JDSLanka

Sri Lanka army chief confirms military rule, land grabs in North

Sri Lanka's Army Chief Lt.Gen Daya Ratnayake has publicly admitted that the Northern Province has been under the military rule and that his troops in the name of ensuring the stability and security of the former northern war-zone, were involved in mass-scale land grabs, by symbolically releasing a few plots of lands to the Tamil rightful owners.

According to the army media unit, Gen. Daya Ratnayake at ceremony held at the Kilinochchi Security Forces Headquarters on Monday has "returned 21 plots of land of the Kilinochchi SF headquarters premises" in Pooneryn, Mulankaavil and Puliyankulam areas to the rightful owner. Trying to paint a picture that the military was doing a favour to the Tamils in the area, it said that this was done "in consistent with the government's policy of releasing land of civilians hitherto used for security purposes".

These are lands traditionally belonging to the Tamil people and were forcibly taken over by the army after the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. Even five years after the war, several fertile villages in the Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Jaffna districts are in complete control of the army and thousands of traditional Tamil families from these villages still remain displaced, going through untold agonies on a daily basis.

Military supersedes Provincial admin

Some villages have seen complete transition with the ongoing Sinhala colonisation. Even the names are changed into Sinhala names. To name a few, traditional Tamil villages such as Kokkilai, Kokkothoduvai, Karunaddukkerni have been renamed as Janakapura, Mahindapura and Namalpura.

Although the army has ceremonially retuned just 21 plots of land, mainly aiming to counter the wide-spread allegations of ongoing military land grabs and Sinhala colonisation in the Wanni ahead of the Geneva vote, the Army Commander's action has ironically and inadvertently confirmed the fact that it is his troops who rule the north and the east. The "colourful ceremony" in which the army chief was the chief guest, has confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that the army was in fact occupying the lands of the Tamils at the expense of their freedom of movement, free speech and basic right to livelihood.

There is an elected Provincial Council administration in place, in addition to the central government and its line ministries, which are legally entitled to handle pure civil administrative affairs of this nature. The military has no business in identifying, processing or determining the rightful owners. But, the army in its own admission said that Kilinochchi Security Forces Headquarters "succeeded confirming the identities of those rightful owners before documents were processed for return of their lands".

Army chief predicts more arrests, abductions?

While addressing the troops in Kilinochchi, which was formerly the politico-military headquarters of the LTTE, the Army Chief in obvious reference to the ongoing Geneva UNHRC sessions, has explained to the troops "how different actors both at regional and international arenas are burning midnight oil to negate the onward march of our nation after elimination of terrorism and disturb peace dividents prevailing in the country".

In his bid to justify a huge military presence and their fresh campaign to intimidate the civilians in the region in the name of preventing the "regrouping of the LTTE", Gen Daya Ratnayake has stressed the need for the soldiers to "sustain vigilance and surveillance while engaged in security work in respective areas of service". In the past, this meant more arrests, abductions and disappearances.

© JDS