Former NPC Councillor urges mobilisation to protect contiguity of Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 June 2020, 11:58 GMT]
Occupying Colombo’s Department of Forest is silently demarcating thousands of acres of lands in Mullaiththeevu in addition to what it has seized already the district. The latest land grab aims at converting 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres). One-third of the lands have been already demarcated, informed civil sources in Mullaiththeevu said. In the meantime, former Northern Provincial Councillor Thurairasa Ravikaran blamed the latest appropriation as being part of a broader agenda of genocidal demographic proportions that aim to wedge the geographic contiguity of the Tamil homeland in the North-East of the island.



Apart from the SL Forest Department, there are several actors engaged in a systematically coordinated programme of Sinhalicising Karaithu'raippattu division of Mullaiththeevu district, which borders the Trincomalee district of the Eastern Province. SL Wildlife Conservation Department, Archaeology Department, intruding monks, allocation of lands to SL Army, Navy and Airforce cantonments and the coastal occupation by southern fishers, who are backed by the SL military and the SL Fisheries Department.

So far, SL Forest Department has officially admitted that it had converted 18,183 acres in Mullaiththeevu district as forest lands. Fifteen thousand three hundred fifty-six acres of these lands have been taken after 2010, according to what was revealed by a Forest Department officials at a District Development Coordination meeting some time back, Mr Raviharan said.

Out of these, 13,232 acres belong to 4,035 Tamil families, he said.

Ravikaran said an additional 13,000 acres seems to have been converted in the recent weeks.

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