Govt. to settle 100,000 soldiers in North
By Our Jaffna Correspondent-Tuesday, 13 Aug 2013
By Our Jaffna Correspondent-Tuesday, 13 Aug 2013
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate contesting the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) polls and former TNA Parliamentarian M.K. Sivajilingam, said the Army in the North is in the process of setting up massive cantonments with Chinese assistance, to permanently relocate around 100,000 troops in the Northern Province, and there is no truth in the Army’s announcement of withdrawing from lands that belong to civilians in the North.
Sivajilingam was addressing a media briefing held at the Jaffna Media Centre on Thursday (8).
He said the Army’s announcement that they would withdraw from lands they currently occupy, owned by civilians in the North was an election stunt and it clearly showed the Army personnel were ‘dancing’ to the tunes of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
He said the Army’s announcement that they would withdraw from lands they currently occupy, owned by civilians in the North was an election stunt and it clearly showed the Army personnel were ‘dancing’ to the tunes of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
“In the backdrop of the forthcoming NPC polls, the Army in the North is playing its part beautifully. The government has announced that troops would withdraw from the occupied lands owned by civilians but there are more than 6,500 acres of lands belonging to civilians which are still being occupied by the Army in Valikamam North in the Jaffna Peninsula,” he charged.
In Velvettiturai, the Army is in the process of setting up a huge camp on the 67-perch land that belongs to the Church of South India. Likewise, in the coastal areas of Thondamanaru, the Army is setting up new camps with Chinese assistance, he further said.
He went on to say the government is expediting the building of houses to settle 100,000 Army personnel and their families in the North, and added that it is for this purpose that the road between Weli Oya and Murikandy is being renovated.
“The government has also worked out plans to grab 15,000 acres of land in Batticaloa in the Eastern Province to create settlements for Navy personnel. Therefore, the sole idea behind land grabbing by the Armed Forces in the North and East is to make the Tamils the minorities in the regions where they remain the majority,” Sivajilingam alleged.
