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Sri Lankan soldiers lay foundation for new home for family of Tamil student killed by police

Photographs: Shalin for Tamil Guardian

Sri Lankan soldiers will begin construction on a new home for the family of a Tamil student shot and killed by police last year.

Jaffna University students, 24-year-old Sulaksan Sugantharaja and 23-year-old Kajan Nadarasa, were shot and killed by police in Kokkuvil in October 2016.

In a ceremony overseen by soldiers and army officers, resettlement minister D. M. Swaminathan laid the foundation stone for a home and land to be granted to the family of Sulaksan of Kantharodai, Alavetti, the expenses for which will be met by the Sri Lankan government.

The house will be built by Sri Lankan soldiers based in the Kankensanthurai camp, in the same style as houses in a housing scheme to be constructed in Keerimalai, for which soldiers also laid foundation stones.

“Due to the extreme poverty of the family, they did not reject the offer for a new home, even though it will be built by soldiers,” a representative of the family said.

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