Return land, restore dignity

Land is linked to identity, and identity is important to all communities regardless of whether they are from the North or the South.

14 Mar  2017

By Aingkaran Kugathasan, for Tamil Guardian | Colombo

Subsequent governments in Sri Lanka have manipulated the issue of land for political and economic gains by; promoting the livelihood and well-being of one Community over another (in this case the ethnic majority), providing lands to transnational corporations (TNCs), acquiring lands for security purposes (High Security Zones: HSZ). Both private and state lands of people who have for generations been settled and living here have been forcibly taken away, by the government mostly for development and militarization purposes both in the North-East as well as in the South. These lands are where their families are from, and for most this is all they had and can call their own. Existing land laws, particularly the Land Acquisition Act are manipulated to acquire lands from the poor and vulnerable. Despite passing nearly 8 years since the end of the war, the government has failed to return lands of the people in the North-East and South. Prioritizing the return of land would have significantly paved way for reconciliation, unfortunately these opportunities were never taken.

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