Lankan govt to return land seized from Tamils in ex-war zone

The Sri Lankan government is set to return over 800 acres of military-occupied land to its original Tamil owners in the Eastern Province before the end of next month as part of the reconciliation process.
Sri Lanka has already taken the first step towards handing back military-occupied land in the country's war-ravaged north with President Maithripala Sirisena returning 425 acres to its original Tamil owners in Jaffna on Monday.
The Resettlement Committee has received the cabinet approval to return 818 acres of land in the Sampur area back to its original owners, the Sri Lankan government's official news portal reported.

At a special meeting held at the Eastern Province Governor's office in Trincomalee, Minister of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs D M Swaminathan said the lands will be handed back before the end of April to their original owners.
Another 234 acres of land which was under the Sri Lankan Navy will also be returned to its original owners.
Preliminary phase of the transfer has already begun at the Governor's office of the Eastern Province.

President Sirisena has emphasised that he would give the opportunity to the people in war-ravaged areas to live in a good environment and end their period of difficulties.

Sirisena, who defeated former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in the polls earlier this year, received overwhelming support from the Tamil and Muslim minorities in the elections.
According to UN estimates, up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by security forces during former president Rajapaksa's regime that brought an end to the nearly three decades-long war in the country with the defeat of the LTTE in 2009.