It's difficult not to forget the frightening bullet-scarred board that marked the entrance to the north and east town of Sri Lanka while walking. Old photographs are a grim reminder of the turbulence from ethnic and racial differences. The memories are still so vivid for any who witnessed it all. Freshly painted boards in bright red and yellow with the words written saying "Tamil Eelam '' continue to bring back many haunting memories for the civilians under the ruthless clutches of the LTTE. Countless used artillery shells painted in bright red and yellow would be planted neatly on the soil to indicate their boundaries. Onto the horizons were their traditional flags waving and on the streets, the militants would be spotted patrolling and claiming their territory until the pathway they had assumed to have control. However, when we look at the newly built gleaming bridges, roads, schools, and hospitals we can see the Truth. Many allegations of many International forms and active LTTE diasporas groups are pinned against the Government and forces of Sri Lanka ranging from land grabs and intimidation and militarization coupled with a culture of impunity and Genocide. Why don't we take a look at the real story?
In Sri Lanka, the land was a historical factor in the ethnic conflict that intensified and resulted in the outbreak of a war that spanned over three decades. The State faced many land and development-related issues, violence against particular communities that resulted in the abandonment of properties, and the establishment of ad hoc security restrictions in areas all contributed to the increasing tensions that ultimately led to the outbreak of war in Sri Lanka. To Many Sri Lankans, their land is a fundamental element that defines their life and the basic right of ownership including the location of and the extent of land owned indicates a person’s wealth and social status. Moreover, it is also deeply embedded with an emotional connection. Secured land rights imply economic security and provide surety for loans and thereby facilitating income generation and improving livelihoods. During the conflict, violence was used to establish control over territory by the various armed actors. At the community level, the violence led to significant changes as entire communities were forced into displacement and/or lost access to their land. Massacres, individual killings, destruction of property, riots, and intimidation all impacted land use and control as well as relations between communities. During the war, many areas saw an ‘exchange’ in populations as particular communities fled vulnerable areas and instead moved to areas that were dominated by their respective community, or even fled to other Provinces.
Over the course of the war, the land problem was exacerbated by increased displacement of entire communities from their land, and forcible occupation of land belonging to the LTTE, which was arbitrarily seized belonging to Muslims and Tamils by the LTTE in the North and East. The Land is still a highly contentious issue in the Northern and Eastern Province. As noted earlier there are multiple factors that have contributed to it being such a highly politicized and ethnicized issue. There were multiple badgering claims by the diaspora communities residing in many other countries that the Sri Lankan government was involved in land grabbing and conducting active militarization. A series of developments took place with regard to land in the East and north post-war by the government. The war complicated and exacerbated existing land issues and even created new problems on the ground, which has made addressing land issues in the post-war context a highly challenging process. After 30 years of war, many people are unable to prove their ownership because they have lost the documents because the documents were damaged or destroyed by the war events or they have fled the area and new people have encroached. In some cases, the restrictions could be due to the presence of mines, but there was also speculation that it could be due to the military’s continuing security concerns.
During the war, the LTTE brutally enforced many restrictions on particular areas which have made it difficult for communities to access the sources of their livelihoods, such as paddy, grazing (for cattle) land, fishing waters (maritime and inland), and other in- come generation activities such as collecting firewood. In the months following the military liberation and the end of the war, a number of restrictions that impacted the lives and livelihoods of families have been relaxed, which rapidly increased the post-war economic recovery process of families and communities. It needs to be noted that many of these disputes are not “new” but they are affected by the dynamics of a post-war situation. A post-war context is most often identified with the return of displaced people and the re-establishment of land control by owners and users. However, the perceptions and suspicions on the one hand, and on the other, the changes on the ground during the conflict relating to the individual land plots as well as the space to reclaim land provided by the post-war context, create a heady cocktail for more intensifying land disputes. The intensification of violence, in particular ground operations and bombardment, resulted in mass displacement of entire areas, especially areas that were controlled by the LTTE. In the wake of the military liberation, mass resettlement of new IDPs and the opening up of areas to civilians allowed both new and old IDPs, and others who lost access to their lands over the course of the conflict, to secure access. With the end of the war, the expectation on the ground was that these problems would dramatically diminish as part of a larger post-war recovery. Demilitarization, amelioration of ethnic tensions, and the restoration of administrative and judicial processes are generally assumed to play a key role in the post-war context to bring about normalcy, including efforts to restore access to land.
In instances where land has been released, there are continuing problems for returnees. The lack of adequate resettlement assistance has been a critical challenge. For war-affected internally displaced persons the state generally offers a package that includes a resettlement allowance, cooked food, and cash for land clearance. Other assistance such as permanent housing and livelihood aid depends on specific criteria set out by the state, humanitarian agencies, or donors. The reality we must accept is that by the time the UK, the EU, and Canada had decided to take seriously the threat posed by the LTTE and proscribed the group, the LTTE’s propaganda and fundraising activities had already shifted its operations and coordination activities to various front organizations. The mushrooming of such front organizations, in the post-proscription phase, in particular, has enabled the LTTE to carry out its fundraising and propaganda taking cover under pseudo-religious, cultural, sports, and humanitarian associations. The LTTE runs a highly sophisticated and intricate international web, coordinated under direct supervision. It encompasses the whole gamut of activities ranging from seemingly innocuous pursuits, such as the promotion of Tamil culture to raising funds ostensibly to support charities and humanitarian relief in Sri Lanka, and has cleverly exploited modern technology to finance its terror campaign.
Thus the good deeds made by the Sri Lankan Triforces and Government have been severely undermined due to the widespread false allegations made by the diasporas and certain well-known political figures criticizing the security forces of Sri Lanka for militarization and land grabbing. More than two decades of conflict, the tsunami, destruction of documentation, and continuous displacement have led to complications pertaining to the status of land in the Eastern and Northern Province. Sri Lanka also witnessed a large-scale displacement and evictions as a result of the civil war which crippled Sri Lanka for three decades. Communities’ demands to return their land which was lost due to the harsh and ruthless bombings of the LTTE, the loss of important documents or lands that were forcibly taken away by the LTTE have created many challenges for the government of Sri Lanka to effectively and efficiently move on with the reconciliation.
References
M B Ranathilaka, “Nexus
Between Land And Ethnic Conflict In Sri Lanka- Real Or Imaginary”, (2014),
Sri Lanka Journal of Economic Research.
Pubudini Wickramaratne, “Securing Land Rights Of Displaced And Evicted Communities In Northern And Eastern Sri Lanka”, (2020) Oxfam Research Reports.
