வெள்ளி, 24 பிப்ரவரி, 2017

LRC Director narrowly escapes assassination, land disputes in Batticaloa take violent turn

LRC Director narrowly escapes assassination, land disputes in Batticaloa take violent turn

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2017, 23:50 GMT]
Batticaloa District Director of Land Reforms Commission (LRC), Wimalarj Nesakumar, a Tamil from Ka'luthaava'lai, was shot and seriously injured by two unidentified men around 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Mr Wimalaraj, who emerged from his residence as unknown men wearing helmets called him by name, was shot at least three times. The attackers intended to kill him, his family told the SL Police. The LRC Director has sustained three gunshot wounds. The terrible incident has taken place at a time when the LRC Director was involved in exposing the nature of land grab in the ‘public lands’ in Ea'raavoor, according to informed civil sources. Some sections were quick to blame Muslims due to the nature of land grab at Eea'raavoor, while others say there could be deeper ‘counter insurgency’ motives behind the timing of the violent act.

A section of Muslim settlers, having political connections with Colombo regime, have been engaged in seizing the lands in 1,500 acres of lands that come under the monitoring of LRC Director.

A Buddhist Vihara has also been erected in the disputed area, which is situated 15 km north of Batticaloa city.

The incident has also taken place at a time when Muslims from different corners of the island have been expressing their solidarity with Tamils in Mullaiththeevu who are staging a continuous struggle against SL military occupation of their lands at Keappaa-pulavu and the struggle gaining momentum across North-East.

Mr Nesakumar was appointed as LRC Deputy Director during the regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa. The current political establishment in Colombo has been also considering to appoint a Sinhala or Muslim person as LRC Deputy Director in charge of the affairs over the ‘State lands’ in the district.

The seriously injured LRC Director was rushed to Ka'luvaangchik-kudi hospital and was quickly transferred to Intensive Care Unit at the Batticaloa Hospital.

Mr Nesakumar's residence is located 15 km south of Batticaloa city on Somasundaram Veethi at Ka'luthaava'lai, which is a Tamil village.

Tamil activists in Batticaloa, citing the 2015 assassination of Social Service Officer S. Mathisayan, questioned the ability of the SL Police or the justice system in bringing out the real motive and the culprits behind such crimes related to land and infrastructure disputes in the district.

* * *

The Land Reforms Commission was introduced in 1972 to appropriate lands from landowners who had more than 50 acres of agricultural lands in their possession.

While the stated intention was to redistribute lands to land less people, the State appropriation of lands in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils continued to be colonial in nature and genocidal in practice.

The Colombo-centric approach was to change the demography of the occupied country of Eezham Tamils.

Although there were certain land related provisions introduced in the 13th Amendment, under which the Provincial Councils were established, the right over ‘State land’ continues to be vested with the president of ‘Sri Lanka’ and the provincial councils in the North and East have no means of exercising full control over the land affairs.

In the meantime, geo-politically oriented manoeuvrings of external actors have also been upholding the Colombo-centric outlook of the unitary system.

The collaborating sections being promoted by these external actors are talking about a ‘non-descript’ approach deceiving the masses of all sections and are engaged in creatively facilitating a further consolidated Constitution maintaining the genocidal character of the SL State.

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