After receiving complaints against the Sri Lankan military’s continued occupation of the Tamil North and Eastern provinces, Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission has called for a report from military commanders to assess the legal provisions under which they were deployed and if a public security threat can justify their presence.
The Sri Lankan military’s occupation over the Tamil North-East has continued to expand, with the military increasingly encroaching on civil society and taking on roles such as agriculture and managing fisheries. This is often to the detriment of Tamils, who are barred from using land they formerly owned as military land grabs continue.
Trust between Tamils and the military has been shattered due to a lack of accountability for war crimes which included the indiscriminate shelling of hospitals, food lines and the established no-fire zones.
Earlier this year, the forces established checkpoints in North East in an attempt to repress Tamils memorialisation activities