‘Village of Reconciliation’ to House Tamil Woman Soldiers & Soldiers Married to Tamil Persons

‘Sanhindiyawe Sathvirugama’ (Sathvirugama village of Reconciliation), the housing project with 51 new homes at Kokeliya, Vavuniya, built by the 56 Division troops of the Army of the Security Force Headquarters - Wanni (SFHQ-W) and 4 Corps of Engineer Services (4 CES) through funds of the ‘Api Wenuwen Api’ house construction fund of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), is to be formally vested in serving Tamil woman soldiers and Army personnel married to Tamil ladies as a reconciliation project of the best exemplary nature.

Each house erected in 40 perch land slots is worth about Rs 2 million in the ‘Sanhindiyawe Sathvirugama’, without any labour cost because of the involvement of troops.

President Maithripala Sirisena on April 3 during a ceremony, replete with Sinhala Tamil New Year rites and rituals would hand over the keys of those 51 new houses to Tamil woman soldiers, soldiers married to Tamil women and vice versa, a soldier with seven children, and next of kin of the rape victim, Vidhya who was murdered several months back.

A press briefing at the MoD, chaired by Engineer Karunasena Hettiarachchi was told on Wednesday (23) that the project would help heal the wounded hearts of Tamil populace to some extent since it was a step in the right direction.

Sri Lanka Navy has offered its assistance to prepare a new playground inside the complex while the Sri Lanka Air Force has undertaken the task of erecting a new children’s park. Sri Lanka Army in addition to construction roles has promised to put up a community hall and the landscaping in the new house compounds with the support of all the regiments in the Army.

Eng Hettiarachchi in response to several Media queries said that a total of about 3700 acres of land have already been released to the Jaffna civilians except the ones in vulnerable points as far as security needs are concerned.

The new housing complex in Kokeliya symbolizes the co-existence, reconciliation and the harmony that could be promoted by tri-services for the betterment of our society.