Tamils and Muslims who have joined under the local leadership of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have launched a protest accusing the government of trying to resettle Sinhalese brought from outside the province in Batticaloa.
The protest took place on Thursday, October 21 in the Karamunai area in Vakarai, Batticaloa.
According to them, about 200 Sinhalese families currently living in Welioya, Ampara and other areas had come to the village of Vakarai Karamunai in Batticaloa to find out the area where they had lived in the village in 1982 and to see the current situation there.
At present the Tamil and Muslim people in the area have built permanent houses and settled down.
The Commissioner General of Lands in the area G. Keerthi Gamage was also presented there and said that there were no plans to resettle the Sinhalese people in the area and that they had been brought to the area to show the current situation in the area.
Land Commissioner General of the area G.S. Keerthi Gamage was also present at the event and said that there were no plans to resettle the Sinhalese people in the area and that they had been brought to the area to show the current situation in the area.
Land Commissioner General G. Keerthi Gamage told reporters that there was a Sinhala village in Batticaloa around 1983 and that they had to leave their villages with the onset of the war.
The Commissioner General of Lands has further stated that a field inspection will be carried out in the area where the Sinhalese are said to have settled.
However, the Sinhalese people will not ask for the land back as there are other people living in the area at present, the Commissioner General of Lands said.
Land Commissioner General G. Keerthi Gamage further told the media that as it has been forty years now, the children of the original Sinhala landowners are now living and their request is justified.
He said that a specific place has not yet been selected to provide land for them and that he hopes to find a suitable place and give them some relief.
When the Sinhalese went to identify the place where the Sinhalese were said to have lived in the early 80s, the Tamil and Muslim people joined hands with the Tamil National Alliance MP Rasamanikyam Shanakyan to launch a protest against the resettlement of about 200 Sinhalese imported by the government from Batticaloa, Vakarai.
According to provincial journalists, the Sinhalese people who came from outside the province have documents to prove that the lands in the village of Karamunai belonged to them in the past.
Tamils and Muslims currently living in the area say they have been living there since 1962.
It is the duty of all to live in peace and harmony in this country in all parts of the country, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. Says Keerthi Gamage. “I do not think it is appropriate for us to limit our territory to one nation,” he added.