Thousands of Tamils in the North struggle to regain their seized land from Sri Lanka’s military amidst no indication of demilitarization, said the International Crisis Group (ICG) on Wednesday.
The ICG Sri Lanka director Alan Keenan, in an interview with NPR news, said the army was disproportionately deployed in the north of the island. Mr Keenan added,
“There is no indication that army plans to downsize or embrace any meaningful reconciliation with Tamil community. Police powers have been once against granted to the military in the north. So the military is once again able to arrest and detain people on the street.”
Speaking to the news channel, the Northern Provincial Council chief minister CV Wigneswaran, said the army had refused to hand back over 5,500 acres in Palali stating it was a High Security Zone. The Chief Minister added that nothing was left on the land returned to owners but a few trees.
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