Lands seized for Buddhist vihara in Trincomalee Muslim village

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 September 2013, 21:14 GMT]
Sinhala Buddhist extremist elements have seized 50 acres of land to construct a Buddhist vihara in Chelvaa-nakar GS division at Thoappoor Akkarai village, known as Neena village, which is a Muslim village, according to former parliamentarian M Mouroof.

There are no Buddhists in the village where Muslims have been living for generations.

The divisional secretary of Seruwila has instructed the village (GS) officer to hand over the lands claiming that there was a vihara in that locality in the past.

The Muslims tolerated the move when 6 acres of lands were initially allocated. But, later the appropriation seems to be much larger in dimension, the Muslims say.

Around 60 Muslim families living in the said land would also be affected by the move.