Photo courtesy of Tamil Guardian
Although the civil war ended 16 years ago, Sri Lanka’s land conflicts continue with state agencies appropriating land used and owned by Tamil and Muslim communities in the north and east in the name of heritage protection. Hindu temples are turned into Buddhist sites while families who have farmed on their land for generations are losing out to new settlers.
Thaiyatty, located about 25 kilometres from Jaffna city near the Kankesanthurai port, is a village with 380 families. It remained a high security zone until 2016 and has an Army camp. The original settlers alleged that during the reconstruction of the Tissa Buddhist temple, the military forcibly acquired a larger area than the temple itself. The people continue to fight for the liberation of their land and protest in front of the temple every poya day. Despite court injunctions against the demonstrations, the protesters remain relentless.
“We, who were displaced in 1990 due to the war, have been living in rented houses for 34 years. Even though we have deeds written on August 8, 1989 the military has occupied my land inside the Tissa Viharaya. All the land there is private. We are asking for our land to be returned to us. There is a Hindu temple in front of my land. The road leading to that temple is also blocked. My request is that this road be reopened as well,” said Apputhurai Suresh Kumar, a public health inspector, who shared his story on three decades of displacement.
“It is true that there was a Buddhist temple and we have coexisted with it. However, when we returned in 2017, the temple was not built on its original land but instead our lands were taken. We opposed this. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to come here as it was designated a high security zone. Meanwhile, the temple was expanded and reconstructed. We have freehold deeds and these lands have been home to our ancestors for over 100 years.” said I.R.A. Ravindran, an original resident of Thaiyatty.
Pathmanathan Sarujan, who was displaced in 1990, returned to his birthplace, Thaiyatty, after the land was released in 2017. He said that approximately 1,500 perches of land were already under the control of the military.
“In 2018, the head monk of Nagadeepa Buddhist Temple arrived, measured more than 200 perches of land where the temple had previously stood and prepared deeds. A Buddhist temple was constructed on the monk’s land, laying the foundation stone in 2019. On January 31, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the temple was built on more than 1,000 perches of our land, which belongs to 14 families. The Divisional Secretary ruled that this action was unlawful and wrote to the president in July 2022. Although the Presidential Secretariat confirmed that building the temple was illegal, the army continued construction without halting the project,” he said.
The residents of Thaiyatty who lost their lands said that the Thelippalai Divisional Secretary did not grant approval for the construction of the temple.
According to Chapter 20 of the Mahavamsa after embracing Buddhism, King Devanampriya Tissa built the Dambakola Temple, the Tissa Maha Temple and the Pavinaramaya. In line with this historical account, the renovated stupa of the Tissa Temple was installed on April 27, 2023.
In 1926, historian C. Rasanayagam also referenced the Tissa Viharaya in his historical research. “The place called Tissa Maluwa, located about a hundred yards opposite the Kandaswamy temple, may perhaps mark the site of the Tissa Maha Viharaya. The ancient broad road from Jambukola to the Tissa Maha Viharaya still exists, but serves no useful purpose.”(Ancient Jaffna : Being a research into the history of Jaffna, from very early times to the Portuguese period).
“When we go to court, we cannot speak about our problem anywhere. We have experience with cases in Vedikkanari, Mullaitivu and Kurundimalai. Here they did not even act in accordance with the president’s letter. But when government officials and monks talk to us, even if what we say is right, it gets changed in public. The government should intervene and remove this temple. We are not going to demolish it,” said Sukumari Sarujan.
“Without an amendment to the constitution, we cannot find a solution through litigation as it is,” said Ravindran, pointing out that their faith in the law has been damaged. “The law is implemented one way for Tamils and another way for Sinhalese.”
The NPP made an election promise to release the lands owned by the Tamil people in the Northern and Eastern provinces that were occupied by government troops. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Secretary of Defense Ministry Sampath Thuyacontha have also reiterated this several times.
“I spoke to a group of people from Jaffna about the Buddhist temples in the north. They said that the temples had been there for about a hundred years. The Army did not have such a large amount of land before. That is why they are asking for their lands to be given back to them. I said this time, we will be honest about this,” said the Minister of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Hiniduma Sunil Senevi, who met with the settlers and promised to resolve the land issue.