Sri Lanka's state minister of defence, Ruwan Wijewardene, said reiterated the government's refusal to remove army camps in the North, stating that there was no need to remove such camps in order to release land to the Tamil people.
Announcing the appointment of a committee by the new president intended to investigate land issues in the North in order to release land to civilians, Mr Wijewardene said "there would not be a necessity to remove army camps in the North in order to release lands required by the civilians".
"The lands in the North and East Provinces will be released back to civilians in a just and fair manner after discussions with Resettlement Minister D.M. Swaminathan and members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA)," Mr Wijewardene added.
The chief minister of the northern province, C V Wigneswaran however, last month told the a visiting UK minister that the new Sri Lankan government's pledge to return land to the civilians was contradictory to its refusal to remove army camps in the region.
See related article: Confusion remains over Sri Lanka's pledge to return land to Tamils says Wigneswaran (29 Jan 2015)
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