The Hon. G.G. Ponnambalam

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I wish to raise three matters.

¶ 02 Firstly, for generations, 244 fishing families from Negombo have seasonally come to the Mullaitivu coast—particularly to the Kokkilai estuary—where they would reside for some months to pursue their livelihood and then return home. They identify themselves entirely as from Negombo. Under the governments of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and even Ranil Wickremesinghe, these 244 families attempted to obtain permanent residence in Mullaitivu but failed because they had no land there; no government then allocated land or allowed them to build permanent houses. They were allowed only seasonal fishing.

¶ 03 However, after the ‘Didva’ cyclone, this Government, under the guise of providing safe housing, has decided for the first time to allocate permanent houses to non-district residents—specifically, to those from Negombo—through disaster relief, and is proceeding to build houses in Kokkilai West GN Division behind the hospital. We consider this a grave error. For 75 years, successive governments altered ethnic demographics in Tamil areas, fueling ethnic conflict. Even Government Members have admitted in recent times that past governments acted in ethnically biased ways that harmed Tamils. Against this backdrop, it is wholly inappropriate for this Government to now undertake an explicitly communal action that even past governments did not—by allocating land and houses to outsiders in a Tamil area. No responsible Minister is present in the front row now; I request you, Hon. Presiding Member, to convey this and halt these actions.

¶ 04 Secondly, in Mullaitivu, in the Kokku Thoduvai–Kunjukkalvelai area—where Tamils have held freehold land since British times—the Mahaweli Authority has allocated 5 acres to a trader from the South. This is private freehold land, not State land. Proper allocation would require a survey; a survey would confirm private ownership—well known to the Authority. Instead, they have allocated without due process, and that trader has further encroached an additional 15 acres to establish a salt pan. That additional 15 acres includes mangroves and grazing lands, areas that are nature reserves and forested zones under the Forest Department. If an ordinary Tamil resident even steps into a forest reserve, cases are filed; yet an outsider with influence is being enabled to occupy such lands. This is intolerably unjust. I request that this allocation be immediately stopped and the original freehold land restored to its private owner.

¶ 05 Thank you.