Buddhist vihares grab Tamil lands for Sinhalicisation in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2012, 21:28 GMT]
Hundreds of acres of lands are being alienated to Buddhist Vihares in Trincomalee district on the instruction of the Colombo government and at the request of the heads of such Vihares, civil sources in Trincomalee told TamilNet. After the war, the SL military-led administration in the district had allocated initially 2 acres per new Buddhist stupa in Tamil areas at Pulmoaddai, Ilaththik-ku'lam, Thiriyaay, Chempiyan-malai in Kuchchave'li DS division. Later, more lands are being allocated at the request of the heads of these Vihares, who aim Sinhalicisation of the Tamil areas. Informed sources said upto 400 acres have been alienated for this purpose.

Most of the lands allocated to the Buddhist Vihares belong to Tamil people who were uprooted from the area.

An entire division named Kadduk-ku'lam pattu, which was earlier under the administration of a Tamil administrative officer when it was a DRO division, was subjected to systematic demographic change. It has now become four separate divisions, Padaviya, Periya Vizhang-ku'lam (Sinhalicised to Morawewa), Gomarankadawala and Kuchchave'li.

Except Kuchchave'li, the other 3 divisions have been Sinhalicised.

Now, after the war, Kuchchave'li is also being systematically targeted for Sinhalicisation, the civil officials said.

Civil sources further alleged that the Sinhala occupiers are engaged in destroying Hindu temples now and recalled how the old Giri Kanda Vihare in Thiriyaay was protected by the Tamil Tigers when the area was under their control.

In the meantime, encroachment of the lands of Tamil people is taking place in large scale along Trincomalee-Kandy highway and Trincomalee-Anuradhapura highway, the sources further said.