COLOMBO: In a move taken to foster post war reconciliation in the country, Sri Lankan military has agreed to release 522 more acres of private lands in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, to resettle the war displaced community still living in welfare centres or in residences of their friends and relatives.The government has already released 4,992 acres of private and government lands in the provinces that were being occupied by the armed forces during the war and its aftermath.

Sri Lanka’s former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera, told the 32nd session of UNHRC in 2016 that the armed forces will, by 2018, release all civilian owned land they had taken over during the 30-year war.

Of the 12,000 acres seized by the security forces, about 4,000 acres have been released since Jan 2015.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2018