Tamil residents in Valikamam North, Jaffna, launched a continuous peaceful protest yesterday, calling for the release of lands that have remained under Sri Lankan military occupation for over three decades.
The protest, which began on June 22, aims to coincide with the upcoming visit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, who is scheduled to arrive on the island for a four-day official tour. Demonstrators said the protest will continue until June 25, to draw attention to their long-standing grievances.
Chanting “Return our lands occupied by the military!”, the protestors denounced the continued occupation of their ancestral properties and highlighted the severe consequences of this protracted land seizure. Many families, they said, had been deprived of their livelihoods and their fundamental right to life due to ongoing military control.
The demonstrators called for the immediate return of their occupied land. They also appealed to the visiting UN human rights chief to place pressure on Colombo to uphold international standards regarding land rights and civilian resettlement.
Large swathes of Tamil land in Valikamam North were seized by the Sri Lankan military during the armed conflict and designated as High-Security Zones. Despite the end of the armed conflict in 2009, thousands of acres remain under army control, with only limited releases over the past decade.
Tamil politicians and civil society organisations have repeatedly accused the state of using militarisation as a means to block resettlement and entrench Sinhala-Buddhist state control in the North-East.
The protest comes as the UN High Commissioner is expected to visit Jaffna and meet community representatives, amid growing calls for international accountability and justice.
