During the Sri Lankan Civil War , the island was within the area of military conflict ; on 29 September 1998 Lionair Flight 602 was shot down by Tamil Tigers from there , and in February 2003 , during peace negotiations , a suicide incident with Tigers who had been smuggling armaments took place off the island . The Sri Lanka Navy built a base there and in 1992 the remaining islanders all moved to the village of Iranamata Nagar on the mainland , abandoning their houses and cattle . According to the navy , the depopulation of the island was voluntary ; the inhabitants say they were not allowed to stay and that since 2009 , except for annual Good Friday observances the islanders , women in particular , had been forbidden to return even during the daytime , despite petitions and protests including a continuous 359-day protest on a beach . C. V. Vigneswaran , then the Chief Minister of the Northern Province , and Paul Godfrey , chargé d'affaires of the European Union delegation to Sri Lanka , both wrote to the Government of Sri Lanka describing the islanders as " displaced " and requesting they be allowed to return
Lionair Flight 602
Lionair Flight 602
Iranaitivu