The occupying Sri Lanka Army in Vanni has forcibly taken over about one hundred acres of farmland situated between the villages Shanthapuram and Kanakaampikaik-ku’lam 5 km southeast of Ki’linochchi town. Earlier, the farmland was the livelihood of hundreds of people under a poverty alleviation scheme under the civil administration of the LTTE.A church and a well used by the residents of Shaanthapuram and Ira’naimaduk-ku’lam are also located in the land militarised by the occupying SL military. The SL military says it wants to exhibit military hardware seized from the Tigers in the farmland, which is situated near Ira’naimadu.
The SLA has fenced the seized land to confirm their possession.
The SLA soldiers who brought two tanks and three artillery guns that were seized from the LTTE to the lands and said the military was planning to exhibit military hardware of the Tigers in the land now being occupied from the civilians. Some families in the acquired lands are given alternative lands elsewhere.
Meanwhile a portion of land located east of Thiru-mu’rika’ndi village along A-9 highway is brought under “High Security Zone” by the SLA.
Residents of this area still remain as uprooted people in so-called welfare centres and with relatives and friends although they possess legal documents to prove their ownership of their lands in HSZ.
The SL authorities have refused to accommodate their requests to allow their resettlement in their legally owned lands.
However the setting up of SLA camps and destruction of coconut plantations and other food crops in the land are continuing, the uprooted people complained.
The Ira’naimadu tank is the largest irrigation scheme in the Northern province. The occupying military wishes to keep lands close to the dam under its permanent control, political observers in Vanni said.