Sri Lanka has announced that, it will begin the process of giving permission to the civilians who got displaced and lost their homes during the gruesome war between Sri Lankan military forces and the terrorist organization, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Since the military offensive began, the villagers and civilians from the nearby regions fled their homes to ensure their survival and have been living in government internment camps ever since. The number of the displace civilians had reached a staggering 300,000.

Many of the 300,000 refugees being held at a heavily guarded government facility called, Menik Farm in the northern town of Vavuniya, had already been released after the war was over and the remaining 130,000 will be given their freedom to go back to their lands on December 1st, 2009. The announcement was made by the brother of the country’s President, Basil Rajapaksa, who also holds the Tamil resettlement program portfolio.

Majority of refugees are said to be from the Wanni region, that saw intensive fighting and was later heavily mined to stop enemy reinforcements. The region is still in the process of being de-mined and refugees are expected to inhabit the region by January of next year. Even with Sri Lankan government’s announcement, the United Nations and several prominent human rights agencies still maintain that the government has held the ethnic minority Tamils against their will in the Menik Farm.

According to the human rights watchdogs’ complaints, the conditions inside the internment camps are inhumane and extremely crowded and has further stated that, the government of Sri Lanka is extracting revenge on the the Tamil refugees for the deeds of the LTTE.

The Sri Lankan armed forces carried out a massive offensive against the LTTE earlier this year and completely annihilated the militant outfit that had led a relentless wave of terror and intimidation in the country since the year 1983.

Via CNN.