Protesting mother exposes Sri Lanks military’s false land grabing propaganda

I was forced to sign a paper in Sinhala

Protesting mother exposes occupying SL military’s false propaganda

“The SL military never bought my lands. They said I need to provide details to obtain land. Then I was forced to sign a paper in Sinhala at the police station. The SL military moved into my land and has now sent notice to seize the lands permanently from me,” said a Tamil mother who protested against the land surveyors who came to her land situated along the A9 Road, at Mirusuvil in Thenmaraadchi of the Jaffna district. While the protest was going on a group of SL military intelligence operatives entered the house of a Tamil councillor, who was supporting the protesting family, threatened his wife at gunpoint and caused damage to his property.

Sri Lanka: EPDP backs TNA resolution opposing land acquisition

Protest against land grab in Jaffna ( Tamilnet photo)

A resolution demanding an immediate end to the Sri Lankan government’s forcible acquisition of private lands in Valikamam, Jaffna, and the return of seized lands to their owners was passed unanimously at a meeting of the Jaffna District Coordinating Committee meeting on Monday.

Reflecting the intense public anger over the land seizures, the resolution tabled by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was supported by the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP, a key pro-government paramilitary group-cum-political party). However, the EPDP defended the government on other seizures also discussed, prompting criticism from those who attended the meeting.

Sri Lanka: The state is being over-represented by its security arm

Jehan Perera
The sudden deterioration in the climate in the north is unfortunate.  When I visited North last week it seemed that the sense of normalcy in the North was getting stronger. The military posts and uniformed sentries on duty at short and regular intervals on the roads are no longer there.  Most of the people I spoke to in Jaffna told me that the military personnel in Jaffna behaved well and they encountered few or no problems with them.  However, they also said they could not speak with assurance about how the military was behaving in the Wanni, which is a much poorer and less densely inhabited part of the North.  When I spoke to people in Kilinochchi they gave answers that were no different from those of the people of Jaffna.  They even said that the military was helpful to the extent that if a household had a problem they would even go sometimes to the army rather than to the grama sevaka or village official, as the army could do more to help them. 

Sri Lanka govt asks more time: to alter the demographic composition and the linguistic and cultural identity of the North a and East - TNA

TNA leader R.Sampanthan

'The I.T.A.K. states that the Government is engaged in implementing a programme, the objective of which is to further alter the demographic composition of and alter the linguistic and cultural identity of the Northern and Eastern provinces. When the Sri Lankan government states that it needs more time, it only means that it needs more time to implement the said programme which is being vigorously pursued by the Government. '

TNA Central Committee decisions 26.01.2014 

A development based strategy for durable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka is essential - Beyani

"Constructing a development based strategy for durable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of conflict is now essential," UN rights expert says.

COLOMBO/GENEVA, 11 December 2013: "After having made impressive strides in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed during the conflict, post conflict reconstruction in Sri Lanka should also focus on addressing durable solutions for all IDPs and those who have returned to their areas of origin on a comprehensive basis," the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of IDPs, Chaloka Beyani, said at the end of his visit to Sri Lanka from 2 to 6 December 2013. 

Sri Lanka: Rajapksha takes steps to implement more LLRC recommendations ahead of UNHRC sessions in Geneva

From  The Sunday Times political column 
Meanwhile, among the preparations that have got under way for the UNHRC sessions are moves to implement more recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). One such widely publicised measure is to conduct a census on deaths/injuries to persons and property damages due to the “conflict in the past more than 30 years.” It is being carried out jointly by the Ministry of Public Administration and the Department of Census and Statistics. A statement from them said, “it is essential to ensure that while all the families/persons directly or indirectly affected by the conflict are counted, they are not counted twice.”

Sri Lanka Tamils protest land grab ahead of Commonwealth meet

Kamalesh Sharma (L) and President
Rajapakse (R)attending the Commonwealth
People’s Forum 2013, AFP Photo

Agence France-Presse

Colombo:  Ethnic Tamils staged a rare protest in northern Sri Lanka on Tuesday against the military's refusal to hand back land after the war, as Colombo prepared to host this week's Commonwealth summit.

Several hundred Tamils demonstrated in the former northern war zone of Jaffna, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Colombo, even though organisers received telephone death threats beforehand against the move, a local Tamil politician said.

Sri Lanka: Resolve the basic unresolved issues of Tamils instead of external development - Jaffna Catholics

''We want the Government to come forward with a solution or proposal package to settle the festering ethnic problem. Prior to this the Government will have to show some substantial and genuine positive signs by resolving the basic unresolved issues. The following are some of the main issues to be addressed:''

Full text of the letter follows:

External development cannot substitute the settling of the basic unresolved issues of the people in the North and East

Restoring land, livelihood top priority for Northern Council, says Sri Lankan MP

Mavai S. Senathiraja urges international community
to put pressure on the Sri Lankan Government
to rebuild the devastated areas.— Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Kavita Kishore

 A Sri Lankan parliamentarian from Jaffna who played a key role in the campaign that led to the victory of the Tamil National Alliance in the recent Northern Provincial Council election says the first priority for the new government should be to ensure that lands destroyed in the war be reclaimed and livelihood programmes for the people introduced.

The international community has to put pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to rebuild the devastated areas, TNA MP Mavai S. Senathiraja said here on Sunday. He was on a personal visit to Puducherry.

TNA demands probe into land grabs in North

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) yesterday demanded that government immediately investigate what it called land grabs by the security force members in the North and East and to redress the grievances of Tamil people.

Post-War Land Grabs in Sri Lanka

Chili-pickers near the High Security Zone border in Valikamam North, Sri Lanka (Image by author)

Ruth Canagarajah  /Development Channel Staff
Emerging Voices features contributions from scholars and practitioners highlighting new research, thinking, and approaches to development challenges. This article is from Ruth Canagarajah, a Fulbright fellow in northern Sri Lanka who is researching the intersection of natural resources, livelihoods, and post-war challenges. Here she analyzes the impact of military land grabs on Sri Lanka’s post-war recovery process.

Land Expropriation and Deception in Keppapilavu; the regime’s anti-Tamil agenda can be captured in this single land notice

“Resettlement” in Sooripuram

The Social Architects
Introduction
During the civil war’s final phases, more than 300,000 people were displaced; the majority of those internally displaced persons (IDPs) were eventually relocated to IDP camps – with Menik[1] Farm[2] (Vavuniya) being the largest IDP camp. The conditions in Sri Lanka’s IDP camps were – to say the least – substandard. Attempting to deflect international pressure, the Government of Sri Lanka closed Menik Farm in September 2012.

Land acquisition by occupying military challenged in Sri Lanka Courts

Following a writ-application filed at the Sri Lankan Court of Appeal by 1,474 Eezham Tamils owning lands in Valikaamam North on 14 May, which was an initiative taken by Colombo-based lawyers, including those belonging to the Tamil National Alliance, a group of lawyers based in Jaffna have filed legal action in Sri Lankan Supreme Court on 22 May, challenging the publication of the Section 2 notice to acquire lands from the owners in Valikaamam North.

Occupying STF seizes 600 acres of farmland in Poththuvil

Sinhala Buddhist extremists, with the backing of the occupying Sri Lankan government in Colombo, have planned to appropriate about six hundred acres of paddy fields belonging to Muslims and Tamils in Pasarich-cheanai in Poththuvil electorate in Ampaa'rai district, claiming that the said lands belong to Sinhala Buddhists.

Is Jaffna our first military town? - Editorial, Ceylon Today

The prospect of 'Gaza' of the Sri Lankan kind emerging in the Northern territories is beginning to appear increasingly inevitable. The government's decision to acquire well over 6,000 acres of privately owned land in the Jaffna peninsula has only made it look even more plausible an event in the aftermath of the 30-year-old war.

GoSL is violating the UN recognised IDPs right to return to their original lands by taking over 6381 acres in Jaffna

1000 uprooted Tamils want their land back, 29th Jaffna ( Vikalpa photo)

The government has made moves to acquire over 6381 acres of privately owned land in the Jaffna peninsula, which it says is for a public purpose. The public purpose is presumably for the security forces.  The pasting of notices on trees in Valikamam North under section 2 of the Land Acquisition Act coincides with preparations for the Northern Provincial Council elections in September this year.

Jaffna landowners to file more than 1000 cases against military ‘land grab’

Landowners hold a demonstration in front of the
Pradeshiya Sabha Tellipalai. Pic by T. Premananth

More than 1000 Jaffna landowners are to file petitions in courts against an alleged land grab by the military in Valligamam north that local MPs claim is causing severe concern among civilians.

Landowners held a public demonstration last Sunday in front of the Pradeshiya Sabha Tellipalai demanding the return of their lands.

Nearly 10,000 acres was acquired by the military in the early 1990s and declared a high-security zone.

Ethnic tensions between the Tamil and Muslim communities in Mullaiteevu may intensify over the land issues

Fact finding report on the recent tensions between Muslims and Tamils in Mulliyawalai
WOMEN’S ACTION NETWORK

Muslims and Tamils have returned to the North having experienced immense loss and struggles over the last 30 years. Post-2009 Muslims and Tamils have begun returning to Mullaiteevu and resettlement has been taking place slowly. However the numbers that are attempting to and have returned is much higher than the number displaced 30 years ago. Therefore the land allocated has been insufficient for these communities to resettle. The situation is further complicated by the loss of land documentation and land disputes.

Northerners rise up against grabbing land for HSZ

 More than 1000 uprooted people gathered yesterday (29) morning in front of the Divisional Secretariat at Thellippazhai, situated near the entrance to the former High Security Zone (HSZ).

6400 Acres of Private Lands Belonging to Tamil People in Valikamam North to be Acquired by Govt for Military Cantonments

People's protest against land grabbing at Valikamam North (photo: TamilNet)

 M.A.Sumanthiran M.P
Last week saw a hugely dangerous move by the government. Section 2 notices under the Land Acquisition Act were pasted on trees in Valikamam North in the Jaffna Peninsula indicating that an extent of approximately 6,400 acres of private lands belonging to several thousand Tamil people would be acquired for Military cantonments.