Tamils' land acquired to construct Arabic institution in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 June 2011, 16:41 GMT]
Ea'raavoor Urban Council Chairman Ali Zahir Mowlana, a close ally of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been blamed for illegally acquiring lands that belong to 17 families of forcefully displaced Tamils from Ward 3 and 4 of the Ea'raavoorpattu in Chengkaladi division, to construct Arabic College with aid from Arab countries while the Sri Lankan police refuses to vacate the other 40 houses it has occupied with a police station.

In 1985, Muslim paramilitary ‘home-guards’ and the Sri Lankan military chased out the poverty-stricken Tamil villagers, most of them who were engaged in pottery for decades.

They returned to their lands in 1986. But, again in 1990, several Tamils were killed and abducted by the paramilitary home guards and Sri Lanka Army, leaving only 185 families and 165 of them were engaged in pottery.

Despite claims by Resettlement Deputy Minister, Provincial Chief Minister and District Government Agent that all were resettled, 57 families were not able to return to their lands but residing elsewhere with their relatives and friends.

Ea'raavoor police station has been constructed on the lands that belong to forty Tamil families of the 57, under the pretext of High Security Zone.

The remaining land that belonged to seventeen Tamil families have been now purchased by Ali Zahir Mowlana on false documents without the knowledge of the legal Tamil owners by offering large sums of money to the former president of Ea'raavoor Kaa'li Koayil and to the president of the Rural Development Society, informed sources said.

Ali Zahir Mowlana is also now taking steps to block the return of the displaced Tamil families to their lands earmarked for the construction of the Arabic College.

Mr. Moulana has secured 35 million rupees for the construction of Arabic College from the Middle East.