Militarisation of the North-East and sexual violence against Tamils are "closely interlinked" said Jaffna University Lecturer of Law, Kumaravadivel Guruparan, commenting on the recent release of 7 Sri Lankan navy rape suspects, accused of the rape of an 11 year old girl in Karainagar.
"It is noteworthy that the incident took place in the Karainagar Island," said Mr Guruparan to the Tamil Guardian.
"In the mid 1980s a colonial era navy camp in Karainagar was expanded and in 2003 (during the ceasefire period) 153 families were sent legal notice regarding acquisition of more than 78 acres of land. When I was carrying out some research on this in 2012 I was told by people that even those who lived within 1 1/2 km radius to the camp didn't want to live there for reasons of insecurity," he said.
"The incident is yet another reminder of the closely interlinked issues of militarisation and sexual violence," Mr Guruparan added, drawing attention to another recent rape case, where the suspect was a Sri Lankan soldier.