Sri Lankan President Sirisena sets deadline on resettlement of war-displaced people

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday gave a six month's deadline to officials to resettle over 44,000 remaining war-displaced people in the country's Tamil-dominated northern province.The announcement came as a follow-up action to Sirisena's visit to a displaced camp in Jaffna during the Christmas period last month. Over 44,000 displaced would now be resettled within six months after the identification of suitable lands, officials said on the deadline set by Sirisena.According to the officials, 5732 people of 1688 displaced families are currently living in displaced camps while 11,073 families of 38,283 displaced people still live with their relatives. Nearly 300,000 people were displaced from the north during the final military battle between the LTTE and the government in 2009.They were housed in displaced camps with international assistance. The final settlement of the war-displaced is another reconciliation measure by Sirisena's government which succeeded the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.The advent of Sirisena in January last year saw several conciliatory steps being taken towards the welfare of the Tamil minority. Travel restrictions to the north were lifted while private lands held for military purposes came to be released.Yet the Tamils remain unhappy as more needs to be done to bring in normalcy to the war-ravaged province. Sri Lanka's northern province witnessed a 26-year-long civil war which ended in 2009 when government forces defeated the Tamil Tiger who were fighting to create a separate state for Tamils in north.