The Hon. G.G. Ponnambalam

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, please do not reduce my time for the exchanges that took place just now.

¶ 02 Madam, I have been someone who has been repeatedly saying that the military is still working on a counterinsurgency mode. They have not come out of that mindset they had during the war, and in the process of fighting the war, they had transformed, unfortunately—I say this with utmost responsibility—into an institution that is against the Tamil people, against Tamil interests.

¶ 03 A classic example is the military’s involvement in building the illegal Thissa Viharaya in Thyiddi. When we heard that the Army Commander at that time had come and laid the foundation stone and that it was being built on private land, at the DCC meeting within a few days, with the GA, the Tellippallai Divisional Secretary, and the Chairman and Secretary of the Valikamam North Pradeshiya Sabha present, it was confirmed that it was private land and did not belong to any viharaya. Despite the ruling at the District Coordinating Committee meeting to stop construction immediately, the military went ahead and built the illegal viharaya. This matter was brought up again on 13 December 2024 at the DCC chaired by the Hon. Ramalingam Chandrasekar, Minister of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources, and again on 31 January 2025 when H.E. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake chaired the DCC. On both occasions—military present—everyone agreed it was private land and that it was being built illegally without any formal legal process, and that a decision had to be made.

¶ 04 On 18 December 2024, when I first raised this in the new Parliament, the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress had written a letter, purportedly signed by its President/Chairman, Chandra Nimal Wakishta. I table that letter today. This whole story is in today’s Udayan newspaper. In the letter, they claim the entire six acres—actually privately-owned land—cannot be handed back to the people; that from King Devanampiyathissa’s time, the land belonged to Thissa Viharaya; and that, in fact, it should be 14 acres—so, more land must be confiscated and given to this viharaya. Madam, this is exactly what I meant by the military being a racist institution that has not changed its mindset. Even if we assume there is some truth to these claims, there is a legal process to follow. Just because you are the military, you cannot decide to breach any law; the law of the jungle days are over. But they are still operating on that basis.

¶ 05 When I checked who the present President of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress is, I found he is the former Director of the NIB and a Deputy Inspector General of Police. You see the nexus in this illegality being orchestrated. If the Government is true to its pledges not to pursue racist policies and to uphold the rule of law equally, this illegal act cannot be allowed. The Government’s litmus test on whether it is racist like previous governments will depend on how it deals with this illegal viharaya built while the land properly belonging to the Thissa Viharaya lies adjoining. They could have built it on that land; instead, they are confiscating private land, which cannot be allowed.

¶ 06 The second matter—headline news in today’s Thinakkural—is that the Government is apparently going to confiscate further land to extend the Palaly Airport runway. Palaly’s runway is 1,300 metres; Katunayake’s is 3,400 metres; Ratmalana’s is 1,700 metres. Palaly’s can be extended within its current High Security Zone up to 2,400 metres—longer than Ratmalana. The people of Palaly, waiting to resettle, are up in arms because the Government is thinking of confiscating more land. The President says all land must be released, but here, he or his Government thinks of confiscating more land when there is ample land within the HSZ for the runway extension. These matters should have been brought up at the DCC and discussed with Tamil MPs from Jaffna; we also have opinions. If you want a more capable international airport, Jaffna is the wrong place; it is in a corner. Build it in the Vanni or Vavuniya to serve Anuradhapura and the East—more central. Do not build it in a corner. The Government must not take unilateral action as reported.

¶ 07 Madam, another matter: the Land Reform Commission has an office in every district outside the North and East—17 offices. In the North, five districts have only one office in Jaffna; in the East, Batticaloa and Trincomalee have only one office in Batticaloa. But in Ampara District, which has less than 500 acres under LRC, there is an office. Why? Should there not be an office in every district in the North and East? Why are there only two offices in predominantly Tamil-speaking areas? Is there not something wrong? We complain that lands are being stolen and illegally taken from us, and the LRC is the primary culprit. Why is an office deliberately not being operated in each district in the North and East?