SL military blocks resettlement in suburb of PTK

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 August 2012, 22:16 GMT]
Landmine clearing unit of the occupying Sri Lankan military has instructed forty Tamil families who resettled recently at 9th ward of Mallikaith-theevu village in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) division in Mullaiththeevu district, to vacate from their lands after the SL authorities had allowed the families to resettle earlier this month. The families were among 96 families that were hurriedly brought down to Mullaiththeevu from Menik Farm camp in Cheddi-ku'lam in Vavuniyaa, promising resettlement in Mallikaith-theevu, Puthukkudiyiruppu West and Puthukkudiyiruppu East. On the one hand Colombo is rushing to showcase that it is closing down the Menik Farm camp. But, on the other hand the occupying military of Colombo is blocking resettlement in the land of Vanni genocide. The SL military still considers the area as its High Security Zone (HSZ), relocated civilians said.

Colombo has not allowed resettlement in Puthumaaththa'lan, Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal, Iraddai-mu'l'livaaykkaal, Valaignar-madam and certain suburbs of Puthukkudiyiruppu town.

In a highly publicized move, the SL authorities had brought down the families from Menik Farm to Puthukkidiyiruppu and its suburbs, promising resettlement in their own lands on 13 August.

However, within a few days, a Sri Lankan military operated land mines clearing team had come to the 9th ward and claimed that the area was not cleared of unexploded ordnance when the people were clearing their lands.

After the warning of land mines by the SLA, the families have sought refuge at the school building in the village.

The SL military had adopted similar tactics earlier by curbing resettlement citing various reasons.

At Koampaavil, people promised of resettlement in their own lands were brought down from Menik Farm and trapped into yet another camp life. Even the UN agencies were indirectly abetting the SL State's programme of relocation of uprooted people without basic facilities.

At Thirumu'rika'ndi, Tamil families brought down from Menik Farm by the SL authorities promising resettlement were later assaulted and relocated when they refused to accept the terms of the SL military and vowed to stage a protest.

‘Resettled’ people, who are not provided with basic facilities in Poonakari are staging a protest on Wednesday in front of their divisional secretariat.

Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Vanni Mr. Sritharan was refused access to Menik Farm when he went there recently to inspect the situation of the people there.

In the meantime, the occupying Sinhala military is also engaged in erasing all the remaining traces of genocide.