Calls for probe into Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka ’s allegations against former Army Commander General Jagath Jayasuriya
Posted on September 10th, 2017
Northern Province Chief Minister C.W. Wigneswaran: Army holding about 85,000 acres in North
By Cyril Wimalasurendre Courtesy The Island
September 10, 2017, 10:53 pm
KANDY – Alleging that the army continued to hold about 85,000 acres of land in the North, Northern Province Chief Minister and former Supreme Court judge C.W. Wigneswaran, on Saturday, sought the intervention of most Ven. Tibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera of Malwatte Chapter to shift troops out those lands.
CM Wigneswaran claimed that only about 5,000 acres had been so far released to their original owners.
The Chief Minister placed the strength of the army deployed in the Northern Province at 150,000. Asserting that there was no requirement to maintain such a large force in the Northern Province, Wigneswaran called for their removal.The Mahanayake thera told the CM to make representations to President Maithripala Sirisena as he could solve the problem.
The prelate emphasised that the army could not be removed from the Northern Province.
CM Wigneswaran told the Mahanayake that he sought his intervention to bring their problems to the notice of the President.
Wigneswaran said there were at least 89,000 widows in the north as a result of the war. Rehabilitated LTTE cadres were unemployed as employers were reluctant to hire them.
The farmers of the north had been affected by the import of chillies, onions and other such commodities. Fishermen from the South fished in the Northern seas, depriving the local fishermen of their income, he said.
Responding to media Chief Minister Wigneswaran said that federalism did not divide the country but united the country instead. Three judges of the Supreme Court had recorded a judgement regarding federalism. Accordingly, there should be no fear that federalism would pave the way for separation, the CM said.
Commenting on disputes over Buddha images being put up in the north Wigneswaran said there was opposition to statues coming up in inappropriate places. Attempts were made to put up Buddha images on lands owned by non-Buddhists, he said.
The 20th Amendment to the Constitution had been rejected by the Northern Provincial Councils as it was a threat to democratic administration of the provinces, CM Wigneswaran said.
Asked for his views regarding war crimes allegations Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka recently levelled against former Army Commander General Jagath Jayasuriya, Wigneswaran said that minister Sarath Fonseka might have had legitimate reason to make that statement. What he said might be true. The matter should be investigated, he said.
September 10th, 2017 at 8:09 pm
Hey Vigguie, JR started importing chilies and onion under Dhatmishta samajaya. You do not have any authority to say or decide how many troops should be in NP. Please shut up your pie hole. You want to start the war again. About unemployment of Tamil youth go tell Praba. Sinhal people did not make them unemployed.
September 11th, 2017 at 7:20 am
“Fishermen from the South fished in the Northern seas, depriving the local fishermen of their income, he said”
How sad that Chief Minister Wigneswaran cannot look at anything except through the prism of ‘separatism’! So, what’s the big deal about fisherman from the south fishing in the northern waters? Surely, they have every right to do so, just as much as fishermen from the north are free to fish in the south. Whether we are from the north or the south, we are ALL Sri Lankans, and the seas around the island are for ALL Sri Lankans to fish in. What the CM is effectively saying is ‘the waters in the north are only for the Tamils and are part of their so called traditional homeland which is the exclusive preserve of the Tamils’
The Chief Minister should think like a Sri Lankan – not just as a Tamil. And what he really should be doing is to protest to his friends across the Palk Straits at the Tamil Nadu fishermen illegally fishing in Sri Lankan waters especially around the north of the island. They are the poachers – the ones who are really hitting the fishermen from the north the hardest!