The Chief Minister of the Northern Province CV Wigneswaran said out of the tens of thousands of acres of land occupied by the Sri Lankan military, only 5.2% of it had been returned to Tamil families.
Speaking in Jaffna this weekend to mark International Human Rights Day, the chief minister said out of 67,000 acres of private land owned by Tamils that were seized by the Sri Lankan armed forces, only 3,500 acres have been released.
Justice Wigneswaran went on to question the sincerity of the current Sri Lankan government, especially in light of several Sinhalese politicians making statements that belie Tamil hopes in a new constitution.
The New Indian Express reported that he went on to call on the government to take steps that would help reconciliation, including:
"return all private lands to their original owners; stop erecting Buddha statues and Buddhist temples illegally and in places where there are no Buddhists (barring army camps); stop arbitrary arrests under the Prevention of Terrorism Act; repeal the PTA; start an inquiry into war crimes  with international participation; release Tamil prisoners who have been in detention for long without being charged; release militants and others arrested during the conflict; release fishing harbors now under the navy’s control; build houses which were destroyed during the war ; and consider stopping people from South Sri Lanka taking away the resources of the Tamil areas".