Not This Good Earth; Land Rights, Displaced Persons And The Law In Sri Lanka
Jayantha de Almeida Guneratne & Radika Guneratne
Published September 30th 2013, Law & Society Trust, Colombo
Excerpts from the Executive Summary and Introduction
An extra – legal parallel regime that is in operation reveal the manner in which, on the presentation of bogus deeds coupled with brute force, owners of land possessing prima facie valid deeds are being told to vacate on the strength of such bogus deeds, and ad nauseam. This plight is being particularly faced by Tamil and Muslim citizens due to the militarization of the North and East in the post-war years. Those who had been compelled to vacate their lands during the war are now faced with frauds that are perpetrated on them by persons possessing political influence and power. In the Southern regions meanwhile, the poor and marginalized Sinhalese citizenry is pitted against the might of a pronounced State policy centered on the acquiring of private properties citing an urgent public purpose and in many cases, selling them to private companies thereafter for hotel development.
Possessing rights to land is an indicator which demonstrates an individual’s socio-economic, political, cultural and ethnical identity, signifying an emotive and highly symbolic value in respect of the construction of that identity. Post-war Sri Lanka has seen major scale development with the influx of local and foreign capital, particularly in the former war affected areas. Yet political motivations compelling acquisitions/evictions have led to tensions within communities. A careful analysis of the Sri Lankan experience clearly demonstrates a pattern where regardless of the law, government power is increasingly being used in order to acquire land for development purposes or (as in the North and East) in the context of militarisation. High Security Zones and forced acquisition by the military continues to be a pertinent concern in the North and East, years after the ending of war. [1]
