War-affected farmers demand a return to their lands

By-S. Rubatheesan

For farmer, Kanthasamy Thavarasa (72) January is a month of preparation and the morning of Sunday 20th this year (2022) was no different. Following the recent harvest, he travelled to his rice paddy field to continue preparation for the coming Yala season.

Upon arriving, he noticed a group of people including military uniformed personnel spread across his land.

He was under the impression that government officials were on a field visit to assess the impact of the introduction of a complete chemical fertiliser ban months ago.

But it turned out to be something different, something Thavarasa never anticipated. To his surprise, Buddhist monks were also on his farmland alongside the military personnel.

Rev Galgamuwa Sangabodhi Thero – the Chief monk of a Buddhist shrine that was built adjacent to the nearby contested archaeological site called Kurunthurmalai was among them. 

The Archeological Department officials told locals that the area surrounding the Kurunthurmalai site, including 330 acres of farming land, is to be acquired for archaeological studies.

Thavarasa’s five-acre plot is part of the 330 acres that are scheduled to be gazetted as a protected site under Archeological ordinance- barring any access to his paddy fields. 
However, local farmers, the majority of who are Hindus, allege that there was a Hindu temple located next to the archaeological site. They claim that the place they worshipped at for generations has disappeared since the department took over the land in 2018 and commenced the excavation process.

Amidst severe concerns raised by various UN agencies on a possible food crisis by end of this year in the county, local farmers whose 330 acres of paddy land around the contested site cannot be cultivated in this Yala season. 

Locals alleged a new Buddhist shrine was erected recently with the planting of lord Buddha’s statue and the commencement of construction work.

“I was shocked and angry at the same time to see someone telling me not to farm on my land. Who are they? It’s like you barged into my house and tell me to vacate the house,” Thavarsa recalled that rainy Sunday in January this year (2022) when the group visited.

He tried his best to explain to them that the land he inherited had been cultivated for generations by his family. Despite all his attempts, there was little success.

 Former State Minister of National Heritage Vidura Wickramanayaka visited the contested site and declared open a Buddhist shrine with the support of military personnel deployed in the area last year. Locals and local journalists were denied access to cover the event. Pix credit: special arrangement

Most of the farmers engaged in farming around the disputed site are residents of a remote village called Thannimurippu, located some 80 kilometres away from Mullaithivu town, with 357 people from over 100 families residing there.
Thavarasa is the fourth generation in his family to engage in farming on this land which has been passed down through male members of the family over many decades. Originally, the land which belonged to the state was leased to the family when the country saw a massive agrarian scheme formulated in the early 1920s.

The Local Farmers Federation convened immediately to consider the existential threat to their livelihood and took up the matter with regional government authorities. 

“This is my ancestor’s land from which we fed our families over the decades. How can the officials simply say, it is not mine anymore and I should leave the property? When we heard about the plans to setup a Buddhist shrine, we suspected that there is a bigger plan,” Thavarasa noted while stressing that since childhood he had visited the old Hindu temple for religious prayers, but now it is gone.

According to an official catalogue published by Mullaithivu District Secretariat under the title of Ancient and Historical places in the district, four regions have been identified: Kurunthur Malai - an ancient place in a small natural rock/ Mountain, Kurunthanoor Hill, Kurunthanoor Steps, Kabok Stone Wall and Stone Pillars. A new surveyor plan was commissioned by the Archaeological department with officials appointed from its head office in Colombo.

When a group of Tamil Parliamentarians- Tamil National Alliance MP Selvam Adaikalanathan, 
MPs representing All Ceylon Tamil Congress Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and S. Kajendran tried to visit the site on January 21 last year (2021), they were prevented by military personnel deployed at the entrance, saying they have been instructed not to allow anyone inside the disputed site without prior approval.

Journalists were also barred from entering the site initially by military personnel. Mullaithivu Press Club, a collective of local journalists, condemned the incident.

Last year (2021), former State Minister for National Heritage, Performing Artists, and Rural Artists Promotion, Vidura Wickramanayaka, commenced the re-construction of the Buddhist shrine. 
Both State Minister Wickramanayaka and Director General of Department of Archaeology Prof. Anura Manatunga have rejected claims from locals on the existence of a Hindu temple on the site.

Locals claim to have witnessed personnel from the 59th Division- 519 Brigade of Sri Lanka Army directly engaged with the transport of building materials and organisation of the Minister's visit to the disputed site. 

A new path was created by clearing forest bushes to the site and respective military flags were erected on both sides of the ten feet wide path.

Mullaithivu district is one of the most militarised regions in the country with one soldier deployed for every two locals in the district, according to a research study carried out by Non- Governmental Organization - Adayaalam, based in the North.

"We were informed by the farmers about the sudden movements of the Army personnel to the site at midnight. We suspect the government, with the support of soldiers are trying to demolish archaeological objects that would lead to Hinduism instead” S. Kajendran, Jaffna district MP from Tamil National Peoples' Front said.

The Director General of Archeological Department categorically denied the accusations levelled by the MP and reiterated that his department do what is mandated to them under the Constitution.

In early 2018, a group of Buddhist monks visited the site along with the military personnel and erected a lord Buddha statue on the spot. The matter was referred to the Magistrate Court by civil society outfit, Tamil Cultural Forum based in Mullaitivu, challenging the violation of denying the right to worship. 

The Mullaithivu Magistrate Court’s verdict on the case (No-AR/673/18) instructed both the Archeological department and other authorities that the local farmers and devotees should be allowed to engage in religious activity on the site and worship their deities.

MP Kajendran noted that even government authorities failed to ensure the Court directive is upheld and implemented. The directive to allow local Hindus to engage in religious activities and the suspension of construction work until further notice was never enforced.

Parliamentarians were told that access was denied due to the Archaeological department’s excavation of objects for study. But locals have demanded the disclosure of which archaeological studies are to be carried out on the site, and it not be done secretly but with the participation of researchers attached to the University of Jaffna.

The contested archaeological site has a long history that dates back decades. In 1932, an extraordinary gazette notification was issued pursuant to a land survey carried out by the Surveyors Department following the request of the Archeological Department after archaeological objects were found in only 32 acres of land in Kurunthur malaikaadu.

With the intervention of the Archeological Department and police, the event was postponed until further notice. Three local youths were arrested by the police and later granted bail.
Protesters prevented the ceremony being held arguing that the Archeological department allowed new construction on the site despite the clear directives issued by the Mulliathivu Magistrate Court against such action.

 Last week, the Court directed police to submit a report on the construction of the site against its directives and the case was postponed to July 29 2022.

 “We will not accept illegal acquisition of our paddy lands by force to suit the agenda of the government. We are planning to file Fundamental Rights violation petition at the Supreme Court against this. Other than this, I don’t know what else we can do,” Thavarasa said.