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The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has pledged to take legal action against the Sri Lankan military for the construction of an unauthorised military hospital on privately owned land in Vasavilan, Jaffna — an area still occupied under the guise of a so-called High-Security Zone.
The site, located within the heavily militarised Valikamam North region, remains under army control more than sixteen years after the end of the armed conflict. Despite repeated court rulings and government promises to release private property, vast tracts of Tamil land in the Jaffna peninsula remain occupied by Sri Lanka’s security forces.
The new military hospital is reportedly being built without authorisation on land that belongs to a local Tamil family, whose property was seized during the armed conflict and never returned. The construction work, which has continued in recent weeks, has sparked anger among local residents and renewed concerns over the military’s deepening control of civilian spaces across the North-East.
Responding to an appeal made by the landowner, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) member and President’s Counsel M. A. Sumanthiran, Acting Leader C. V. K. Sivagnanam, and Valikamam North Divisional Secretary S. Sughirthan visited the site on Tuesday to inspect the ongoing construction.
The politicians observed that the hospital was being built just outside the designated High-Security Zone boundary, effectively expanding the military’s presence under a new pretext.
After holding discussions with the affected landowner, Sumanthiran assured that immediate legal action would be taken against the Sri Lankan military’s illegal construction activities.
The Vasavilan incident is the latest example of continued militarisation in the Tamil homeland, where the army maintains thousands of acres of land and business ventures despite repeated calls from Tamil political parties, civil society, and international bodies for full demilitarisation.
Tamil residents in Valikamam North have long demanded the return of their homes and farmland, much of which has been fenced off. Locals describe as a systematic policy of occupation and land appropriation by the Sri Lankan state.
