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Several Tamil families in the village of Manarkerni have called on the Mullaitivu District Secretariat to clear their occuiped lands so they can engage in agricultural activities.
The families hold the deeds to the lands although they are currently occuiped by Sinhala settlers.
The families were displaced following the Manal Aru Massacre in 1984, during which the Sri Lankan army conducted a violent attack that forced them to flee to different parts of the island, including Jaffna, Thellippalai, Achchuveli, and Colombo. In the aftermath of the massacre, Sinhala farmers were settled on lands owned by Tamil families, which shifted the demography of the region.
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Speaking at a press conference attended by Mullaitivu District Secretariat government officer Kanakasabapathy Kanageswaran and T. Ravikaran, former Northern Province Provincial Counselor, representatives of the families claimed that their attempts to contact the owners of the lands have been unsuccessful due to displacement and death. They also emphasised the need to oppose ongoing Sinhala colonisation efforts and urged the landowners to contact them to join their efforts to reclaim their rightful lands.
The families' claims highlight the ongoing challenges faced by Tamil communities in the aftermath of the Manal Aru Massacre and the need for a fair and transparent process for land ownership disputes.
