SL military threatens to re-introduce discriminatory pass system in Batticaloa North

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 December 2018, 22:09 GMT]
The occupying Sinhala military is trying to re-introduce the discriminatory pass system which it deployed against the dairy farmers in the interior villages of Batticaloa district. The move is aimed at colonising the area with Sinhala settlers, and the SL military wants to chase away the Tamil farmers and the cattle herders through various harassments. The SL Army stationed at Tharavai military base has started to harass the Tamil cattle owners this week and instructed the cattle herders to register the details of cattle owners at their camp. Tharavai is located 40 km northwest of Batticaloa city.

The Tamil cattle herders who have been resisting Sinhala colonisation targeting the interior Batticaloa from Polonnaruwa are now facing SL military threat, especially after the recent killings of two police constables in Vavu'natheevu, 5 km southwest of Batticaloa city.

The latest military restrictions specifically target 12,000 acres of pasture lands in Mayilaththa-madu and Periya-Maathava'nai.

When Tamil farmers confronted the SL military officers, a new explanation was given. The SL military was saying that it was bringing back the pass system as a measure to control illegal sand mining and transport of stolen cattle across the interior lands.

Realising the hidden motive of the move, the farmers took contact with the District Secretariat and questioned why the SL military was interfering in the civil affairs. The officials at the District Secretariat have categorically denied any intention to re-introduce the pass system and asked the Tamil farmers to refrain from submitting any details whatsoever to the SL military.

The SL Police and the occupying military are collaborating with traders who engage in illegal sand mining. The Divisional Secretary of Koa'ra'laip-pattu South (Kiraan) has complained earlier that the SL Police was reluctant to act against the sand scoopers.

The Sinhala military, police and the guards of SL Forest and Wildlife Departments along with the so-called home-guards paramilitary settlers have been waging a shadow war against the Tamil dairy farmers in Batticaloa after the end of the war in Batticaloa in 2007.

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