The Hon. Amirthanathan Adaikkalanathan

¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Presiding Member. Today I will speak not on salt but on something related: the grabbing of our people’s lands. Every day the newspapers report lands being taken—by the military, the police, and others—in our areas. We see an organized effort to appropriate land, sometimes in the name of development.

¶ 02 Under the Mahaweli scheme, recently at Veddivaiththakal (Vedi-vaithakal) in Vavuniya, 600 acres of forest have been cleared. After this was revealed, many, including Government members, visited and called it wrong—but those sounded like empty words for the press. Is this just for headlines?

¶ 03 [Intervention by The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake, correcting place names and noting Cabinet re-gazetted Vedithalathivu as a forest.]

¶ 04 Even so, at Vedi-vaiththakal in Vavuniya, they have cleared the forest claiming Mahaweli authority. If a Tamil farmer cuts a stick, the Forest Department will jail him; but when someone from the majority community clears 600 acres, no one notices. Despite a Vavuniya District Development Committee decision, the police are fencing off the land at Omanthai.

¶ 05 [Interventions by Hon. Bimal Rathnayake and Hon. Ananda Wijepala stating the police have been instructed to stop clearing a private land near Omanthai police, and that lawful procedures will be followed.]

¶ 06 Thank you. My point is that, under the guise of development, such actions erode people’s trust in the Government. Our land is where our martyrs shed blood. Your movement also fought for people and land. When the Navy secretly surveyed lands there recently, people protested. As protests grow, confidence in the Government decreases. You too came from a struggle; your side also had fighters who sacrificed for land. If there is no land, a community’s very existence is threatened. Please address what past governments ignored. The President promised to release civilian lands held by the military upon taking office. But today, we see land grabbing continuing in our areas.

¶ 07 Next, in Mannar, wind power projects and sand mining face public opposition. Without informing villages, land was recently drilled and soil removed. People are protesting.

¶ 08 [Chair: Time is up.]

¶ 09 Finally, on India–Sri Lanka security MoUs, former Minister Sarath Weerasekara has made remarks. When our country collapsed economically, India extended a helping hand. Do not stoke anti-India rhetoric. If you want to give the South to China and the North to India—no! We cannot function that way. We must maintain balanced relations. Thank you.