Speaking in parliament, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP MA Sumanthiran detailed how two fellow TNA MPs were denied the right to speak at a consultative committee meeting of the Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Conservation as members decried them as "LTTE".
The MPs who attended the forestry meeting were Shanakiyan Rasamanickam and S. Sritharan and were forced to leave. Upon leaving they responded to the committee's attacks stating "if that's what you want, that's what you'll have".
Sri Lanka's forestry ministry is complicit in ongoing landgrab efforts by the Sri Lankan military and has been accused of engaging in the illegal trade of timber across the North-East.
In March it was reported that both the military and the forestry department continued to bar Tamil villagers of North Nedungeeni Vedivaithakal in Vavuniya from returning to their village, despite having proof of their lands.
The Oakland Institute has reported that in Mullaitivu the forestry department has expropriated 32,110 acres of land; the Wildlife Department has claimed 23,515 acres; the Archeological Department has taken 202 acres, and the Mahaweli Authority has taken 4,368.
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