Mannaar villagers protest against SL Navy occupying church lands

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 September 2013, 15:35 GMT]
Tamil villagers of Chi’ruth-thoappu on Thursday staged a peaceful protest against the Sri Lanka Navy occupation of 17 acres of land belonging to their church. The villagers demanded the Sri Lanka Navy base Gajaba to vacate the land. The protest comes as the SL State has recently taken a move to legally appropriate the lands after having it occupied for 10 years. The SL military occupying the land has also exploited the natural resources of the church the villagers complained. The church is situated along Mannaar – Thalaimannaar Road.

More than 2,000 coconut palms and more than 300 palmyra trees were in the lands that belongs to the church. Earlier, the income from these resources went to the villagers of Chu'ruththoappu.

Hundreds of these valuable trees have been cut and exploited by the SL Navy, the villagers complain.

Fr Anthony Victor Sosai, the vicar general of the Mannar diocese, Mr Martin Dias, the head of the Mannaar Piratheasa Chapai (PS), deputy head, TNA politicians and a large number of the public took part in the protest.

TNA parliamentarian Selvam Adaikkalanthan has sent an appeal on behalf of the villagers to SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, urging the SL defence establishment to release the lands belonging to the church.

Sinhala military assaults for calling in Tamil

Sinhala military assaults Trinco villagers for calling their village in Tamil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 April 2013, 11:02 GMT]
Ilangkaith-thu’rai, meaning in this context “the islet-port,” is an ancient Tamil coastal village at a scenic location in the Eechchilam-pattai division of Trincomalee district. The occupying Sinhala military has Sinhalicized the place-name as “Lankaa-patana” and insists the local villagers to use the Sinhala name even in their speech. If any of the villagers mention their village name in Tamil, they are beaten up by the Sinhala military, news sources in Trincomalee said. Two years ago, the occupying military destroyed a Murukan temple located at the port entrance, appropriated 15 acres of land, and built a Buddhist temple named “Samudra-giri Vihara,” at that spot. While the village roads are in dilapidated condition, a new, broad road now links the Buddhist temple, facilitating Sinhala visitors from the South who come in thousands nowadays.

Location of Trincomalee and Ilangkai-thu'rai. The village Ilangkai-thu'rai is located at the narrow entrance to the lagoon seen at the lower part of the map. [Image courtesy Google Earth]

The word Ilangkai in ancient Tamil usage originally meant any island in the sea or any islet in rivers etc. The Austro-Asiatic form of the word Lankaa also originally meant the same as could be seen in many place names in the tribal parts of Central India and Andhra.

By popularity of usage, Lankaa/ Ilangkai became exclusive terms for what is called the island of ‘Sri Lanka’ today.

The Tamil usage of calling any islet in the river or in the backwaters also as Ilangkai is not found in Sinhala.

Ilangkaith-thu’rai is the small islet lying across little inside of the lagoon entrance [Image courtesy: Google Earth]

Ilangkaith-thu’rai village in Trincomalee district gained the name, as there is a small islet located at the entrance to the port, at the mouth of the sea-inlet. Ilangkai, in this context, stands for the islet at the mouth of the lagoon and this evidences an ancient form of usage of the word by the Tamils in the island.

This name has nothing to do with the Lankaa or ‘Sri Lanka’ that is imposed on Eezham Tamils in a genocidal fashion by the State in Colombo and by its international abetters. The SL military has no justification or authority in Sinhalicizing the place name and forcing the Tamils to use it, the civil society sources in Trincomalee said.

Depriving Tamils of their coasts and sea is the larger plan, which is in fact genocide at sea to go hand in hand with genocide at land, the civil society sources said.

If the Eastern Provincial Council has any meaning, how could a place name be changed, the civil society sources asked, adding that the Geneva resolution is aiming on a similar course to the North too, by harping on the Northern PC elections.

The State in Sri Lanka and its Sinhala military occupying the country of Eezham Tamils are encouraged in every way to accelerate and continue the structural genocide, by the attitude of the International Community of Establishments (ICE), especially by the USA and India that neither recognized the territoriality of Eezham Tamils, nor the genocide, Tamil civil society circles in Trincomalee said.

Colombo’s structural genocide activities show a marked escalation since the passing of the US-tabled, Indian fine-tuned, resolution at Geneva this March, the civil society circles further said.

Ilangkai-thu'rai in Sri Lanka's One Inch Map of 1975. Note the two temples in the village. The ruins were claimed as Buddhist by the map.

Ilangkai-thu'rai in Sri Lanka's Metric Map of 1990s. The next map is likely to come with the name "Lankaa Patana"

Chronology:

24.04.13  Sinhala-Buddhist temple to replace Kaa’li temple i..

24.04.13  Sinhala military assaults Trinco villagers for cal..

23.04.13  Indian news magazine highlights accelerated Sinhal..

07.01.13  Documentary evidence on orders to teach Sinhala as..

04.01.13  Sri Lanka appoints military to teach Sinhala in Va..

28.12.12  Schalk tells Tamil politicians to claim territory ..

19.12.12  Simulated Buddhists, Sinhala-Buddhist schools to a..

10.11.12  Colombo appropriates lands, constructs Buddhist St..

11.10.12  JHU monks besiege historic Munneasvaram Siva templ..

03.10.12  SL military stops renovation of Hindu temple, appr..

07.09.12  Congress, BJP, religiously sanctify genocide

06.05.12  Sinhala GA officially orders Buddhist construction..

19.04.12  Indian money used in Sinhalicisation, Buddhicisati..

10.04.12  State pays remuneration to monks in select areas o..

09.04.12  Colombo builds Sinhala cantonment in Maathakal

05.04.12  Buddhist Stupa to become ‘cultural landmark’ of Ja..

10.09.11  Multilingualism, multiculturalism and Sinhala acad..

06.08.11  ‘Political separation needed to stop genocide in S..

22.06.11  Colombo to declare permanent ‘Sacred HSZ’ at Maath..

15.06.11  Sri Lanka Archaeology Dept plans to take Jaffna ma..

23.04.11  Germany supports Colombo’s colonial archaeology in..

26.12.10  Colombo's Archeology department intrudes into hist..

08.09.10  SL Army, Archaeology dept appropriate lands of upr..

24.08.10  Cultural and psychological attack on Tamils in Jaf..

27.04.10  All in the game in the name of archaeology

10.04.10  Army and Archaeology Department at work in Tamil h..

02.02.10  India plays upon Buddhist emissary while monks col..

30.12.09  Heritage genocide abetted by decades of Western fu..

01.12.09  Grabbing land for wrecking contiguity of Tamil hom..

10.10.09  Sinhalese Buddhist priest appointed as archaeologi..

10.10.09  Jaffna fort to be readied for new colonial masters

02.07.09  Buddhism among Tamils is quenched from two sides: ..

30.06.09  Ploy of Buddhism in nullifying Tamil nationalism

03.07.08  Knowledge books mistreat Tamil history

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Uprooted Champoor villagers file FR application in SL Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 October 2012, 15:03 GMT]
A Fundamental Rights Violation petition filed by uprooted villagers of Champoor in Trincomalee is to be taken up for further hearing on November 15, according to legal sources in Colombo. The petitioners have been challenging the Gazette Extraordinary issued on May 12 this year that a “Special Zone for Heavy Industries” had been demarcated in the areas formerly inhabited by them. Seven villagers in their petition filed on Friday before the Sri Lankan Supreme Court complained that the Gazette purportedly attempts to demarcate a “Special Zone for Heavy Industries” within the provision of the Section A of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Law No:4 of 1978.

The petitioners had been seeking the Court to declare that their fundamental right to equality and equal protection of the law as well as the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language etc and the right to the freedom to engage in any lawful occupation and the right to the freedom of movement and of choosing their residence within the island were violated by the respondents.

President’s Counsel K.Kanag Iswaran with M.A.Sumanthiran, Bavani Fonseka, and Juanita Arulanantham instructed by Mohan Balendra appeared for the petitioners.

Counsel Priyantha Jayewardene appeared for the 1st respondent Economic development Minister Basil Rajapakse, Deputy Solicitor General Shavendra Fernando appeared for the 3rd respondent Director General of the Board of Investment and the Attorney General.

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