A tearful return – Roofs off houses and roads through homes, as Tamils return to land in Jaffna

Lands that were being occupied by the Sri Lankan military were released to their original owners for the first time in years, with Tamils returning to the area finding their homes having been left in ruins.

Some of the families were visiting their homes for the first time in almost 30 years. Much of the land had been seized by the Sri Lankan military after it launched an offensive to capture the Jaffna peninsula in 1995, triggering an exodus of over half a million people.

Officials from the Tellipalai Divisional Secretariat and Sri Lankan army were seen taking photos as they finally handed back the land. Approximately 20 acres in Kankesanthurai North and 25 acres in the Tenmayilai division were released to the families this week. 

They returned to find their houses were shells of what they had left behind. The roofs of many houses had been removed and walls battered through dilapidation and the occupation.

The returnees also claimed that the army had built roads through the homes destroying houses that had been built along its path.

Despite more than 15 years since the massacres at Mullivaikkal and almost 30 years of occupation in Jaffna, the Sri Lankan military continues to occupy vast swathes of land across the Tamil North-East. Tens of thousands of troops remain stationed in the region, which continues to be amongst the most militarised in the world.