SLA denies permission for fishing in areas allowed for resettlement in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 20:18 GMT]
The residents of the coastal villages of Jaffna town evicted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in 1996, though permitted to resettle in their villages, complain that SLA does not allow them to engage in their livelihood of fishing, sources in Jaffna said. The uprooted civilians are greatly shocked to find their lands and properties destroyed while a great part of their villages is still being occupied by SLA, the sources added.

SLA had evicted most of the residents from the Jaffna coastal villages including Kozhumpuththu’rai, Thu’ndi and Ezhiloor when it occupied them during the military offensive in 1996.

Hundreds of settlements in these villages had been totally destroyed during the offensive and the rest of the families who managed to remain were uprooted when clashes between SLA and Liberation Tigers intensified in 2000.

Resettlement without being allowed to engage in fishing is worthless, the civilians who appeal to allow them to fish in their seas said.