SL port ‘development’ to cause hazardous conditions to Hartley, Methodist colleges

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 February 2018, 15:06 GMT]
Occupying Colombo is bringing permanent disturbance to the peaceful environment needed for two of the prominent educational institutions of Eezham Tamils in Jaffna, the Hartley College and the Methodist Girl’s High School, situated in northernmost Point Pedro. The SL Port Authority (SLPA) which comes under the unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka is seizing more lands to the west of the two educational institutions, which are already struggling to sustain a safe environment amidst militarised conditions.

The so-called ‘development’ of the port targets Sinhalicisation in the long-run and the occupying SL military are going to be permanently stationed there to facilitate Sinhalicisation.

The Point Pedro Harbour has been a military zone for a long time. The native fisherfolk in Point Pedro cannot access it for fishing. The port is currently being used by southern fishermen who operate multi-day boats and engage in detrimental trawling in the seas off Jaffna.

SL Army’s 524 division has established a base in the lands that belong to the Customs Department just opposite the Harbour.

The regional and global powers engaged in strategic partnerships have cornered Eezham Tamils into a political vacuum where they cannot shape the parameters of their development.

The democratically elected Northern Provincial Council also has no say in deciding the fate of the so-called mega projects, which fall under the domain of the occupying unitary State system.

Four of the seven ports classified as mega ports, and brought under the SLPA’s mandate, are in the North-East.

Two of them, the KKS Harbour and the Point Pedro Harbour, are situated in Jaffna peninsula.

The SL State wants the port built with multi-million assistance from the Asian Development Bank.

New Delhi has been assisting Colombo to reconstruct the KKS Harbour while projecting the reconstruction as development assistance to war-affected North. But KKS Harbour is not accessible to the people of Jaffna.

New Delhi seems to be only interested in securing its commercial interests without demanding de-militarisation of the KKS Harbour.

According to latest reports, Colombo has agreed to provide fuel storage access to Indian Oil Corporation at KKS while sustaining it as a military zone.

In the meantime, Sinhalicisation of Tamil homeland in the East is accelerated hand in hand with the militarisation being carried out by the occupying SL Navy, which is being groomed by the US Pacific Command in the Eastern port of Trincomalee.

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