“There are more than 500 families of the majority community who have set up houses and are cultivating paddy in areas that were previously occupied by Tamils before the war intensified,” said Packiyaselvam Ariyanethiran, a member of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK). “I wrote to the President over this issue on September 16 requesting a probe and a peaceful solution.”

In response to Ariyanethiran’s letter, the President had written back to the Government Agents (GAs) in Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticaloa requesting information pertaining to the complaint, as well as plausible solutions.

“The President in response to my letter had written to the GAs on October 26 asking for a thorough report on the situation. I believe the GAs are yet to make their official statement on the matter. However, once the holidays are over, I wish to meet them and inquire of what they plan to do,” he added.

Ariyanethiran cited that even those people, who were displaced in Puttalam, also are unable to return to their original residences due to such unlawful occupation. He added that the encroachment began swiftly, but has reached a point where there is a sizeable population who were not there before.

In a motion tabled in Parliament during the last week of October, TNA Leader R. Sambandan, also highlighted that, “Such unlawful occupation of state land by members of the majority community acting with total impunity has been a continuous process with no action taken by the government.”

The motion goes on to state that, “Strenuous effort is being made by the members of the majority community to evict members of the minority community from lands unlawfully occupied by them.”

“That members of the minority Tamil community comprising of 1,486 families lawfully owning residential property and plantation land within the Grama Sevaka Divisions of Sampur East, Sampur West, Koonutheevu, Navaratnepuram, Soodaikuda, Kakathkaraichanan and Sampurkali have been unable to return because the said places have been declared High Security Zones. All temples and schools that existed in the areas have been demolished as well,” Sampanthan added.

He alleged that such unlawful occupation has spread to parts of the Eastern Province as well and that appropriate action was necessary to resettle these people who were already displaced by the war.