Nearly 13 Members of Parliament (MPs) representing the Tamil-speaking people held a protest in front of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo Thursday (24) morning (24), demanding an audience with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to raise issues about land grabbing occurring in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Today, 13 MPs TELO,ITAK,TNPF and TMTK are holding a protest in front of the Presidential Secretariat. We heard from our sources that the President is due to be at the Secretariat today. We have raised our land-related issues in Parliament on a number of occasions and have held protests in a number of places. However, this issue still has not been resolved.
“I told the official that we’re not a trade union or association. There are 13 MPs here who were elected by the people, with over 1.5 million votes between us all. The president and the secretaries must remember that we represent 1.5 million people,” said Rasamanickam.
In a statement issued Wednesday morning, the president’s media division said an appointment had been given to the Tamil MPs who had, instead of meeting him, had held a protest outside the president’s office.
He explained that the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority is distributing traditional cattle grazing land in the Eastern Province and that farmers from traditional farmlands are being evicted by the Forest Department. “Recently, we saw a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Government MP taking some rocks belonging to the Archaeology Department from the North and the East. In the name of archaeology, even Hindu shrines have been removed and thrown away,” he added.
Rasamanickam said that yesterday, an official at the Presidential Secretariat had advised them to hand over a letter with their grievances but that a meeting with the President could only be given at a later date.
“We are not trade unions (TUs) or a village committee. We are MPs elected by the people. If you count the total votes that the 13 of us have obtained, it comes up to about 1.5 million votes. The President should remember that we are the people’s leaders of nearly 1.5 million people,” noted Rasamanickam.
Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani Leader and MP C.V. Wigneswaran, who was also present at the protest, said that in recent times, a “lie is being spread that traditional Sinhala Buddhist lands have been taken by Tamils.”
“You kicked our Tamil people out in 1958 and 1983,” added Wigneswaran.
“We have repeatedly informed parliament and held protests in the north and east about this problem. No solutions have been provided. In fact, the problem has actually worsened,” he said.
The MP claimed that the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has been unlawfully distributing land held by the people of the north and east. The Mahawelia Authority has distributed acres of land that people in the Eastern province have used for cattle grazing.
“People have suddenly been asked to evict lands where they had been growing cowpea, green grams at small scale for 50, 60 years, with the claim that it’s land belonging to the Forest Department,” he said.