Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) parliamentarian Kulasingam Thileeban has reportedly allocated nearly Rs 1 million in aid of development activities that will allow Sinhalese settlers to relocate to the army-sponsored Nandimithragaama in Vanni.
The Nandimithragama is a housing complex, funded by the Sri Lankan military and built by troops attached to the Security Force Headquarters – Wanni. According to the Sri Lanka army, the scheme has 309 houses.
To this end, Kulasingam was seen taking part in Buddhist religious rituals during the foundation-laying ceremony for a new building. In addition to the funding of Rs. 1 million for this building, Dhileepan had also allocated Rs.1.9 million more for another Sinhalese settler village. The EPDP political party is headed by Douglas Devananda who is Sri Lanka's fisheries minister and government-aligned paramilitary leader.
The EPDP functioned as a paramilitary group aligned with the Sri Lankan state and stands accused of a host of human rights abuses, including murder, extortion, kidnapping, international child trafficking and running child prostitution rings for Sri Lankan soldiers.
Read more, including from a leaked 2007 US embassy cable on the activities of the EPDP, here and here.
