Statement

75% of the lands occupied by the security forces in the Northern Province have been released to the public.

Fact check

Senathirajah right on share military occupied lands released, but not just in the Northern Province

We consulted two sources to verify this claim. (1) The Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM), and (2) Sixth periodic report submitted by Sri Lanka to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Exhibit 1 shows these figures: both these sources affirm that the percentage of land occupied by the security forces in 2009 that has since been released to the public (as at March 2019) is about 75%. However, while MP Senathirajah is cited as referring only to the Northern Province, the publicly available data is the aggregate assessment for both the Northern and Eastern Provinces. In the audio of the original statement (Exhibit 2), MP Senathirajah seems to cite this as a government statistic, and mentions several specific locations, without relating the statistic particularly to the Northern Province as done in the press report.

Since this is the only statistic that is publicly available, and it is correct in aggregate for the Northern and Eastern Province, we classify MP Senathirajah’s statement as True.

*FactCheck's verdict is based on the most recent information that is publicly accessible. As with every fact check, if new information becomes available, FactCheck will revisit the assessment.

Exhibit 1: Land occupied by the security forces

Exhibit 2: Recording of MP Senathirajah's speech on 15 August 2019

Available at: http://bit.do/senathirajahspeech