Displaced people from Paanama appeal to the government to get back their lost lands
Sri Lanka’s Navy and Air Force seized 1,200 acres after the civil war in 2009, removing residents who were left without rights and livelihoods. “Former governments played with us for such a long time,” a leader of the Paanam Pattuwa Protection Organization told AsiaNews.
Paanama (AsiaNews) – People living in Paanama, eastern Sri Lanka, were forcibly removed during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, more than 15 years ago. They returned with the full right to do so but without legal recognition, and so are seeking government mediation to get their land back as soon as possible.
On the evening of 17 July 2009, after the end of the brutal civil war that had broken out in 1983, armed men attacked local settlements, set houses on fire, destroyed a temple in Ragamwela, and expelled the residents.
Later, the police and the military took control of the area, preventing residents from returning.
Right after their forced eviction, the residents founded the Paanam Pattuwa Protection Organization (PPPO) to regain their lands.
Their first concrete action was filing a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), which recommended that the seized land be returned to the residents. However, the Sri Lankan Navy and Air Force prevented residents from returning, and have occupied 1,200 acres of land for years.
The displaced found themselves homeless, forced to take refuge with relatives, and deprived of their livelihoods, since most were farmers and fishermen.
Several protests broke out against the land grab over the years and several legal actions have been undertaken. Eventually, in February 2015, the government decided to return the land to its rightful owners, but this was never done.
In March 2016, residents decided to take matters in their own hand and occupied their lands, building temporary huts and resuming farming.
“The current Regional Land Commissioner, who has come to Trincomalee is good. She enforces the law, so we trust that if we can discuss our land crisis with her, we will be able to solve it. To get the best solution, we must discuss it with the commissioner," said Somasiri Punchirala, leader of the Paanam Pattuwa Protection Organization (PPPO), speaking to AsiaNews.
“We have written evidence and need to have good discussion because we have already received the court order to obtain our lands. But former governments played with us for such a long period without concern for the court order. They misled us.”
“This new government might be thinking that the officials in government ministries or offices are following the rules and working properly. But it seems that we will have to go to court again to say that officials are going beyond the court's decision," the protest leader told media.
"Since the current government has promised to work against corruption and injustice in Sri Lanka, we request the government to get involved in this issue, properly inform themselves about the current situation, find out the truth, and support us by returning all the lands in Ragamwela, Shasthrawela, Ulla, and Horekanda villages,” she added.
Previous administrations talked about promoting ecotourism in Paanama and buy more land for this purpose. However, the residents were excluded from these plans, even though they were eager to contribute and grow their crops, as they were already doing on a small scale. For this reason, Somasiri insisted on the economic benefits of resettlement.
S Yasawathi, 70, and S Chandralatha, 69, are prominent figures in the fight to reclaim land. They spoke to AsiaNews about the situation.
“We travelled to Colombo, organised several protests, filed a lawsuit,” they explained, “but to date, we have not got back any of our land. Before we die, we need our own lands which were grabbed by governments.”
They also mentioned two relatives, Kusumawathi and Premawathi, now deceased, who fought hard for the cause but died without seeing a positive outcome.
"We condemn this unjust act by police and, military stealing our land,” other elders said. “We have lived here for 20 years and tended coconut and cashew nut trees, as well as vegetables our sole source of income. Former governments did not care about our lives; they only wanted to boost tourism."
The overtures from the new government raise some hope. “We trust the new administration,” but “we shall monitor how they plan to resolve this ongoing conflict,” Somasiri and others noted.
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19/10/2021 12:53
