http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=Jaffna_Bishop_Praises_Secretary_Defence_20120312_02


Jaffna Bishop praises Secretary Defence for humanitarian assistance
Bishop of Jaffna Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Savundaranayagam in a
letter written to Secretary Defence Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, praised the timely
action, facilitating vacation of Naval personnel from houses at Mandaithivu.
"The people are very grateful to you for returning their houses

after 22 years", Bishop Savundaranayagam had further stated.
Mandaithivu is a small island and located in 6km distance
south-west of the Jaffna town. There were more than 300 families living and the
islanders were displaced in 1990 due to indiscriminate shelling by LTTE
terrorists.
Most of the families went to Wanni area and other parts of the
Jaffna peninsula. During this period almost all houses were damaged and their
main livelihood-fishing was gravely affected due to intermittent sea borne
attacks by LTTE sea tigers. The coastal areas were declared as High Security
Zone and Sri Lankan Naval Personnel were deployed to tighten security in the
area.
Full text of the letter written by Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas
Savundaranayagam on 23rd Feb, 2012.