COLOMBO
Not just the military, but also other state agencies like the Archelogy and Wildlife departments have been resorting to blatant land grabs. It was also where the army is accused of killing tens and thousands of civilians, including in areas declared no fire zones. The military and successive governments in Colombo have denied the allegations.
Militarisation of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority north and east persists 17 years after the end of the civil war, despite many state assurances to reduce the military footprint in the former conflict zone, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has said.
“Seventeen years after the end of the armed conflict, militarisation remains a persistent feature of governance and land use in the Northern and Eastern Provinces,” the report said, pointing to “repeated assurances” by the state to reduce its military footprint and return occupied lands to their rightful owners. That is our reality,” he said, highlighting an enduring struggle for people of Mullaitivu, the district that witnessed the gory, final battle between the armed forces and the LTTE. Observing that Sri Lanka “currently lacks a comprehensive national security sector reform plan” that includes strategies to reduce military presence in the North and East and restore civilian administration in the region, the Commission noted that “continued presence of the military in multiple aspects of civilian life, including economic activities, singles this region out from the rest of the country and inhibits progress on post-war reconciliation.”
“I can tell you that huge swathes of people’s land remain under military control even today.
The Human Rights Commission urged the government to expedite the return of military-occupied lands to the people and ensure full restoration of property rights and livelihoods. His National People’s Power emerged winner in all but one of the five electoral districts in the north and east. In August this year President Dissanayake , who is also the Minister of Defence, instructed the security forces to expedite the release and return of land taken over during the war and no longer required for security purposes. However, despite his directives to the military, Tamil-speaking people living in the north and east are concerned about the slow pace of action. “There are many cases where the owners are not known or there is no proof confirming their ownership.
Return of people’s lands was among the chief promises made by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to the Tamil people , ahead of the November 2024 general elections.
Further, it emphasised that the government refrain from invoking national security “as a blanket justification for land acquisition”, particularly where such actions disproportionately affect minority communities or facilitate religious encroachment, and “take concrete steps” to withdraw military involvement from civilian economic sectors, especially agriculture and education. When contacted, Ministry spokesman Brigadier Franklin Joseph claimed “over 90 %” of the lands held previously held by the military have been returned to the people. Those are being looked into,” he told The Hindu.
