Army occupation of houses must cease, MP tells SLA commander

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2004, 15:12 GMT]
Mr.Suresh Premachchandran, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Saturday met with Major General Sunil Tennekoon, Jaffna area commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and discussed issues confronting the people of the district since the ceasefire came into operation. This was the first time Major general Sunil Tennekoon met a TNA parliamentarian at his military headquarters in Palaly military airbase, sources said.

Mr.Premachchandran brought to the notice of SLA commander the hardships of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced families currently given shelter in refugee camps and welfare centres as the government troops are occupying their houses and agricultural lands in the high security zones in the districts, TNA sources said.

Tamils in the northeast are not enjoying the fruits of the ceasefire for the last about three years. However people in other provinces are reaping the benefits of peace prevailing in the island without any restriction, Mr.Premachchandran is reported to have told the Jaffna area commander, sources said.

Mr.Premachchandran requested the Jaffna SLA commander to take steps to ease the burden of IDP families and other Tamils affected by the two decade-old war, TNA sources said.