Mr. Seeniththamby Yoheswaran is the Member of Parliament representing the Batticaloa District in the Eastern Province. Charles Devasagayam interviewed him in Toronto for the Tamil Mirror readers. In this Exclusive interview he describes about the Land Grab in the Tamil areas, reasons for the early election in the Eastern Province and the India’s stance on the Tamil issue. The full interview is given below:
Charles Devasagayam: What is the purpose of your visit to Canada?
Seeniththamby Yoheswaran: The World Tamil Cultural Movement invited Mr. Sritharan, Member of Parliament (M.P) for Kilinochchi and my self for the ‘Tamil Conference’ that was held on July 1, 2012 in Toronto.
C.D: ‘Land Grab’ in the traditional Tamil areas are the pressing issue for the Tamils, according to many sources. As a M.P from the Batticaloa District, can you explain to the Tamil Mirror readers, briefly, about the ‘Land Grab’ in the Eastern Province?
S.Y: After independence from the British in 1948, the ‘Land Grab’ accelerated extensively in the Eastern Province. I am saying this because, earlier there weren’t any Sinhala Member of Parliament from the Eastern Province. But today, there are five Sinhalese M.P’s from this province. This clearly shows that how the Tamil Lands were grabbed and how the Sinhala population was settled in that Province.
Eastern Province includes three districts, namely Trincomalee, Ampara and Batticaloa. In Thiriyai from Trincomalee district, 3000 acre land adjacent to the Pansala has been expropriated by the government for their colonisation purpose.
Same way in the Batticaloa Distrct’s Vavunatheevu Pradeshaya Sectretary’s Division, 25,000 acre land has been taken by the ‘Village Vigilante Force,’(Oor Kaval Padai). Eastern Provincial Council is also providing assistance in this regard.
In addition, Naval Forces have appropriated lands in the Vaakarai area. 1200 acre land has been taken out by these forces in ‘Kirimichchai’ area. They have camped there to build big houses to the Sinhala Navy Forces. This is also a form of Sinhala colonisation.
In the Batticaloa District, government planned to take 10,500 acre land in the ‘ Vada Munai and Oothu Chenai’ area. As a first step they wanted to allocate 5000 acre land to 100 wealthy Sinhalese people on the basis of 50 acre per person. We protested on this development and stalled the process so far.
A lots of land in the coastal Tamil areas are being used for the Sinhala colonisation. They are clearing these areas for this purpose.
Also, in the Trincomalee District, near the 3 rd mile post hill area of the Mutur Pradeshiya Secretary’s Division, lands are being cleared and a small Budhist Shrine is being built as a prelude to a Sinhala Budhist colonisation.
Same way in the Amparai District, most of the areas where Tamils have been living have been changed to Sinhala settlements.
The government also did not resettle the displaced Tamils in this area. For an example, Tamils from ‘Thangavelautha Puram and Kanchi Kudichcha Aru and Sagamam were uprooted and been living in the Thirukkovil area. The government did not make any effort to resettle them in their own land. Since this land is fertile the government wanted it to be given to the Sinhalese. Now, these uprooted Tamils have moved back to their areas by themselves, although the basic amenities are not provided to them.
Therefore, the Sinhala government has been colonising our area in a planned way. So far Sinhalese Members of Parliament have been elected from the Trincomalee and Amparai Districts only. Now, they are determined to elect a Sinhala M.P or a Member from the Provincial council or a member from the Pradeshiya Council from the Batticaloa District as well. In this respect they are working on a strong land grab and or a colonisation scheme.
