SLA demolishes homes in Jaffna suburbs

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 January 2001, 19:53 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army has demolished more than three hundred homes in the southwestern coastal suburbs of Jaffna town to construct large military facilities, said residents who visited the area this week. An official of a local NGO who went to inspect his home in Colombuthurai told TamilNet that coconut plantations in these suburbs were also destroyed.

Residents who fled the southeastern coastal parts of the Jaffna town last year amidst heavy fighting began venturing into this war-ravaged zone after the Liberation Tigers declared a cease fire unilaterally as a goodwill measure for peace talks.

The destruction is mainly in the suburbs of Ariyalai and Colombuthurai.

"At least two thousand people have been rendered homeless permanently due to the SLA demolishing their homes. And many more from the two suburbs may lose their livelihood due to the destruction of the coconut plantations" the NGO official said.

Thousands of civilians in the Jaffna peninsula are permanently displaced due to the SLA taking over their homesteads and property for expanding the perimeters of its garrisons and for consolidating new fronts, destroying homes in the process.

Tamil politicians in Jaffna charge that SLA systematically demolished houses, particularly in the northwestern sector of Jaffna, to strip them of millions of rupees worth of furniture and building material, including valuable timber, and shipped most of it to Colombo.