Conduct of SL Judiciary exposed in Koonith-theevu temple dispute
Moothoor Magistrate’s Court on Thursday further remanded the three Tamil trustees from Choodaik-kudaa in Kooniththeevu, who were arrested by the Sinhala police that invited them for a meeting at Champoor Police station on 01 January. Despite the occupying police failing to document the existence of a Gazette notification to prove the hill-top as an archaeological reserve as claimed by the Sinhala monks who filed the case, the Magistrate of the SL court went ahead extending the remand without bail, Tamil legal activists in Trincomalee complained. In the meantime, the dispute originated only after the intruding Sinhala Buddhist monks from Seruwila objected to the expansion of the Murukan temple of Tamils and there were no archaeological artefacts discovered or destroyed as being claimed by the Sinhalese, the leader of Champoor Women’s Rural Society Leader told TamilNet on Thursday.
“The chairman, secretary and the treasurer were brought to the Magistrates’ Court. The Police argued that the Tamil temple management had violated the restrictions of ‘Puraviddya’ (Archaeology) without any substantial evidence. The SL Police wanted more time to document the evidence of a Gazette notification. We have not seen any announcement or even a board from the SL Archaeology Department denoting the place as a reserved locality during or prior to the time of the dispute. And, everyone knew very well it was the place of a Murukan temple. This is what I know from my past 34 years of life,” the WRDS leader told TamilNet.
Another community leader from Champoor said Tamil lawyers were now considering to file a case against the wife of SL Governor to East.
Meanwhile, legal activists from Trincomalee said the Magistrate was taking the side of the Sinhala monks and their police.
The SL Judiciary is blindly adhering to the clause of ‘foremost place to Buddhism’ and ‘territorial integrity’ of the genocidal State to permanently Sinhalicise the already heavily militarised traditional Tamil villages in Moothoor East, the Tamil legal activists said.
The remanded trustees were not even provided with official information in Tamil on the charges against them. There was no Tamil translation of what was being said at the courts in Sinhala. Even when the Tamil detainees requested specifically for translation, the court was not able to provide it. After all, this is a court situated in the Tamil-speaking area, they said.
But, Tamil to Sinhala translation was being readily provided as a one-way service to the SL Police and to the Magistrate’s court to gather information from the victimised Tamils.
SL Police had also detained the driver and the owner of a bulldozer vehicle. Both of them are Sinhalese. A Tamil who had facilitated the contract was also detained with the two Sinhalese. But, the three were released on bail 3 days ago. The SL police was influencing Moothoor Magistrate not to give bail to the temple trustees.
The entire dispute has been created by the monks, Sinhala colonial governor to East and his wife, Mrs Deepthi Bogollagama, who behaved in a threatening manner as documented by the video evidences, the WRDS leader said.
Although the SL Constitution attempts to project all religions as having equal status, the constitutional provision of ‘foremost place’ and various other arrangements such as the SL police having a special division to protect the Buddhism under the guidance of SL Ministry of Buddha Sasana, have made it a crime if anyone attempts to peacefully dismantle even a Buddha statue in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils.
At Maththa'la-malai there was no buddha statue. The Tamil people have had their folk-deity at the locality at least for the last 7 generations of his forefathers, Poosaari I. Pathmathan (56) told TamilNet last week.
Article 9 (chapter II) of the current Sri Lankan constitution promulgated in 1978 says: "The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.."
Eezham Tamils say that this Article constitutes a particular obstacle in negotiating any degree of regional autonomy with the genocidal State of Sri Lanka because it is an 'entrenched' section of the constitution. Article 9 can be amended or repealed only with the support of two thirds of all the members of the SL Parliament and only if such amendment or repeal is thereafter approved by the people in an island-wide referendum.
The proposals for new constitution are also not going to change this reality and federalism is not possible under the genocidal configuration of the Sri Lankan system. The fundamental genocidal character will continue to exist despite cosmetic reforms.
In reality, the genocidal Sinhala State, Tamil quisling politicians such as M.A. Sumanthiran and the external powers seeking geopolitical inroads in the island are trying to introduce genocidal uniformity, which is much worse than the unitary system through the Sinhala notion of Ēkīya Rājyaya (ඒකීය රාජ්යය).
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