While visiting SL presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa claimed in Jaffna on Monday that there is noting called ‘High Security Zone’ (HSZ) and that the whole island is a ‘Peace Zone’, 26 villages in the Valikaamam HSZ alone are occupied by Sri Lankan military, uprooting 43,700 people of 17,108 families for more than two decades now. The number is actually more, and could go upto 70,000, if refugees to foreign countries are included, welfare societies in Jaffna said. Considering, their location and the intentions of the occupying military, the people of these villages are afraid that they will never see their homes back. The excuse of Colombo is that it would take 8 more years for de-mining these villages.
Kaangkeasanthu’rai (KKS) West, KKS Centre, KKS South, Kadduvan, Kadduvan West, Mayiliddith-thu’rai North, Mayiliddith-thu’rai South, Mayiliddi South, Mayiliddi East, Kurumpachiddi, Kurumpachiddi East, Vasaavi’laan West, Vasaavi’laan East, Thaiyiddi East, Thaiyiddi North, Thaiyiddi South, Palaali South, Palaali East, Palaali Southwest, Palaali West are among the village divisions where the entry of any civilian is completely prohibited by the military.
After an announcement that 13 other villages are allowed for resettlement, some families belonging to these villages moved in, but they face a lot of problems in resettling.
The following are the villages where part of the people went to claim their lands and homes: I’lavaalai North, I’lavaalai Northwest, Viththakapuram, Pannaalai, Kollangkaladdi, Nakuleasvaram, Thellippazhai, Thanthai Chelvaapuram, Maaviddapuram South, Pazhai-Veemankaamam North, Pazhai-Veemankaamam South and Va’ruththalai-vizhaan.
These villages were actually border areas of the HSZ and were maintained as no-man zone by the occupying military during the last two decades.
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