Thalsevana Holiday Resort
{{Infobox building
| name = Thalsevana Holiday Resort
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| former_names = Kankesanthurai Rest House
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| owner = Government of Sri Lanka
| current_tenants = Sri Lanka Army
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| location_town = Kankesanthurai
| location_country = Sri Lanka
| coordinates = {{coord|9|48|57.30|N|80|02|55.00|E|region:LK-4|display=inline,title}}
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| renovation_date = 2 October 2010
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| rooms = 31
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| website = {{URL|thalsevanaresort.com}}
}}
Thalsevana Holiday Resort is a holiday resort on the northern coast of Sri Lanka near the town of Kankesanthurai. Formerly Kankesanthurai Rest House, it was taken over by the Sri Lankan military during the civil war. After the civil war the military renovated the buildings and turned them into a holiday resort.
History
During British colonial rule a network of rest houses were built around Ceylon.{{cite book|last=Holmes|first=W. Robert|title=Jaffna 1980|publisher=The Christian Institute for the Study of Religion Society of Jaffna College|page=100|url=http://www.noolaham.org/wiki/index.php/Jaffna_1980?uselang=en}} Kankesanthurai Rest House was run by the Northern Provincial Road Committee.{{cite book|title=The Automobile Association Of Ceylon Handbook|year=1950|publisher=The Automobile Association Of Ceylon|page=141|url=http://www.noolaham.org/wiki/index.php/The_Automobile_Association_Of_Ceylon_Handbook?uselang=en}} After independence the rest houses were taken over by the state owned Ceylon Hotels Corporation.
In 1990 the Sri Lankan military declared a large area of the north of the Valikamam region a High Security Zone (HSZ) and forcibly evicted all the residents in the area without offering them compensation.{{cite news|last=Brady|first=Brendan|title=Soldiers at Your Service|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/roads/2013/08/sri_lankan_army_goes_into_tourism_business_after_crushing_the_tamil_tigers.html|newspaper=Slate|date=30 August 2013}} Kankesanthurai Rest House was deep inside the HSZ. It was taken over by the Sri Lankan military and used as an officer's mess.{{cite news|title=In bigger barracks|url=http://www.economist.com/node/18775481|newspaper=The Economist|date=2 June 2011}}{{cite news|last=Bedi|first=Rahul|title=Armed, dangerous and building their own empires|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10746321|newspaper=The New Zealand Herald|date=20 August 2011}}{{cite news|last=Jayasuriya|first=Ranga|title=Army’s new civilian role - is this a good signal?|url=http://lakbimanews.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1460%3Aarmys-new-civilian-role-is-this-a-good-signal&Itemid=56|newspaper=Lakbima|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425143318/http://lakbimanews.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1460:armys-new-civilian-role-is-this-a-good-signal&Itemid=56|archivedate=25 April 2012}} After the civil war ended the military renovated the buildings and turned them into a holiday resort known as Thalsevana. The renovated resort opened on 2 October 2010.{{cite news|title=Thal Sevana Holiday Resort in Kankasanturai|url=http://island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=25367|newspaper=The Island (Sri Lanka)|date=15 May 2011}}