Nearly three thousand acres in Thiriyaay, a traditional Tamil village, located about 42 km off north of Trincomalee town have been earmarked to be declared as sacred area for a Buddhist Vihare called Girihandu Seya. The Vihare caters exclusively for Sinhala Buddhists from the south of Sri Lanka.
Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan has written to the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse to stop allocating lands from the Tamil village to the Buddhist Vihare.
Sampanthan said the total extent of land that will be handed over as sacred area would be 3,060 acres, 2 roods and 15 perches.
Tamil sources allege that the purpose of allocating lands in the name of scared area is to colonize the Tamil village by Sinhalese brought from other provinces.
Entire Tamil population of Thiriyaay fled due to ethnic disturbances to other parts of the country in 1987 and to South India, but some of the refugees had later returned to the village.
About 1500 Tamil families lived in the village when the Sri Lanka Army launched military operation in 1990.
TN
