Unable to access our lands, say Tamils in Jaffna village

Govt. has declared our ancestral lands as wildlife reserve areas, say farmers

In Chundikulam village, located on the eastern tip of Jaffna Peninsula, farmers are facing a peculiar challenge.

They are unable to access their lands in which they have recently sowed vegetables. “Border stones of the Department of Wildlife Conservation have sprouted on our plots,” said S. Arunthavaraja, a resident, pointing to a dull grey stone with the letters ‘DWC’ painted on it. “Once a stone like this is put on our lands, we have been told not to enter the area, as it is part of the government’s conservation effort,” he said.

His problem is yet another reflection of a widespread concern in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority north and east. On the one hand, successive governments in power during Sri Lanka’s post-war decade show records of returning people’s lands until now held by the military. On the other, scores of families, who have returned to their villages following years of war-time displacement, have been highlighting other, more recent “threats” to their land, mostly from the government’s archaeology and forest departments. Last year, farmers in the Eastern Province filed at least a dozen cases challenging authorities to reclaim their lands that they once cultivated or used as grazing patches for their cattle.