Sri Lanka Army releases another 700 acres of land in North to rightful owners

Sri Lanka Army, in keeping with the new government's policy to release more security forces-held lands to the civilians, has released another 700 acres. The Army has formally released 700 acres of land held by Armed Forces in Valikamam North area of Jaffna and handed them over to the Jaffna Government Agent Nagalingam Vedanayagam, the BBC reported. The Government Agent told BBC that 300 families have lived in the land before the war but since the boundary markers of the plots have been removed, the lands need to be re-measured before handing over to the owners.
        The Tamil National Alliance Northern Province MP M.K. Shivajilingam said it is a great injustice that nearly a year has passed since the President has promised to release the land but the people are still waiting to receive the their lands. Shivajilingam said since the President, when he visited Jaffna last week saw how the displaced people are living in the resettlement camps, all the land should be released immediately at one time instead of releasing in parts.
The MP suggested that if the government cannot release all the lands occupied by the military then the government should follow the way the military camps were located in 1990 in the Valikamam area and release the land that was not occupied then to the IDPs. The TNA claims that people in the north lost about 6,400 acres of their land to the military and they haven't received at least 2,000 acres of that land yet.