The Sri Lankan government is trying to change the ethnic demographics of the Tamil North-East said the leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF).
Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, in an interview with the Sunday Leader, accused the government of using land appropriation, militarisation and Sinhala colonisation to change the ethnic demographics of the region.
“They are building towns within their military bases. Over time, when they take the military boundaries away there will be an entire Sinhala colonised village within that area,” he said.
“There are cantonments where the military has built houses – where their families can come and settle. The militarisation is now taking place as part of a Sinhalisation process,” he added.
Contrary to Sri Lankan government claims of using the land to help the people in the North-East, Ponnambalam said that the land was being appropriated from the people to generate income for the military.
“The military is doing farming and they sell their products in the local market and undercut the local farmers. In the larger picture, they are undermining the local economy of the people,” he said.
Ponnambalam added that over the TNPF and TNA had both filed over 2000 cases related to land grabs with the Sri Lankan supreme court under fundamental rights violations.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
