Rasamanickam calls for time-bound release of civilian land in North and East
COLOMBO – The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has called on the government to establish a clear, time-bound program to return all civilian land in the Northern and Eastern Provinces that remains under the control of the security forces.
ITAK parliamentary group leader and Batticaloa District MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, made the call during a visit to ongoing protests demanding the release of civilian land at Palaly Junction and Vasavilan in the North.
Residents in the areas have been protesting the continued occupation of their ancestral and privately owned land by security forces, with the protest at Palaly Junction entering its 10th consecutive week. Residents gather every Sunday to demand the return of their land.
Rasamanickam expressed his support for the protesters and pledged that the ITAK would continue to provide political backing for their campaign.
“These protests are no longer isolated incidents. Protests demanding the release of civilian land are taking place across the Northern and Eastern Provinces,” he said.
He said the government could not expect people to wait indefinitely to regain access to land that belonged to them, particularly nearly 17 years after the end of the war.
“If the government accepts that areas declared High Security Zones during the war do not necessarily need to retain the same status under present circumstances, the same principle must apply to civilian land that remains under military occupation,” he said.
Rasamanickam said national security could no longer be used as a blanket justification for retaining civilian land.
“National security must not become a permanent reason for denying people access to property that belongs to them,” he said, stressing that the issue extended beyond the amount of land recorded in official documents and that the affected properties included homes, schools, places of worship and entire communities whose lives had been disrupted for decades.
“The government must identify all civilian land still under military control and explain why each parcel continues to be retained. It must also announce a firm deadline for returning the land to its rightful owners,” he said.
Rasamanickam urged the government to move beyond releasing selected parcels of land and instead implement a comprehensive program covering all civilian land still under security force control in the North and East.
Pledging to continue to raise the issue in Parliament and support the affected communities politically, he said the government must recognize the growing frustration among people across the Northern and Eastern Provinces and take appropriate action before these protests spread further.
-ENCL
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