Administration of 7 Tamil villages to be brought under Muslim dominated Ea'raavoor UC

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 November 2011, 22:54 GMT]
Colombo government has recently given instructions to Ea'raavoor Urban Council chairman Ali Zahir Mowlana to bring 7 Tamil villages under his administration using the Urban Council, informed sources told reporters in Batticaloa. The villages Aa'rumukaththaan-kudiyiruppu, Tha'lavaay, Chavukkadi, Mayilampaave'li and wards No 1, 4 and 5 in the Ea'raavoor under the Ea'raavoor Chengkaladi Piratheasa Chapai (PS) division are to be brought under the civil administration of Era’voor UC, which is predominantly inhabited by Muslims. Mr. Ali Zahir Mowlana is taking steps to settle Muslim families in the lands belong to Tamil people in these villages, creating division among the Tamil speaking people of the district, civil sources in Ea'raavoor said.

108 Tamil families, who were uprooted from Ward 4 of Ea'raavoor following clashes between Tamils and Muslims in the year of 1985, have been unable to return home.

According to the civil sources in Ea'raavoor, the UC chairman has taken steps to acquire ten pieces of lands that were owned by Tamils to construct of a Technical College despite repeated appeals by a group of uprooted Tamil families to make arrangement for them to resettle in their lands in Wards 4 and 5 in Ea'raavoor to the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council and Resettlement Deputy Minister.

Affected Tamil families complain that even the Government Agent of the Batticaloa district and the Divisional Secretary have been unable to respond to their appeals.

The SL Police has occupied some lands of Tamil families and the roads that lead to those lands also remain blocked.

Already, some lands of Tamils have been taken over by the Chairman of the Ea'raavoor UC.

Mr. Moulana has constructed a Muslim Mosque and an Arabic School.

Sinhalese forcibly take over paddy lands of Tamils in Thennaimaravadi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 November 2011, 03:38 GMT]
Some resettled Tamil farmers in Thennaimaravadi village were taken aback in the weekend to see their paddy lands they prepared for sowing for the forthcoming Maha cultivation had been sown by Sinhalese encroachers at the instance of the Sri Lanka Army stationed in the area. They fear this is a part of a covert plan by Colombo government to forcibly take over paddy lands in the traditional Tamil village Thennaimaravadi, located at the narrow boundary between Mullaiththeevu and Trincomalee districts that links the Northern and Eastern territories of the country of Eezham Tamils.

The encroachment of Sinhalese has been reported to the Kuchchave'li Divisional Secretary and to Provincial Land Authority by the resettled Tamil families promptly.

According to DS sources, Sinhalese villagers located close to Thennaimaravadi have been asked not to enter paddy fields of Tamils in the village for one week till the dispute is settled. Sinhalese encroachers claim that they have been doing cultivation in these lands as the entire Tamil community of Thennaimaravadi village had fled to elsewhere due to the conflict.

The village once flourished with paddy cultivation and animal husbandry has been slowly returning to normalcy with the return of some Tamil families uprooted due to conflict and military operation by the Sri Lanka Army since 1984.

Majority of uprooted Tamil families are still residing at Ponnakar, a settlement put up by them at Mu'l'liyava'lai in Mullaiththeevu district waiting for their turn to resettle in their lands in Thennaimaravadi.

Thennaimaravadi, located strategically between the north and eastern province borders was the scene of intense colonization activity in 1984 by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in a planned attempt to drive a wedge in the contiguity of Tamil presence across the provincial borders. 

Thennaimaravadi was the first Tamil village completely displaced in the Trincomalee district following the SL state sponsored Black July pogroms in 1983. At that time more than two hundred Tamil families were living in the village.

Several new Sinhala settlements, Padavi Siripura, Sri Tissapura, Samanpura, Gemunupura and Sinhapura, were established in state lands in the north of Trincomalee district located close to Thennaimaravadi village thus making the Tamil population a minority in the area.

Hundreds of families fled when soldiers of the Sinhala dominated Sri Lanka Army assisted by Sinhala home guards entered into Thennaimaravadi on 1st December 1984, from the nearby “Sinhapura,” (meaning the town of the Lion) one of the new Sinhala settlements which is located close to the Thennaimaravadi village under the state aided colonization scheme after the British left the island.

Five Tamil villagers were shot and killed by SL army soldiers and Sinhala homeguards 
 on 01 December 1984, the first day of the attack. Immediately, rest of the village fled into the jungles to save their lives. When they returned to their homes the SL soldiers rounded them up and opened fire. At least thirteen Tamil villagers were shot dead by the army and home guards.

On December 4, hundreds of families who fled towards the jungle for the second time, started their journey with available belongings leaving their cattle and other properties in their homes towards Mullaith-theevu district.

On their way, they reached Akkaraive'li, Koddakea'ni Pi'l'laiyaar Koayil, Kokkuth-thoduvaay and finally reached Mu'l'liyava'lai, where they put up huts and named it “Ponnakar”.

Even now, Thennaimaravadi displaced families live at “Ponnakar” in Mu'l'liyava'lai awaiting the day of resettlement in their own village, displaced Tamil sources said. 

Sinhala encroachment of grazing lands continues

Sinhala encroachment of grazing lands continues unabated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 October 2011, 20:32 GMT]
Under the direction of SL authorities in Colombo, the Ampaa'rai District Agrarians Services Department has begun issuing permits to Sinhala encroachers on grazing lands in the Batticaloa district giving permanent status. Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr.P.Selvarasa addressing a meeting of the farmers at Vavu'natheevu DS secretariat last week requested the Sri Lanka Government Agent of Batticaloa District to stop legalizing encroachment by Sinhalese on grazing land located in Vavu'natheevu, Paddippazhai and Vellaave'li DS division in the Batticaloa district.

Tamil dairy farmers and cattle breeders in these areas are undergoing tremendous difficulties as losing their cattle due to the encroachment by Sinhalese.

He further stated that though he had brought this matter to the notice of several ministers of Mahinda Rajapaksa government when they attended District Coordinating and Development Meetings in Batticaloa the process of legalizing encroachers was continuing.

The TNA MP blamed the respective Divisional Secretaries for their failure to stop such illegal activities in their divisions.

Legal action would be taken if such illegal activities are not stopped within one month, Mr.Selvarasa warned.

SLA encroaches 100 acres of farmland in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 October 2011, 17:20 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army in Vanni has forcibly taken over about one hundred acres of farmland situated between the villages Shanthapuram and Kanakaampikaik-ku'lam 5 km southeast of Ki'linochchi town. Earlier, the farmland was the livelihood of hundreds of people under a poverty alleviation scheme under the civil administration of the LTTE. A church and a well used by the residents of Shaanthapuram and Ira'naimaduk-ku'lam are also located in the land militarised by the occupying SL military. The SL military says it wants to exhibit military hardware seized from the Tigers in the farmland, which is situated near Ira'naimadu.

The SLA has fenced the seized land  to confirm their possession.

The SLA soldiers who brought two tanks and three artillery guns that were seized from the LTTE to the lands and said the military was planning to exhibit military hardware of the Tigers in the land now being occupied from the civilians. Some families in the acquired lands are given alternative lands elsewhere.

Meanwhile a portion of land located east of Thiru-mu'rika'ndi village along A-9 highway is brought under “High Security Zone” by the SLA.

Residents of this area still remain as uprooted people in so-called welfare centres and with relatives and friends although they possess legal documents to prove their ownership of their lands in HSZ.

The SL authorities have refused to accommodate their requests to allow their resettlement in their legally owned lands.

However the setting up of SLA camps and destruction of coconut plantations and other food crops in the land are continuing, the uprooted people complained.

The Ira'naimadu tank is the largest irrigation scheme in the Northern province. The occupying military wishes to keep lands close to the dam under its permanent control, political observers in Vanni said.