Buddhist monk, SL military step up construction of Buddhist vihara at Kokku'laay

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2015, 22:31 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military and Sri Thissapura Gunarathna Thero, the Buddhist monk, who is behind the construction of a Buddhist vihara establishment at a disputed land in Kokku'laay, which links Northern and Eastern provinces, have fenced off the area and are engaged in construction work during the nights defying the instructions of the District Secretariat of Mullaiththeevu. The monk and SL soldiers were photographed this week while they were engaged in the construction work. The area remains fenced off during the daytime to avoid focus. While the Tamil politicians were busy with the elections, the extremist monk and Sinhalese soldiers resumed the banned construction work. TamilNet has obtained photographs that document the construction taking place with the direct involvement of the monk.

Heavy vehicles of the SL military are deployed at the site during the nights. The premises is lit up with lights and the construction is carried out by the monk and the SL soldiers.

At the end of June 2015, when the Divisional Secretary of Karai-thu'raip-pattu conveyed the decision taken at the District Secretariat that all construction activities should be put on hold till the dispute is resolved, the monk, advised by the SL Defence Ministry in Colombo, has put up memorial stones for fallen Sinhala soldiers within the premises.

The area surrounding Kokku'laay is the focus of Sinhala colonisation presently, as it is the key location for wedging the demographic contiguity of the North and East as well as direct communication between Mullaiththeevu and Trincomalee.

The active backing of the Colombo regime and the Sinhala military for the Buddhist monk to build a Buddhist temple-centric economic establishment at this place, is clearly a premeditated, much-studied and well-planned process, Tamil civil activists from Kokku'laay have told TamilNet in June 2015.



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