2ND LEAD (CORRECTION)

Tamil editor blames Colombo of deceiving uprooted civilians in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 18:14 GMT]
A leading journalist and the news editor of Thinakkural Tamil daily published in Jaffna, M. Vamadevan accused the Sri Lankan governments in power during the last 20 years of deceiving the uprooted people from Valikaamam North Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zones (HSZs) saying that resettlement is not possible as they are infested with land mines, witnessing before the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) Thursday in Jaffna. Promises had been given to the uprooted families that they will be soon permitted to resettle in their own places at various instances by various Sri Lanka ministers and government officials but nothing has been done to resettle them, Vamadevan told LLRC.

The Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians had been assured of resettlement in Valikamam by the Sri Lanka government but eventually they too were deceived, Vamadevan said.

Vamadevan, a person uprooted from Valikaamam North HSZ himself, told LLRC that Sarath Fonseka, during his time of office as the chief of SLA had said the HSZ could not be withdrawn as they were the supply routes to SLA in the on going war at that time and asked what need was there for the SLA to retain the HSZs as the war has now ended.

The Vamadevan also described the plight of the uprooted people from Valikaamam North living as refugees for more than 20 years in camps and in the houses of relatives and friends.

Ms. Imelda Sukumar who had been recently saying that there are no HSZs in Jaffna peninsula but only areas that have to be cleared of landmines was also present during the LLRC session Thursday in Ariyaalai Saraswathy Community Centre.

She intervened to point out to the LLRC that a SLA soldier had been killed and two others injured in land mine explosion recently in Maaviddapuram in the HSZ.



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