Tamil landowners from Valikamam North staged their 13th consecutive weekly protest on Friday, demanding the release of their lands, which remain occupied within Sri Lanka's High Security Zone more than three decades after they were displaced.
The demonstration was held in front of the military commander's bungalow in Myliddy and was attended by landowners from Grama Sevaka divisions 256, 248, 251 and 255.
Residents said they had been forcibly displaced from their homes in June 1990, after which the area was designated a High Security Zone. Despite the end of the armed conflict 17 years ago, the military continues to occupy the area, with the lands remaining under the designation.
Landowners have been campaigning for the return of their properties for several years. With their demands unmet, they resolved to protest every Friday, this week's demonstration marking the 13th consecutive week.
Speaking at the protest, Johnson Pridaro, coordinator of the Organization for Socio-Economic Development, called on the Sri Lankan government to immediately revoke the gazette issued by the Ministry of Defence in 2013, which acquired approximately 6,000 acres of land belonging to residents of Valikamam North.
Pridaro said the current government, which came to power promising to return people's lands, had shown reluctance to release them, and noted that the 2013 gazette acquiring the lands had still not been withdrawn.
Residents of Myliddy and Palaly had campaigned continuously for the release of their lands, he said, and had staged a protest outside the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo some months ago.
Criticising the government's response, Pridaro said successive administrations had failed to heed the voices of affected communities, accusing the governing National People's Power of acting no differently from its predecessors.
He further said that, under the guise of national security, the state had retained fertile Tamil-owned lands for 35 years. According to Pridaro, although the lands were acquired on security grounds, the military now cultivates vegetables on the properties and generates income from their sale, with the revenue going to the state treasury.
He urged the government to return the lands to their rightful owners without further delay and to immediately revoke the 2013 gazette covering the approximately 6,000 acres.