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Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Tuesday, 1 November 2016 00:33 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Presiding over a ceremony to return land and houses to Sri Lanka’s war displaced in the Northern Province yesterday, President Maithripala Sirisena expressed his sorrow over the death of two students from the Jaffna University last week and said the demonstrations of grief against the killings were justified.
President Sirisena was in Keerimalai, Jaffna yesterday to hand over 100 houses newly constructed by the military and the release of 454 acres of land that was seized by the military in war time.
“We share in the sorrow over the death of the students of the Jaffna University. Their deaths are a hurdle in Sri Lanka’s path to reconciliation,” the President said in his speech during the ceremony.
President Sirisena expressed his gratitude to the people of Jaffna for behaving responsibly after the deaths of students Sulakshan and Gajen, who died in a suspected shooting by police officers in Kankesanthurai on 21 October. Post mortem inquiries conducted on the student victims found that at least one boy had died from gunshot wounds. Five policemen were arrested in connection with the shooting and interdicted from service with immediate effect.
“Both the North and the South should pledge not to allow such incidents to take place again,” the President noted, referring to the student deaths.
During his speech, President Sirisena also acknowledged that the Tamil people had voted for him in the 2015 election without pre-election pacts being signed. “I will honour that confidence,” he asserted.
He said his Government was committed to drafting a new constitution that would be acceptable to all Sri Lanka’s ethnic communities.
“We must not fall prey to the forces of evil. We should never allow blood-letting in Sri Lanka again,” President Sirisena added. He said preventing the recurrence of conflict was the responsibility of all Sri Lankans.
The President also promised to expedite the further release of land in the Northern Province, where thousands of acres of privately owned lands remain in the custody of the military, their owners displaced for over two decades.
Resettlement Minister D. M. Swaminathan, Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray, and TNA Parliamentarians M. A. Sumanthiran and Mavai Senathirajah were present during the handing over ceremony in Kankesanthurai yesterday. (DB)
