36 years displaced, 14 weeks on the streets - Valikamam North landowners refuse to give up their fight

Tamil landowners from Valikamam North staged their weekly protest for the 14th consecutive week on Friday, calling for the release of their lands, which remain occupied within the areas designated High Security Zone.

The demonstration was held in front of the military commanders bungalow in Myliddy. The protesters are residents of Grama Niladhari divisions 256, 248, 251 and 255, who were displaced from their homes in June 1990 and whose lands have remained within the High Security Zone ever since.

Although 17 years have passed since the end of the armed conflict, the area remains under Sri Lankan military control and retains its designation. Landowners have campaigned for the release of their properties for several years, and with their demands unmet, resolved to protest every Friday until their lands are returned.

The protest comes days after civil society organisations urged a visiting European Union delegation to press the Sri Lankan government to revoke the 2013 gazette acquiring 6,317 acres of land in Valikamam North and to secure the release of lands that remain under military occupation. In a memorandum presented to the delegation, representatives highlighted the continued displacement of thousands of Tamil families and called for meaningful action on longstanding land rights issues.

Campaigners have long argued that large portions of the occupied land are no longer used for military purposes but have instead been repurposed for commercial, agricultural, leisure and entertainment activities run by the military.

They maintain that the lands are privately owned ancestral properties, many of which once contained homes, places of worship and other community buildings, and that their continued occupation cannot be justified while they remain inaccessible to their rightful owners.

The latest protest also comes weeks after Sri Lankas Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekara told parliament that a further 1,661 acres within the Valikamam North High Security Zone would be permanently acquired for military infrastructure, and would not be returned to its original owners despite longstanding demands from displaced Tamil families. The announcement has intensified concern among landowners, who fear that the prospect of returning to their ancestral lands is becoming increasingly remote.

Jayasekara also told parliament that the military cultivated crops on occupied lands solely for its own consumption. Days later, however, footage obtained by the Tamil Guardian showed Sri Lankan soldiers delivering large quantities of vegetables grown on military-occupied Tamil land in Valikamam North to a Keells collection centre in Jaffna, directly contradicting the deputy ministers assertion in parliament.