Sri Lanka’s Minister of Defence said his government would not allow the release of land in the North-East currently occupied by the military, if it meant land would be returned to “LTTE supporters”.
"There is no requirement to provide lands to LTTE supporters or to reduce security in the North and East,” said Ruwn Wijewardene at a press conference on Friday. “We are only providing required land for the people living in the area".
Thousands of Tamil families across the North-East remaind displaced, awaiting resttlement in their native land. Many have been waiting for years, some displaced for decades. The Sri Lankan military meanwhile, ahs continued to increase the presence of camps across the Tamil North-East.
He also reassured the media briefing that there was “no requirement to remove military camps from the North and East to provide lands to LTTE supporters”.
The Ministry of Defence further quoted him as saying that land releases would not take place if it was to “compromise national security”.