Eezham Tamils set to lose Vavuniyaa North to Sinhala colonists in civic elections

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 February 2018, 15:08 GMT]
The Sinhala colonisation and demographic changes engineered by the genocidal unitary State of Sri Lanka in Vavuniyaa North have gone to the extent that Eezham Tamils would be losing their political hold of Vavuniyaa North Divisional Council (Piratheasa Chapai) in the forthcoming civic elections, Tamil civil sources in Vavuniyaa said. Vavuniyaa North was entirely a Tamil division before the colonisation by Sinhala paramilitary-led colonists following the State-sponsored anti-Tamil pogrom in 1983. Although the area has been subjected to Sinhala colonisation for a long time through settling Sinhala paramilitary personnel and their families, the extent of silent colonisation has been accelerated after the war in the recent years with the aim of transforming Vavuniyaa North into a 'Sinhala Only' division as the recently Sinhalicised division of Weli-oya, the civil sources further said.

710 Sinhala voters from Gajabapura and Moraweva schemes, 431 voters from Kalyanapura settlements, 1,278 voters from Sampath-nuwara, 914 voters from Ethawetunuwewa in Sinhalicised Welioya and 632 voters from Kelebogaswewa in Sinhalicised Vavuniya South have been absorbed into Vavuniyaa North divisional council area through redefining the electorates within the last one year.

Sinhala colonisation has been stepped in recent years by blocking Eezham Tamils from resettling in their native villages and by distributing the seized lands to Sinhala settlers after renovating the irrigation tanks through so-called 'development' with the assistance of foreign countries and global financial institutions.

Ancient Tamil villages of Paddikkudiyiruppu, Olumadu, Maruthoadai, Oongchal-kaddi and Maa-madu are subjected to Sinhalicisation being advanced from Padawiya and Weli-oya with the backing of external 'development' aid to the Sinhala South.

The so-called development is the major factor behind the Sinhala colonisation, Tamil civil officials said.

The Sinhala settlements in bordering Weli-oya division were strengthened through housing and other infrastructure projects, particularly in Janakapura, Kiriibbanwewa, Ethawetunuwewa, Helambawewa, Kalyanapura-I, Kalyanapura-II, Kalyanapura-III, Monerawewa, Gajabapura, New Gajabapura and Ehetugaswewa since 2010.

Sinhala colonists have been provided with housing assistance through SL Ministry of Resettlement under Mahinda Chinta in 2013.

The trend also continued through Maithiripala Sirisena's ‘Polonnaruwa Chintana’ of colonisation under the Yahapalanaya regime of collaboration with the UNP.

In addition to providing housing through the SL Ministry of Resettlement, various other ministries of the occupying unitary State — from SL Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management and SL Ministry of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities to Sirisena's Mahaweli ‘Development’ Ministry — have collaborated in the Sinhalicisation scheme in Vavuniyaa.

A 'Meheniyaramaya' was also built in the area to avance Sinhala Buddhism in 2013. This was further encouraged by Sirisena providing more funding in recent times.

The occupying Sinhala Army's 56th Division and the so-called Civil Defence Force (CDF) have been fully engaged in bringing Sinhala colonists. The occupying military has been the backbone of the Sinhala colonisation from Naayaa'ru in Mullaiththeevu to Vavuniyaa through already Sinhalicised Weli-oya.

Apart from the unitary State apparatus of genocidal Sri Lanka, SL state-owned and private corporate outfits such as the Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation, Causeway Paints Lanka Ltd and various microcredit agencies from the South have also been promoting the occupation scheme through providing various facilities to the Sinhala settlers.

Within a 3-year period from 2010 to 2013, the SL Resettlement Ministry under Rajapaksa regime spent at least 276 million rupees in the housing project alone in the area.

The ‘investment’ by Rajapaksa-establishment in Sinhalicisation has been further advanced during the regime of Maithiripala and Wickramasinghe, resulting in the demographic genocide of Eezham Tamils in Vavuniyaa North in 2017 and 2018, Tamil civil sources in Vavuniyaa said.

The mainstream parties from the South have based their propaganda on Sinhala Buddhicisation of North as evidenced in the propaganda coming from the Yahapalanaya regime as well as Rajapaksa's opposition that has a broad support base among the militarised Sinhala colonists.

The ITAK and the Tamil National Alliance, engaged in Quisling politics of collaboration, have totally failed in addressing the concerns of Tamil people in Vavuniyaa North.

Sirisena's SLFP/UPFA was providing funding to Sinhala Buddhist establishments in Vavuniyaa and Ranil Wickramasinghe's UNP was going on record claiming it was advancing the policy of constructing 1,000 Buddhist temples in the North-East in the run-up to the civic elections.

Instead of strengthening the Northern Provincial Council, the ITAK leaders have succumbed to collaborative politics with the UNP and the SLFP, abandoning the Tamils on the advice coming from the external forces that were providing the 'development' backing to the unitary State in Colombo.

Now, the mainstream parties of South are also attempting to deceive the Tamil voters in Vavuniyaa North through money and false promises, the civil sources further said.

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