Sri Lankan Army returns 54 acres land to 190 Tamil families, ends control over port

Colombo: Sri Lankan military on Tuesday said it has released 54 acres of land to nearly 190 families from the minority Tamil community and ended its control over a major fishing harbour after almost 30 years in the former war zone of Jaffna. [caption id=“attachment_2614400” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Maithripala Sirisena. AFP[/caption] The release came as a positive response from the military to the long-standing demands of the Tamil people and supports the pledge of President Maithripala Sirisena, who vowed during his election campaign to work towards achieving reconciliation with the minorities. The land and the fishing harbour border Sri Lankan military’s Palaly Army Cantonment, the ColomboPage reported. The Sri Lankan Army said in a statement that 187 families, who reside as Internally Displaced Persons since 1990 will now be able to return to their lands and resume their fishing livelihood after an absence of nearly 30 years. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ran a nearly three-decade separatist campaign leading to a bloody war with the Sri Lankan security forces. According to the UN figures, up to 40,000 civilians were killed by the security forces during former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime that brought an end to the brutal conflict with the defeat of the LTTE in 2009.