47.30 Square Kilometres of robbed for Vavuniya South Sinhala Division after 2013: Accuses Ananthan, MP

After the end of the final war, 47.30 Sq.Kms. (4730 Ha.) were robbed in 2013, from all three Divisional Secretary Divisions of Vavuniya District to be attached to Vavuniya South Sinhala Divisional Secretary’s Division, said Vanni District Parliamentarian Sivasakthy Ananthan.

His accusation came during the meeting of District boundary re-demarcation Committee meeting held at the Vavuniya District Secretariat today (01.04.2016).

He further said that 19.40 Sq.Km. from Vavuniya DS area, 4.40 Sq.Km from Venkalacheddy DS Division and 23.6 Sq.Kms. from Vavuniya North DS Division, a total of 47.30 Sq.Kms  of land had been  grabbed and added to the Vavuniya South Sinhala DS Division raising the total area of that division to 235.90.

The Vavuniya South DS Division which was in extent about 9.6 % of the total land area of the District in 2009 had been raised to 11.99 by 2013.

Apart from this, large amounts of lands had been grabbed from Tamil areas of Vavuniya District for the use of the Army. The tap root of our struggle is for identifying that we are eligible for self-determination and sustain it.

We have already demanded that boundary demarcation should be done after a solution is found for the political problem of Tamil People of North and east. Land grabbings  have paved the way for increase in Transgressive settlements in the district. Large controversy had been created in Boundary Demarcation and demarking wards due Kokkachchankulam being changed into Kalabogaswewa and Manalaru into Weli Oya.

Weli Oya is operating as an un-official DS division with nine GS Divisions. In the last election for Vavuniya North Nedunkerny Pradeshiya Saba, 3 persons were elected on behalf of its 4 wards. Later they wanted to go separate and had adopted a resolution in the PS that they want to join with the Welioya Division. Now a part Sinhala residents are demanding that the 4 ward coming into Welioya be annexed to the Vavuniya South Sinhala Pradeshiya Saba.

A decision had been taken in today’s meeting that wards cannot be annexed if they do not have a land link. In accordance with this, a controversy has risen   as to where the ward boundaries of Welioya should be annexed? With Vavuniya ? or Mullaitheevu? or Anuradhapura? It was decided that the matter about the ward boundaries contained within Welioya could be negotiated at the Boundary demarcation Committee meeting for Mullaitheevu.

In a context where grabbing of the lands of Tamil and transgressive colonizations occurring before and after the war, the re-demarcation of boundaries will cause not only changes in ethnic proportion of the Tamils but also these activities could constitute attempts to separate North and East permanently.

It was insisted in this meeting that a permanent solution would be achieved only if the demarcation of boundaries is done after a permanent political solution, he said.