Not one district is safe in the traditional homeland of the Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka from the religious and cultural assault from the hardline Buddhist clergy and the ever-menacing Department of Archaeology which is accused of being an agent abetting land grabs.
The scenario is the same starting from the Mannar district in the North West to Mullaitivu in the North East of the country.
And, in yet another incident of land grabbing and forced resettlement, attempts are being made to grab the lands of the Tamils and to settle the Sinhalese in Karunaatukkeni in the Maritimepattu District Secretariat in Mullaitivu district.
That too, the lands belonging to the Tamils just around the Karunaattukkeni Police station were forcefully grabbed and plans are afoot to settle 180 Sinhalese families there.
Locals allege the land grab and Sinhala colonization is being implemented by the Mahaweli Development Authority under the direct guidance of the President's Director General for Community Affairs Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon.
The same allegation was made in Parliament by Tamil MP Charles Nirmalanathan on April 4.
As such, officials of the Mahaweli Development Authority, Karaithuraipatru DS officials, and the staff from the Mullaitivu District Secretariat on April 03 visited Karunattukkeni to have a look at the lands belonging to the Tamils that have been earmarked for Sinhala resettlement.
The land-owning Tamils along with a former member of the Northern Provincial Council Thurairasa Ravikaran jointly expressed their strong protest against the forceful occupation of their land.
Tamils who own the land say that during the 1973-79 period, land deeds confirming their ownership were given to them and they were cultivating there.
“We will never allow Sinhala colonization in our ancestral land,” Tamil protestors said.
Fertile agricultural lands in traditional Tamil areas at the border villages of Kokkilai, Kokkuthoduvai, and Krunaattukkeni were forcefully occupied and distributed to the Sinhalese in the Welioya area. Dry Agricultural lands belonging to the Tamils were occupied and distributed to the Sinhalese.
Now efforts are on to establish Sinhala settlements in the residential lands belonging to the Tamil people.
Local Tamils in that area say that such land grabbing activities have caused a deep sense of anguish and disappointment for them.
