In September 2025, the Sri Lankan military intensified its presence in the Tamil homeland. The Sri Lankan armed forces continued to embed themselves in schools, children's homes, churches, and community events across the North-East. Packaged as "civil-military relations" and "trust-building," these initiatives work to normalise a permanent military presence and keep the state involved in Tamil spaces.
Yet resistance endures. Across the North-East, Tamil communities continue to push back. In Point Pedro, residents demanded the removal of army camps from public and civic areas.
Throughout September, the SLAF invited students in Kilinochchi to tour the naval base. Army divisions handed out snacks and school supplies in Jaffna and Mannar, and ran medical and blood donation drives through military hospitals. Meanwhile, police and military infrastructure expanded in Tamil areas, with new or renovated facilities opened in Vavuniya, Point Pedro, Jaffna, and Mannar. Branded as welfare, education, culture, or sport, these activities deepen surveillance and entrench a day-to-day military presence in Tamil civilian spaces, normalising occupation and advancing Sinhalisation under the guise of public outreach.
Public Health
On 19 September 2025, the Sri Lankan Army conducted a medical camp for disabled retired Army veterans in Amaparai. The event held in the Tamil homeland was attended by over 1,250 disabled/retired Sri Lankan Army veterans and their families. In attendance was Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Lasantha Rodrigo RSP ctf-ndu psc IG. The army’s blatant celebration of their so-called “War Heroes” in the Tamil homeland underscores the control the army aims to maintain through the normalisation of occupying forces within the North-East.
On 19 September 2025, the Sri Lankan Army distributed nutritional packs to 40 pregnant mothers in Jaffna. The army claimed the event was to “foster peaceful coexistence” and “sustainable peace in Northern Sri Lanka”, all whilst a signature campaign in Jaffna pushed for real accountability for the Chemmani mass graves and Tamil Genocide.
On 20 September 2025, the Sri Lankan Army conducted a blood donation program in Jaffna. As army personnel lay on hospital beds claiming to donate their blood to “further the Army’s contribution to saving lives,” a survivor of the 1990 Sathurukondan massacre sought an investigation into the 186 Tamil civilians slain.
Influence in Tamil Schools
On 1 September 2025, the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) invited seventy-seven students to visit the Sri Lankan Air Force Station at Iranmadu, Kilinochchi, in efforts framed by the SLAF to provide "exposure to aviation at a young age."
On 2 September, the 1 Infantry Division of the Sri Lanka Army distributed snacks to Children in the Jaffna area. While the Army claimed that the event was an attempt to foster "civil-military relations", it instead exemplified the military's continued use of civilian spaces in the Tamil homeland to assert dominance under the guise of humanitarian outreach.
On 9 September 2025, troops from the 54th Infantry Division provided meals to the Roman Catholic Tamil Mixed School in Mannar, as part of the "Clean Sri Lanka" initiative.
On 10 September 2025, troops from the 51 Infantry Division conducted a Civil Military Coordination activity during an arms giving event at the Karunalayam Children's Home in Jaffna. The event was under the direction of Major General MPNA Muthumala USP psc General Officer Commanding of the 51 Infantry Division. Presented as a step to "foster trust," the modest donation event unfolded against a dense security footprint in the Tamil homeland.
On 12 September 2025, under the guise of "fostering reconciliation" between the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil community, the Sri Lankan Army distributed school items to 661 students in Jaffna.
Military Infrastructure Expansion
On 1 September 2025, the Police Engineering Branch renovated the mess in the Mannar Police Division. The financial fund for this initiative was provided from the Police Rewards funds. However, concerns have arisen over Colombo's ability to meet restructured debt repayments starting next year due to its economic policies, which continue to prioritise centralised governance and military spending.
From 2 to 5 September 2025, an inter-command squash tournament was held in Trincomalee. It underscores the use of community-facing events to normalise army and naval footprints in the Tamil homeland while tightening control.
From 3 – 10 September 2025, a similar Football tournament was held by the 59th Infantry Division in Mullaitivu. During the 2009 Tamil genocide, the 59th Infantry Division was implicated in enforced disappearances and grave human rights abuses reported by Human Rights Watch and international organisations. The UN OHCHR investigation further documented the division's shelling of hospitals in southern Mullaitivu.
On 12 September 2025, the Sri Lankan Navy honoured 4th Fast Attack Flotilla naval personnel in Trincomalee. The event drew a large crowd of veterans and featured a discussion program that allowed them to share their combat experiences with new officers. The event was held at the 4FAF War Monument erected in the Tamil homeland, and reinforces the normalisation of occupation in the North-East.
On 15 September 2025, the U.S. Defence Language Institute generously supplied a Language Computer Lab to the Sri Lankan Navy in Trincomalee. The ceremonial opening of the lab was attended by officials from the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Navy personnel. The event highlighted the U.S.'s investment in military expansion across the Tamil homeland, even as concerns persist over Sri Lanka's record of war crimes, torture, and impunity.
On 24 September 2025, the Sri Lankan Police unveiled a newly renovated mess in Point Pedro, Jaffna. Weeks earlier, Tamils in Point Pedro protested the militarisation and occupation of the Tamil homeland. The protestors demanded that the Sri Lankan military and naval camps occupying these public spaces be removed.
On 25 September 2025, the Sri Lankan Police again divested funds into the militarisation of the homeland through the opening of newly constructed welfare shops within the Kankesanthurai Police Station in Jaffna.
On 26 September 2025, three renovated police buildings in Vavuniya were declared open. The buildings renovated included the Vavuniya Division Crime Bureau, the Vavuniya Division Special Crime Investigation Bureau, and the children and women's bureau at Echchankulam in Vavuniya Division. The police framed the investment into the militarisation of the homeland as an effort to "familiarise the police station with the children and women in the Tamil community by making [it] a more inviting and pleasant place for the people to lodge complaints." The day prior, Tamils in Vavuniya held a symbolic hunger strike to commemorate Lt. Col. Thileepan and reaffirm his five demands, one of which included: "The Sri Lankan government should stop opening new police stations and camps in the North-eastern province."
On 26 September 2025, a newly constructed women's quarters and fully furnished mess were ceremonially declared open in Chunnakam, Jaffna.
On 29 September 2025, the Sri Lankan government again invested in the militarisation of the homeland through the opening of a new library for the Vavuniya camp of the Police Special Task Force.
