Ilankai Tamil Sangam
Association of Tamils of Sri Lanka in the USA
Published by Sangam.org
by R. Sampanthan, MP and M.A. Sumanthiran, MP, early July, 2011
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It is urged that urgent steps be taken
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Adjournment motion by TNA Parliamentary Group Leader July 5, 2011
R. SAMPANTHAN, 5TH July 2011, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, TRINCOMALEE Parliamentary Group Leader – Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi-I.T.A.K, Tamil National Alliance-T.N.A
Hon Speaker
Adjournment Motion, Parliament
I hereby give notice that I shall after question time on the adjournment of Parliament on Thursday the 7th July 2011 move the following motion as a matter of urgent public importance.
Whereas Sri Lanka from shortly after it attained Independence in 1947 has been in the crucible of ethnic violence which occurred in 1956, in 1958, in 1961, in1977, in 1980 and in 1983- wherein the Tamil people numerically in a Minority were the victims.
And Whereas the principal cause for such violence has been the consistent demand of the Tamil People for just and equal treatment as Citizens of Sri Lanka and the fundamental right to live in security and dignity fulfilling their legitimate political, social, economic and cultural aspirations.
And Whereas this demand has since 1956, been consistently endorsed by the Tamil People residing preponderantly in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, through their democratic verdicts, at every election to Parliament and at all other elections at the provincial, district and local authority levels.
And Whereas it has been the dismal failure of successive governments to recognize and respect these democratic verdicts of the Tamil People and the persistent demand of the Tamil People for just and equal treatment as Sri Lankan Citizens that has been the root cause for such ethnic violence to be unleashed against the Tamil People.
And Whereas the political agitation of the Tamil people for just and equal treatment as Sri Lankan Citizens, has from the time of independence until about the mid 1970’s been perfectly peaceful and non-violent.
And whereas the continuous violence unleashed against the Tamil people, and the failure to politically accommodate the legitimate political and other aspirations of the Tamil people, and the repeal of the Constitution under which the country attained independence and the enactment of a new Constitution without the consensus of the Tamil people, led to the demand of the right to self-determination and Tamil youth taking to an armed struggle which lasted for almost three decades.
And Whereas this armed struggle led to unbridled violence inflicting immense harm on the civilian population in the country of all ethnicities and the assassination of both domestic and regional leaders, and the legitimacy of the struggle of the Tamil people for justice and equality as Sri Lankan citizens being blurred – by this Spectre of unbridled violence.
And Whereas this armed struggle has been defeated and has come to an end in May 2009,
And Whereas more than two years have elapsed since the end of the armed conflict
And Whereas the Tamil People have expressed their willingness to live as equal citizens within a united and undivided Sri Lanka
And Whereas several processes had been commenced to address the core issues of the conflict and evolve an acceptable political solution to the long festering conflict
And Whereas this task yet remains to be fulfilled.
It is the objective of this Motion to invite the attention of this House, the Government and the Country to the imperative need to address the core issues of the conflict and to evolve an acceptable political solution, that will bring about genuine reconciliation and harmony amongst the different communities and peoples who inhabit Sri Lanka.
Indeed the only way to ensure permanent peace is to evolve an acceptable political solution that will address such genuine reconciliation and harmony amongst the different communities and peoples inhabiting Sri Lanka.
And Whereas since the letting of violence in 1956 and its continuance thereafter, large number of Sri Lankan Tamils have fled from Sri Lanka and become migrants or sought refuge in other countries, all over the world.
And Whereas it is necessary to arrest this trend, and enable the Sri Lankan Tamil people to continue to live in Sri Lanka, the country to which they belong, as indeed they are legitimately entitled to.
And Whereas this is achievable only if there is an acceptable political solution that ensures their security, restores their dignity and enables them by having access to powers of governance to fulfill their legitimate political social economic and cultural aspirations.
And Whereas throughout the armed conflict particularly during the final years and final stages of the armed conflict very large numbers of Tamil Civilians were killed or maimed – several hundreds of thousands of Tamil Civilians were displaced, their houses and other assets destroyed and they were rendered destitute and who have not been able to recommence their lives with basic facilities.
And Whereas there is no structured programme of action to address the urgent needs of this large mass of people to enable these people to rebuild their lives without having to fend for themselves which in their present position they cannot do
And whereas there are several actions by the State and its Agencies and others with political influence, pertaining to Land, to places of religious worship, to cultural places, to development activities and to other areas of importance to the affected Tamil people, in territories which they have historically inhabited, which have an adverse impact on them politically, economically, socially and culturally and which unless remedied could in the long term cause much harm to the future well-being of these people.
And Whereas it is the duty of the Government to take appropriate action to address all these issues.
It is urged that urgent steps be taken
(i) To expeditiously evolve an acceptable political solution that addresses the core causes of the conflict
(ii) That a structured programme be implemented urgently to enable the displaced and affected people to meaningfully rebuild and recommence their lives
(iii) That immediate action be taken to reverse, rectify and redress, the several actions that have adverse political economic social and cultural consequences to the Tamil people
R. Sampanthan Member of Parliament, Trincomalee District
Parliamentary Group Leader, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi – I.T.A.K., Tamil National Alliance-T.N.A
http://transcurrents.com/news-views/archives/2154
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Tabled in Parliament early July
By M.A. Sumanthiran MP
Militarization
Militarization / security issues:
A list was tabled earlier this year on the killings, attacks and abductions in Jaffna. Recently, a 30-year-old male from Jaffna was found beaten and hanged to death at a playground in Achchuveali Thoappu in Valikaamam East, 20 km northeast of Jaffna city. The victim had been harassed by the Sri Lanka Army intelligence operatives 2 years ago, residents in the area said. So far no suspect has been taken into custody.
On 16th June 2011 armed army personnel in full uniform attacked a meeting of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Alaveddy relating to the upcoming local authority elections at which 5 TNA MPs were present. This was an internal party meeting that did not require police permission and in any case both the army and police had already been informed of the meeting. Several MSD personnel of the MPs were also assaulted. Major General Walgama, who initially met the MPs soon after the incident, requested that the MPs refrain from lodging a complaint with the police, and further, that they ensure that the incident was not reported through the media. The MPs, however, did not agree to this and proceeded to make statements to the Police.
The incident also was reported to both Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe and the President. Major General Hathurusinghe initially issued a statement that this was a minor incident involving the army and the MSD personnel, but later claimed that he had been misquoted and assured the TNA MPs that if this was done by the army, he would take stern disciplinary action. On 20th June, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse confirmed in an interview to the Island newspaper, that in fact the army had stopped the meeting. No action has been taken thus far.
In February 2011 Jaffna district five TNA Parliamentarians filed a fundamental rights violation petition seeking to stop forcible registration of residents of Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts by the Security Forces. The Attorney General gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court to suspend immediately the forcible registration of residents of Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts by the Security Forces and Grama Niladharis.
However, as early as 14th March TNA Parliamentarians brought to the notice of the Supreme Court that registrations of residents was continuing in contempt of Court. Following the recent attack on a TNA meeting at Alaveddy, Major General Hathurusinghe again assured TNA MPs that registrations in area would be stopped. Subsequently however, registrations continue to take place, and Major General Hathurusinghe denied giving any such undertaking, despite clearly doing so in the presence of no less than 5 MPs. Currently, the military is using the ongoing census as a ploy to continue with these illegal registrations.
The creation of settlements
Livelihood issues / The creation of settlements
Mannar
Militarization / land grabs
Kilinochchi
The creation of settlements
These are only 2 examples of several such name boards. Police posts are situated near these boards to ensure they are protected. These boards are situated in the back streets of Kilinochchi to prevent the media from being alerted to this trend.
Land grabs/ The creation of settlements
Mullaitivu
The creation of settlements / Livelihood issues
Resettlement
Vavuniya
The creation of settlements
Kokkachchaankulam is a Tamil village in the Vavuniya district. Tamil residents who lived here were displaced by war and the village was indicated to be “abandoned” in Vavuniya district official reports. After a survey by the Mahaweli Authority personnel in March 2010 a plan was implemented to reconstruct the village and settle Sinhalese there.
The settlement scheme was brought under the Vavuniya South Sinhala division and temporary land permits were issued to 165 Sinhala families. These families were settled in Kokkachchaankulam with the help of the military and without officially informing the Vavuniya District Secretary.
The village of Kokkachchaankulam is to be renamed “Kalabowasewa”. The new road that is being built will be called the “Mahakachchankodi – Kalabowasewa” road
Land grabs
Clear signboards were fixed in the area indicating that the land was allocated for the University. However, attempts are now being made to take over the land by one ‘Munaf’, Head of the ‘Janasamooka’ centre in Saalambaikkulam. The workers there have made complaints regarding this to the Security forces and TNA MP for the area, S. Aananthan.
The creation of settlements / land grabs
Militarization/land grabs
Land grab
Encroachments of land are taking place in the following DS divisions:
Almost 3000 acres of land are being utilized by home guards and other individuals for cultivation. It is understood that the Eastern Provincial Council has provided assistance to these attempts.
The government has allocated some land in the above D.S. divisions for home guards for their use, including for purposes of cultivation.
During the war, the longtime residents of the village Kevliamadu were displaced to other areas. Individuals of the majority community, including home guards, are presently encroaching on this village. Almost 50% of these encroachers are still living in this village, despite efforts by the Divisional Secretary (DS), Paddipalai. These encroachers have built strong huts and houses for themselves in the village.
Trincomalee
Livelihood issues / land grabs / The creation of settlements
Access has been denied to over 800 acres of land at Paddukadu in Kanguvelli owned and cultivated by Tamil farmers from the villages of Kanguvelli, Pulliadicholai, Mallikaithivu, Paddithidal, Menkamam, Bharathipuram, Kiliveddy, Manalchenai, Periyavelli, the Muslim farmers of Muthur, and 20 acres of land owned by the Agasthiyar Sthapanam Sivan Temple. Some of these farmers had settled in these areas from as early as the 1950s and received permits, some from as early as 1972.
They had to stop cultivating due to hostilities. In 2008 they found families from Dehiyattakandiya farming there. Last year, they had difficulty accessing their land as it was in the possession of some Sinhala homeguards and farmers. Police complaints have been filed regarding the issue almost every year since 2008.
A decision was made following a meeting between responsible officials in 2010, that anyone with permits before 1985 could cultivate the lands in the area during the next season – April 2011. Farmers who tried to access the lands in April were warned off by the Sinhala farmers. In May 2011 the Dehiwatta priest told the farmers not to come to the Padukadu land.
Soon after, this Priest’s brother began demanding money from the farmers claiming that he had cultivated the land and had spent money on irrigation. He threatened to destroy the crop unless this money was paid.
The Kanguveli tank irrigates 300 acres of paddy land. Young persons of the majority community in Dehiwatta have drained out the water in it and begun cultivating the tank bed. Farmers of the Kanguveli village who depend on this water for cultivation have been badly affected, as have cattle from the village which depend on this water.
Objections relating the above project was expressed to the President by Hon. Sampanthan in December 2009, in the presence of the Hon. Basil Rajapakse, then Special Adviser to the President and now Minister for Economic Development. The proposal was to allocate 1805 acres of Karachi land for the above saltern. Hon. Sampanthan protested that this proposal was entertained without any consultation with him – the MP of the area.
Both the President and the Hon. Basil Rajapakse assured Hon. Sampanthan that no such proposal was entertained and no such proposal would be implemented. However, the project was advertised en route to Trincomalee and Kuchchavelli. Thus, Hon. Sampanthan wrote to the President on 29th May 2010, placing on record the following objections:
- Implementation of this project would adversely affect livelihoods of over 2500 families.
- The project would lead to changes in the demographic composition of the area and would be resented by people in the area and not contribute to reconciliation amongst different peoples.
This is especially so as the Kuchchavelli DS division is now the only predominantly Tamil speaking division of the four DS divisions carved out from the predominantly Tamil Kaddukulampattu DRO (Vanniyar) Division that existed when the country gained independence. The other 3 are Sinhala speaking divisions, 2 of them becoming such by reason of demographic changes through land settlement.
By letter dated 16th May 2010 to the President, Hon. Sampanthan stated that he was informed that steps were being taken by the Central government officials to allocate land as per the above proposal. He expressed concerns that:
- No public notification was made of this, denying people entitled to apply for such land the opportunity to do so.
- the process adopted deliberately attempts to circumvent constitutional provisions pertaining to state land.
- All persons chosen to receive such valuable state land are from the majority community, while over 95% of the population in the Kuchchavelli DS division, who are Tamil speaking, have long been requesting that these lands be made available to them to facilitate their own residence and occupation. Many of these people are landless.
- There is a strong perception that efforts are being made to industrially colonize the majority community in areas in Trincomalee that are yet Tamil speaking and that such efforts should be resisted.
Militarization/land grabs
During the ceasefires, some of the Sinhala residents visited their village and attempted to secure financial arrangements over their land with their Muslim and Tamil neighbours. This resulted in the current land conflict in Irakkandy-Valaiuttu, where the Muslim and Tamil residents claim that the Sinhalese sold their lands.
(i) on both sides of the Trincomalee-Horowpothana Road between the villages of Vepankulam and Mudaliyarkulam up to Pomkulam within the Morawewa-Muthalikulam DS’s Division;
(ii) on both sides of the newly constructed Seruwila-Polonnaruwa Road within the Seruwila DS’s Division;
(iii) several areas along the Tricomalee-Habarana Road, up to Kithuluthu, the district boundary within the Thampalakamam and Kanthalai DS’s Divisions; and
(iv) on valuable land by the beach in the villages of Irakkandy and Kumburupiddy within the Kuchchaveli DS Division. Sinhalese have attempted to evict the current occupants and in some instances, such eviction has occurred. Such efforts by the members of the majority community are supported by certain sections of the Government.
This is happening in:
(i) Villankulam within the Trincomalee Town and Gravets DS’s Division;
(ii) at Irakkandy within the Kuchchaveli DS’s Division;
(iii) at Palampodder-Pathinipuram within the Thampalakamam DS’s Division.
Threats to language, religion and culture
On 29th November 2009 worshippers who went to the temple found certain relics damaged/removed. This matter was brought to the attention of the President on 2nd December 2009 by Hon. Sampanthan, who was later informed that the Government Agent/ District Secretary had instructed the Divisional Secretary, Muttur to conduct an investigation, and that a report would be sent to the President.
No further information was received regarding this matter. In May 2010, Hon. Sampanthan wrote to the President, again expressing his concern regarding this issue and stating that he had been informed that the Sri Lanka Naval forces were preventing the public from access to the temple.
This is a place at which for centuries, Hindus have performed certain religious ceremonies. By letter dated 20th July 2009, Hon. Sampanthan informed the President that he had been informed that a statue of the Lord Buddha had been secretly brought into the area and was likely to be installed.
A complaint was made by Hon. Sampanthan to the Deputy Inspector General of Police and following prompt action by him the statue was removed. Hon. Sampanthan has received information that the priest of the Vilgam Vihara Buddhist temple wants to proceed with his actions. It would seem that commercial benefit is behind these motives – the hot wells are visited by a large number of visitors
Amparai
The issue regards a hospital with a 120 year history in the Tamil area in Kalmunai. Attempts are being made to reduce the quality of its services/ make it a part of the Ashraff Memorial Hospital, which was established recently and comes under the control of the Central government. This has been done with full knowledge of the fact that Tamil-Muslim rivalry is rife in the area.
The Muslim individual now in charge of the hospital is considered to be biased towards Muslims and serious questions have been raised regarding his work ethics/suitability to hold the position, and the manner in which he obtained the post.
Resettlement / militarization / land grabs
Schools and other buildings are still in a state of devastation and school children are forced to travel several miles to Thirukovil. Thus, many seem to be staying away from school. These people do not even receive food stamps. They must officially be resettled in those places along with the others of the area and adequate assistance granted to them.
People from other areas have now started to come there and make claims on these lands. The families originally from this area must immediately be resettled there, in their original area of residence, and the houses from the said scheme allocated to them.
http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/2529
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