Kilinochchi (; ) is the main town of

Kilinochchi District Kilinochchi District ( ''Kiḷinocci Māvaṭṭam''; ) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary (previo ...

, Northern Province of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. Kilinochchi is situated at the

A9 road This is a list of roads designated A9. * A009 road (Argentina), a road in the northeast of Santa Fe Province * ''A9 highway (Australia)'' may refer to : ** A9 (Sydney), a road linking Windsor and Campbelltown ** Port River Expressway, a limi ...

some south-east of

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

. It was the administrative center and de facto capital of the

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...

(Tamil Tigers) until 2 January 2009, when troops of the

Sri Lankan Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; t ...

recaptured the city.

History

Creation (1936)

The Kilinochchi town was established in 1936 as part of a colonization project that sought to ease overpopulation and unemployment in

. Kilinochchi is still part of the Jaffna electoral division and it was separated from the

Jaffna District Jaffna District ( ''Yāḻppāṇam Māvaṭṭam''; ''yāpanaya distrikkaya'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a ...

in the 1980s as a new district. Most of the people living in this district are farmers and related to

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

work. Most of the people migrated from Jaffna in the 1930s to acquire government grants for land in the region and to engage in paddy (rice) cultivation. During the 1970s, a large number of immigrants from the hill country, predominantly Indian Tamils, settled in the town. Much of the population immigrated overseas (Europe, US, Canada, Australia, etc.) during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

(1990-2009). The population has begun to rise after the end of the war.

Sri Lankan Civil War

LTTE car with soldiers in Killinochi april 2004

The

first took hold of the town in 1990 when the Army withdrew its garrisons from Kilinochchi. Then the area was retaken by the Army during Operation Sathjaya in September 1996. The town again fell into the LTTE's control in September 1998 who held their administrative hub there until retreating during the Battle of Kilinochchi on 2 January 2009.

Security Forces Headquarters – Kilinochchi Security Forces Headquarters – Kilinochchi (SFHQ-KLN) was a regional Command (military formation), command of the Sri Lanka Army, that was responsible for the operational deployment and command all army units stationed in Kilinochchi District, t ...

was established on June 29, 2009.

Demography

Most people living in Kilinochchi are

Sri Lankan Tamils Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province, form the pluralit ...

and Indian Tamils.

Economy

Kilinochchi is one of the major agrarian areas on the island since

pre-historic Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

times. Iranamadu Tank, Kanakampikai Kulam (Pond), and Kilinochchi Kulam are the major

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

source for

paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *A nickname or slur for an Irish person Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species *Black ...

and other crops. However, the economy of the town has suffered in recent times due to the economic crisis, which has resulted in a lack of fertilizer and fuel, reducing crop yields.

Transport

Kilinochchi is connected to the

Sri Lanka Railways The Sri Lanka Railway Department (more commonly known as Sri Lanka Railways (SLR)) (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා දුම්රිය සේවය ''Śrī Laṃkā Dumriya Sēvaya''; Sri Lankan Tamil dialects, Tamil: ...

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

via its

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. The A-9 Highway passes through the town, giving it direct connection with the major cities of Jaffna and

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

Media

Kilinochchi is served with all Jaffna- and Colombo-based newspapers. The Jaffna-based

Uthayan ''Uthayan'' ( Utayaṉ, ) is a Tamil language Sri Lankan daily newspaper published by New Uthayan Publication (Private) Limited, part of the Uthayan Group of Newspapers. It was founded in 1985 and is published from Jaffna. Its sister newspaper is ...

has a regional office in Kilinochchi. There have been discussions of not distributing Jaffna-based newspapers in the Vanni area, especially

. Uthayan is highly critical of inappropriate land acquisition in the

Jaffna peninsula The Jaffna Peninsula (, or ) is a region in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is home to the capital city of the province, Jaffna, and comprises much of the former land mass of the medieval Jaffna Kingdom. The peninsula was historically ...

and the Vanni region by the Sri Lankan Military and Government.

Education

This district has one university faculty and several Government Colleges such as Faculty of Agriculture of

University of Jaffna The University of Jaffna (, ''Yāpanaya Wiśwawidyālaya''; ; abbreviated UoJ) is a public university in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Established in 1974 as the sixth campus of the University of Sri Lanka, it became an independent, autonomous university in 1 ...

, Kilinochchi Central College, Hindu College, Uruthirapuram Maha Vidyalayam school, and the Vaddakkachchi Maha Vidyalayam school.

References

External links

{{Authority control Towns in Kilinochchi District Karachchi DS Division