Occupying Colombo harasses war-affected families in Madu

திங்கள், 5 பிப்ரவரி, 2018

Occupying Colombo harasses war-affected families in Madu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 January 2018, 17:18 GMT]

Around 300 war-affected families from the five districts of North who have been resettled at 2nd Mile Post (Ira'ndaam-kaddai) from Madu Road junction along the road to the Holy Shrine of Madu complain of harassments coming from various departments under the central ministries of occupying Colombo, the Sinhala police, particularly the STF and the military intelligence of genocidal Sri Lanka. The villagers say they are living in an open prison, which is being subjected to repeated interventions by the Sinhala officials of the SL Forest Department, who claim to protect the forest from illegal logging, the Wild Life Department falsely blaming the villagers of hunting deers and peacock, Geological Department claiming to protect the soil from illegal sand scooping and the SL Archaeology Department which is in the forefront of Sinhalicisation deploying heritage genocide against Eezham Tamils.

The Sinhala policemen, particularly the so-called Special Task Force, which was directly engaged in brutal acts of genocide in the East as well as in Vanni during the war, has been harassing the families with cordon and search operations alleging the villagers of involvement in narcotic trafficking, the women complain.

The guards employed by the various departments, policemen and the STF commandos enter the houses harassing the women and children.

Most of the men from the village, who were able to sustain their families with daily wage work even during the times of war, are now forced to seek subservient employment as unskilled workers in the construction businesses of Sinhalese in the South.

1,550 people belonging to 298 families reside at 2nd Mile Post village since 2015 when they were evicted by the local authorities from Thampanaik-ku'lam, a village located along Mannaar - Medawachchiya Road.

The families were shifted from Thampanaik-ku'lam to 2nd Mile Post as they were undergoing hardships during the rainy season and were confronted by the flooding of Aruvi-aa'ru (Malwathu Oya).

The 2nd Mile Post village, which is on the right side of the road running from Madu Junction to the Catholic shrine of Madu, is also located near the area targeted by the SL State and its occupying Sinhala military for Sinhala colonisation.

The people living in the village of 2nd Mile Post are comprised of the remaining families of three refugee camps, which were established in Vavuniyaa and Mannaar during the war under the presidency of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK), who is now the chairperson of Colombo's so-called ‘Office for National Unity and Reconciliation’.

They were languishing at the camps in Goodshed Road in Vavuniyaa, Jeevanakar camp at Parikaari-ka'ndal in Murungkan and at Ka'li-moaddai Pu'liyangku'lam since late 90s before they were settled at Thampanaik-ku'lam with a housing scheme and lands.

Th pover-stricken families, who were only given housing scheme without proper livelihood programs at the 2nd Mile Post, are initially uprooted from all the five districts in the Northern province. There are also Upcountry Tamil families among them.

While the resettled Tamil villagers are being criminalised by all the forces of the occupying unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka, the SL military occupying Madu Junction area has transformed the entrance to the Holy Shrine of Madu into a military-run business and entertainment zone.

“The Army check point at the entrance to the Holy Shrine is a distraction and the main Army Camp at 6th milepost has been developed and appears like a small city by itself,” Fr S. Emilianuspillai, the Administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of The Rosary noted in a recent letter to SL President Maithiripala Sirisena.

“The Army check point at the entrance to the Holy Shrine is a distraction to the pilgrims who arrive there with expectation to see the Church and to experience a prayerful atmosphere for their veneration of our Lady of Madhu. This expectation is disturbed when they encounter the military personnel and the shops run by them. Therefore, it is imperative that the military presence at this location must be removed,” the Administrator noted in his latest letter to SL President on 21 October 2017.