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Two idols in the Rajarajeshwari Amman temple located in the high-security zone in Palaly have been stolen.
An idol of Murugan has been missing since the 28th of December last year. On the morning of the 20th March, this year, when the temple was opened to conduct a pooja, the administration discovered that the Pillaiyar idol was missing. Following this second theft, the administration lodged a complaint at the District Secretariat, and also in the Police station.
The Rajarajeshwari Amman temple which was consecrated in 1846, had been celebrating various festivals until the 15th of June 1990, when the villagers in Palaly were displaced throughout the Jaffna Peninsula due to armed conflict. Following the end of the armed conflict the temple administration was required to get the military's permission to access the temple grounds which is situated in the Palaly military high-security zone. The temple administration questioned how two continuous acts of robbery could have occurred when there were round-the-clock security and patrols by the military around the Temple.
The temple administration requested that the rightful authorities to release the Temple lands, and the surrounding areas to be released for public use, so that they can ensure the safety of the Temple themselves.
The North-East continues to remain one of the most militarized regions on the planet with large swathes of land occupied by the Sri Lankan armed forces. Almost all of Palaly’s 44,000 residents who were mostly Tamil, fled the Sri Lankan government in June and July 1990 and the region has remained a high-security zone with limited civilian access to land since.
