Muslims allege Sinhala colonization in Pulmoddai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 September 2007, 06:09 GMT]
Muslim residents in Pulmoddai village have made representations to their leaders that the Sri Lanka government is taking steps to acquire several acres of their traditional lands to colonise Sinhalese under the pretext of establishing an industrial estate with the assistance of the Mineral Sands Corporation, civil society sources in Trincomalee said.

The Mineral Sands Corporation administered by the central government runs an Ilmenite Factory in Pulmoddai.

Pulmoddai is located about 60 km north of Trincomalee district in the eastern province bordering the Anuradhapura district in the north central province.

Pulmoddai is traditionally a Muslim village with a population of about twenty five thousand people. The village currently comes under the administrative district of Trincomalee. For a period the village was administered by the Anuradhapura district secretariat, but the residents were allowed exercise their franchise in Trincomalee district.