2ND LEAD (Update)

Sinhala colonists protest against Tamil officials in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2019, 18:57 GMT]
More than one hundred Sinhala colonist families staged a protest laying siege to the Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat on Monday opposing the Tamil officials, including the District Secretary (GA) Ms Rupavathy Ketheeswaran, for objecting their illegal occupation of the lands. Even after the district secretary had met them, the protesters were blockading the entrance. The SL Police was not acting against the protesters. The SL military and police, who blocking Tamils from gathering to commemorate the 10th year of 2009 genocide that took place in the district citing Emergency Regulations, were not acting against the Sinhala protesters, the officials at the District Secretariat told TamilNet.



The District Secretary told the Sinhala protesters that the lands in question belonged to people who have legal documents confirming their ownership.

The lands in the latest controversy belong to seven Tamil land-owners Sebamalai Sebastiampillai, S. Thambiyaiya, S. Manuelpillai, Sebastiampillai Maramathalenam, Santhiyapillai Seemapillai, K. Jacintha and A. Anton, activists told TamilNet.

Sinhala men stood behind and asked the women and children to lay siege to the entrance to draw sympathy to the protest.

The protest comes two days after a planned inauguration of a housing scheme by the Colombo-based National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) was postponed at the last minute due to the controversy surrounding the lands selected for the housing scheme.



The protesters laid siege to the District Secretariat after the NHDA officials instructed them to do so, the Tamil officials complained.

The violent colonists, backed by the occupying SL Navy, have been occupying the place for a long time during the times of war and after.

Mukaththuvaaram is a strategically located village at the northern tip of the lagoon-mouth of Kokku’laay. The provincial border between the North and East runs through the lagoon.



Chronology: