Navy forcibly evicts resettled villagers in Pesalai overnight

The Sri Lankan Navy on Friday (22) forcibly evicted overnight at least 15 families, who were resettled just two week ago in their native places at Vetriman Housing Scheme, a fishing village located between Pesalai and Thalaimannar in the north-western Mannar district, sources in Pesalai said.

According to sources, a group of 10-15 heavily armed Navy personnel have visited the Vetriman Housing Scheme during the evening hours of Friday and threatened the war-victims to vacate their newly resettled home before midnight, creating a tensed situation in the area.

The naval officers have told the villagers that they have not been informed about the resettlement of these villagers in their native places at the Vetriman Hosing Scheme and insisted that they should leave their homes with immediate effect.

Although the villagers have pleaded the Navy personnel to give them time till the dawn to vacate their homes, citing their difficulties in moving the infants, children and elderly in the dark hours in the absence of public transport, the navy personnel have threatened them to withdraw before midnight to avoid dire consequences.

Church refuge

This has resulted in the helpless villagers vacating their homes in a rush and walking for a few hours in pitch dark to find refuge at a Catholic Church (Our Lady of Victory Church) located five km away in Pesalai, a coastal helmet where the largest Catholic community in the Mannar district lives.

Vetriman Housing Scheme consisting of 50 houses was built in a chunk of land that belonged to the Catholic Church in Pesalai in 2004 by the Jesus Refugee Service (JRS) and was handed over to 50 poor families from Pesalai in 2006. During the height of the war in mid 2008, these families displaced from their homes to escape the war and were Pesalai as refugees. It was only barely two weeks ago that 15 families of them were resettled in their own homes.

The incident in Pesalai has taken place at a time when a broader alliance of Tamil political parties have decided to stage a massive protest rally at Murikandy on June 26, against the systematic land grab in the North by the Security Forces under the guise of setting up High Security Zones, Military bases and cantonments.

© JDS

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