestors, who have been displaced since 2006, have been housed in four IDP camps across the region - Kiliveddy, Paddithidal, Manatchenai and Kaddaiparichan. They are currently unable to return to their land which has been forcibly acquired by the Sri Lankan military.
Some 800 families have also been displaced by land taken by the government to build the Sampur power plant, a joint project by Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and India’s National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC).
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Tamil National Alliance MP M A Sumanthiran had earlier commented on Sri Lankan government pledges to return land in Sampur, saying “not an inch of land has been released”.
See more in our earlier post:
TNA accuses government of reneging on promises regarding demilitarisation (17 Feb 2015)
Also see:
Vanni IDPs remain without housing and basic needs says TNA MP (13 Feb 2015)
Kilinochchi protest over land rights issue (11 Feb 2015)
Doubts emerge over Sri Lanka's 'new' 1000 acre resettlement plan (17 Feb 2015)
Government wants Sampur IDPs to take financial compensation for seized land (07 May 2014)
TNA councillor condemns land grabs by Govt in Sampur (19 March 2014)
800 families in Trincomalee displaced for Indo-SL power plant – The Hindu (16 Dec 2013)
Look but don’t touch (03 Feb 2013)