Still No Houses Or Land To Return To
By Maryam Azwer
Two years after the war ended, and still at Menik Farm
The Resettlement Ministry says that the primary delay in resettling the approximately 17,000 IDPs remaining at Menik Farm is due to the ongoing de-mining process in Mullaitivu and certain parts of Kilinochchi.
This delay in resettlement isn’t the only concern facing the IDPs, however – the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has claimed that some IDPs are not being allowed to return to their original lands, and have been asked to find alternate locations. What’s more, they claim that they have reason to believe these lands in the North have been picked out especially to carry out construction of housing units for the families of military personnel.
In an interview with The Sunday Leader TNA MP and Attorney-at-law M. A. Sumanthiran explained why his party had reached these conclusions.
“The first indication of this was some time last year when the Army Commander visited the Dalada Maligawa and the Mahanayakes in Kandy and it was reported that he had told them that they were going to settle the families of the soldiers in the North, and also that those families would be given farmland to cultivate,” said Sumanthiran.
“At about the same time we noticed a lot of building material lined up on both sides of the A9, close to places called Murikandy, Thirumurikandy, Indupuram and Santhapuram. Gradually we saw those reduce, and found just about 500 metres inside, away from the A9, particularly on the Eastern side, these materials, which were actually prefabricated materials from China, were being put together and housing units being put up.”
He explained that the TNA had voiced concerns regarding the resettlement of people in these areas, particularly the Thirumurukandy area, on several occasions.
“We raised the issue after a visit to the Vanni by thirteen TNA MPs last year. We submitted a report to Parliament, and we also raised it with the President at our meeting with him on June 7 last year. The answer given to us at that stage was that roofing material was being delayed from India, and that it would take around a month or two,” said Sumathiran.
Several months later, however, these people, around a hundred families from the Thirumurukandy area, remain in IDP camps.
In the mean time, some of these people had paid visits to check on their lands, explained Sumanthiran.
“They saw housing units being put up on their own lands, and that was reported to us,” he said, adding that “They have permits for these lands. The permits were issued about 30 – 40 years ago. Some of them have expired, but they can just be renewed.”
One of the main concerns here, he said, was that these people had planted trees on their lands – such as jak, mango and coconut – which were bearing fruit, and which they depended on for their livelihood.
The issue had also been raised recently during the TNA’s fourth round of talks with the Government delegation, on April 7 this year.
“We were given a document that said the people from Thirumurukandy have not been resettled because de-mining is not complete in those areas. But we pointed out that that can’t be the case because there are no mines in that area. I have personally walked in those places and found that houses and other units are being put up,” claimed Sumanthiran.
However, he did acknowledge that there was no evidence of people moving into these houses. “We have no information that families of the military have moved into those houses. But the houses have been set up.”
He also said that IDPs from this area were “constantly being told they will be given alternate places to resettle. Even a week ago they were told they will have to resettle elsewhere, and they are resisting that”.
“In the Mullaitivu district there are a number of places where people are not being allowed to resettle, and the information we have is that there are large cantonment type specimens or buildings there. The problem is that the Government denies it. They never acknowledge that this is for army settlement.”
Apart from Thirumurukandy, which belongs to the Mullaitivu district and is located just south of Kilinochchi, the other areas the TNA says people have been prevented from resettling in are Keppapilavu, Pudukuduiruppu and Mullivaikal, as well as parts of Sannar, in Mannar.
Sumanthiran also claims that apart from the Sampur area in the Trincomalee district, none of these areas are actually declared as High Security Zones. “Around 1000 families [in Sampur] are displaced as a result of that, for the last 5 years,” he said.
Nothing To Do With Resettlement
When contacted, Secretary, Ministry of Resettlement, Uthpala Basnayake, said that the only reason people belonging to certain areas had not been resettled was because they had not been cleared of mines. “Without Defence Ministry and UN clearance, people cannot be resettled in those areas,” said Basnayake. He added that according to protocol, it was the Government Agent (GA) who was responsible for identifying the people’s original lands for resettlement.
He also said that he had no knowledge of any construction of housing for military personnel in the North, and that the Resettlement Ministry had nothing to do with such issues.
Meanwhile the GA Mullaitivu, Anthonypillai Pathinathan said that land could not be released for resettlement until clearance was given by the security forces. He also denied any knowledge of housing construction for military personnel.
Everything seems to be mysterious these days, or everyone is cheating those poor IDPs even after two years. Cheating, denials & lying about everything has become the norms now a days. De-mining in un-mined areas cannot be done but digging up & disposing of evidences can be done ! No limit when it comes to lying. It’s so pathetic & sickly. This is the rule of the land today.
Maryam Azwer
WE SRI LANKANS HAVE A RIGHT TO LIVE ANY WHERE IN THIS ISLAND SINHALESE TAMIL OR MUSLIMS ; SO WE SINHALESE CAN LIVE IN NORTH AS LOT OF TAMILS LIVES IN COLOMBO
ITS A PART OF OUR COUNTRY NOT TAMIL NADU ? IF YOU LIKE TRY TO GO AND LIVE IN GAZA AS A MUSLIM ? YOU WILL HAVE NO CHANCE …..
You do not know history. In fact the present generation of sinhalese have been brainwashed with distorted history that they do not know there were
3 independent kingdoms in the island, one of which was in the North East
and ruled by Tamils. This was before the advent of Portugese, the first colonial power.
The British who ruled the island last, for their administrative convenience amalgamated all units to form Ceylon. All the Governments formed after independence were bent on mistreating the Tamil minority for getting votes
from the majority sinhalese to come to power. The masses were made to fear the Tamils, and the “Majority were living witn a Minority complex” as recently explained by none other than Palitha Kohona in a seminar in New York.
You justify colonisation of the Tamil areas with state sponsorship by comparing Tamils who at their own expense migrated to Colombo for employment and trade withot any state assistance.
It was because of the discrimination of Tamils LTTE was born.
Mahes,
I totally share your sympathy on these poor tamil people, who even after 2 years living in pathetic conditions. No excuse can justify this un-human treatment on poor Tamil people.
But when its come to the history, your knowledge is no better than those pathetic LTTE barbarians whom should share MOST of the responsibility for the pathetic situation many innocent tamils facing now. East was NEVER part of North, there is NOT a single written record to prove that. In fact until mass Tamils migration to East in from the 18th century, East for centuries were Sinhala dominant area. Well, when Portuguese first arrived here, yes there was a tamil kingdom in North. but it was promptly conquered in less than 100 years. Escept for the Sankili who massacred hundreds of his own tamils, just like the murderous Prabha. I cant single out any significant Tamil king from those area !!
my friend Rohan, as a Jaffna Tamil I need to enlighten you on something. The Tamils in the south came and settled there on their own accord. The Sinhalese who are being moved to the North are installed by the State. They are not going there on their own accord. It would be wonderful if the Sinhalese found the North attractive to settle down and moved there on their own accord.
Dont talk through your hat Rohan. We are referring to the Government depriving the poor IDPs of their lands and giving them to the military. Do you like if your land and house is taken over for the use of the military ? Dont mix this with the right to purchase or sell your private land to any person- Sinhlaese, Tamil or Muslim. You have been born a Sinhalese but next birth you might be a Muslim or a Tamil for you to understand better.
Realist: very well said.
its weird,,
people live in IDP camps ….i would have thought that was most important objective for a government to fullfill…but instead they are pitching for the commonwealth games, building a luxury port in galle…fighting is the lankaneFRZ….where is the accountability of the goverment….even post ltte? Its very clear who the donkeys are…………..it is the sri lankan people….get slapped raped and killed..singahlese , muslim or tamil…..that is your future
All these IDPs were living in their homes for a long time, alongside the “mined areas” before beng displaced by the war.
They know the “mined areas” which are now marked for easy identification, and will be careful in avoiding them, while demining goes on, and will resume their former lives and livelihoods if allowed to go back to their homes.
This excuse by the government is to deliberately deprive them of their lands/homes and force them to resettle elsewhere.
De-mining is a lucrative business for the SL military, Tamil War lords, and the international aid industry! TThey are all involved in rent-seeking. They pretend that it will take hundreds of years to de-mine lands which have no mines! Meanwhile in Jaffna Douglas Devanandan is doing sand mining in areas claimed to have land mines. The appropriation of private citizens’ land by the Rajapakse’s for their crony capitalist tourism developers is also done via high security zones or by claiming that there are mines on lands ear-marked to be sold off. This is all part of the military business model of post-war economic development in Sri Lanka!
Dinu
So why don’t YOU put on a flak-jacket, pick up a stick and go demine the North in the efficient way that you seem to imply that you can ???
That way, all the other folk engaged in this fruitless task (according to you), can be freed up to do other work
I look forward to seeing the whole country de-mined by your single handed effort – shall we say by next week ?
not only the international community ignored crimes against humanity against Tamils during the war, but also let the criminals intermediate same Tamils in the name of humanitarion operation.
Genocide. Don’t worry, the UN is on the case.
SL is going down soon. It was famous for its third world living standards now it is famous for killing innocent Tamils and burying them in mass graves.
This post could not be more right on…