Sri Lankan Ethnic Conflict and Colonization
Sri Lankan Government "Steals" Tamil Lands in the Northeast
TAMIL TRIBUNE, February 2010 (ID. 2010-02-02)
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Abbreviations
1. Tamil-Owned Lands in Northeastern Sri Lanka
2. Significance of the Government Land Purchase
3. What the Government Should Do? The Right Thing to Do
4. Colonization of the Northeast
ABBREVIATIONS
IDP - Internally Displaced Persons
NGO - Non-Government Organization
1. Tamil-Owned Lands in Northeastern Sri Lanka
A December 1, 2009 news report by Express News Service (India) entitled "Lankan Government Acquiring Lands in Tamil Areas" alarmed me and should be of concern to all who hope for a fair and equitable solution to the ethnic conflict between the majority Sinhalese (who control the government) and the minority Tamils.
The news report says that the Sri Lankan Government is buying land from Tamil people in the northeast and is inviting foreign investors to introduce high-yielding advanced agricultural techniques to produce food crops. It is not clear if the government would own the land and grows crops with foreign investment or would sell the land to foreign investors. In any case large areas of cultivatable land would be purchased from Tamils. Almost all the Tamil landowners were at the time of the news report in crowded IDP camps or elsewhere away from their homes and land (IDP - Internally Displaced Persons).
2. Significance of the Government Land Purchase
2.1.
This is the wrong time to buy land from Tamils. The cultivatable lands, once their source of work and income, are at present un-cultivatable due to landmines and war damage (artillery shelling and aerial bombing). Their home in these lands are also totally destroyed or severely damaged. Most of them have no work or no source of income. To buy land from these people at this time is a predatory act. That the government would rush to buy land even before these people are resettled in their villages is cause for concern.
2.2.
Large number of Tamil people would become landless hired farm laborers in their former land. Or they would migrate to larger towns and cities looking for jobs never to return back to their villages because they have nothing to return to. This aids the Sri Lankan Government plan to disperse the Tamil people from their traditional areas (northeast) to all over the island. Even those who remain as hired farm laborers would not own the land but the government or foreign investors would own them. Tamil people would be at the mercy of the new landlords.
2.3.
The new land owners (government or foreign investors) may cultivate high-yield crops and produce more food but the original landowners, now reduced to hired farm labourers, may not even be able to buy enough food to feed their families.
Let me put it another way. The original landowners (the Tamils) will not benefit from the introduction of "high-yielding advanced agricultural techniques to produce food crops" and would not be able to taste the fruits of their ancestral lands.
2.4.
The Sri Lankan Government plan is against the interest of Tamil people, and is yet another way of "weakening" the Tamil people.
3. What the Government Should Do? The Right Thing to Do
If the Sri Lankan Government really wants to develop the farming sector in the northeast and at the same time help the Tamil people there prosper, I suggest the following action or a suitable variation developed by experts.
3.1.
Sri Lankan Government should immediately return all the purchased land to original owners. Landowners should be allowed to pay back the payment received in small installments at low interest rate. This is the equitable thing to do.
3.2.
Until landmines are cleared and the farmlands rendered cultivatable, the Sri Lankan Government should create jobs for the people in their respective villages and towns by paying them to rebuild their own homes and also local roads, schools and hospitals. I am sure that many foreign governments would gladly fund such projects provided there is transparency, accountability and access to international observers to visit the areas under reconstruction and talk to local people without government agents observing every move and conversation. [We thank the many western democracies that suspended or curtailed financial aid after the war because of lack of transparency and accountability. We request them to continue to do so until government "secrecy" is lifted and foreign governments and non-government organizations (NGO) have access to the war ravaged areas and people. Otherwise foreign aid would be diverted for building military installation and for buying land from Tamil people.]
3.3.
When farm lands are ready for cultivation, invite foreign experts to train local people the new methods of high-yielding agricultural techniques. If large tracts of lands are necessary for these new techniques, farmers may join together to form cooperatives or other suitable mechanisms that would retain farm ownership. Foreign firms may be given minority ownership in exchange for expertise and equipment. This way land produces maximum yield and the local farmers benefit from the fruits of their land.
4. Colonization of the Northeast
There was and is great concern that the Sri Lankan Government would use the post-war situation to further colonize the northeast by settling Sinhalese. There are already reports of such colonization in the east. Such colonization occurred in the east a few decades ago also when the Sri Lankan army and armed Sinhalese drove out Tamil farmers from their lands and settled Sinhalese in the east. The government purchase of land is, in fact, another form of colonization. The new landlords (either the government or foreign investors) may allow local Tamils to live in the land as landless hired laborers now. But the new landlords could throw these people out of the land and bring in others from outside whenever they want. Yes, it is another form of colonization, and it should be stopped.
[Summary: Sri Lankan ethnic conflict and Sinhala attempts of colonization of Tamil homeland.]
Nalankilli - Nalangkilli
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