Sri Lanka’s military continued to entrench its presence in Tamil civilian life, using tourism, religious festivals, humanitarian aid, and donations to schools to advance Sinhalisation and sustain military occupation across the Tamil homeland.
Batticaloa
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan army Major General A.H.L.G Amarapala, also Chairman of the Board of Management of the Laya Hotels group, conducted an inspection at Laya Waves in Kalkuda on 10 May 2025. He identified areas for renovation to increase tourism and instructed staff to align service standards with leading hotel chains while improving welfare facilities for serving and retired military personnel.
The Laya Group of Resorts is operated by the Sri Lankan army’s Directorate of Welfare. Marketed for local and international tourists, these resorts occupy beachfront land seized from Tamils and repurposed into commercial zones.
Jaffna District
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On 3 May 2025 troops from the 7th Battalion Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment asked civilians to join them for a clean-up operation at Liboria Church in Chavakachcheri, following a request from the church's head priest.
A few days later, on 7 May 2025, the 9th Battalion Sri Lanka Light Infantry handed over a house they had constructed to a family in Kadduvan. Over 3500 acres of land across Kadduvan and the neighbouring areas of Myliddy, Vasavilan, Palali, and Kurumbasity still remain under Sri Lankan military control, with the soldiers even accused of cutting down useful trees to plant coconut palms for their own use.
From 12 to 13 May 2025, Jaffna Security Forces Headquarters, under Major General Y.A.B.M. Yahampath, commemorated the Buddhist festival of Vesak by decorating a junction and surrounding roads with lanterns. On 13 May, game shows were held, and meals were distributed to over 200 civilians, with senior military officers and government officials participating.
Vanni
On 11 May 2025, following the Vesak Poya Buddhist festival, Major General D.R.N. Hettiarachchi of the Mullaitivu-based 59 Infantry Division celebrated the occasion by distributing essentials to pregnant women, conducting diabetes screening for civilians, and hosting an eye clinic with Lions Clubs International ophthalmologists.
The next day, under orders from Major General K.M.P.S.B. Kulatunga of the Vanni Security Forces and with the support of the Chief Incumbent of Sri Bodhi Dakshinarama Temple, refreshments were distributed to devotees. The temple, which hosted the first Buddhist congress in the Vanni region in 2019, exemplifies ongoing state-led Sinhalisation and Buddhisation in the Tamil homeland.
The 59 Division also hosted a Vesak lantern display on 12 and 13 May, as well as putting up an ice cream stall at the Puthukkudiyiruppu Municipal Council Grounds.
The 59th Infantry Division held control over Vadduvaakal during the final phase of the 2009 genocide, and is implicated in serious human rights abuses, including enforced disappearances, as documented by Human Rights Watch through eyewitness accounts, family testimonies, and media reports.
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Meanwhile, from 12 to 14 May 2025, troops of 1 Corps, under the command of Major General W.M.P.M. Wijesuriya, organised yet another Vesak Zone celebration in Iranamadu, Kilinochchi. Religious leaders, senior officers and civilians participated in this military-led festival.
On 12 May 2025, Major N.S.L.M. Lankapura of the 7th Battalion, Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment, coordinated a school supply donation to 69 students at Mahamailankulam Vidyalayam in Vavuniya. The Tamil village lies close to Sri Lanka’s Northwestern Province and its environs are the scene of Sri Lankan government-backed settlement by Sinhalese, with the name now Sinhalised to ‘Mahamailankulama’.
