Lanka Tamils stage sit in over land grab in north

Several hundreds of Tamils in Sri Lanka today began a five day sit-in to highlight what they alleged a land grab attempt by the military in Jaffna.
"Some 6000 acres belonging to Tamil people in Jaffna's Walikamam North sector is to be taken over by the government while Army has begun destroying some of the houses," M K Shivajilingam, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) northern provincial councillor said.
He said the 5 day protest would ask the military to halt the land grab.
"Some of the land owners have already filed court action," Shivajilingam said.
Tamils have asked the military to dismantle high security zones where the military continues to occupy private property for security needs.

The TNA, the main Tamil party argues high security zones are no longer necessary as the threat from the LTTE for the government troops exist no longer.

However the military spokesman, Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya dismissed land grab accusations.
He said the military had already handed back to civilians most of the properties which the Army used during the military conflict.
"There is no more need to take over any new property," Wanigasuriya stressed.
The Tamil protest in Jaffna came ahead of a visit by the British Prime Minister David Cameron to the city later this week.
Cameron who will tour Jaffna during his visit to attend the CHOGM summit in Colombo will become the first head of state to visit Sri Lanka's northern capital since the island became independent of Britain in 1948.

Shivajilingam said the protest would end on November 16. The TNA expects the protest to highlight the Tamil grievances during the CHOGM summit.