The STF removed those houses to set up a training camp – Ashoka Dayani

Our village used to be called the village of fifty fifty. Both Tamils and Sinhalese were together. It was the height of the war. The STF shot at our village thinking it was a Tamil village. Our sister’s house was on fire. They had thrown a bomb at my sister’s husband and fortunately it had not gone off. Then they had seen a Buddha statue in the house and realised that this is a Sinhala village. The police made my elder brother disappear after they got to know that he was married to a Tamil lady. 

Due to  the war, we were trapped in the village . Trees were overgrown and boundaries of homesteads disappeared. Our land was near the navy base. We did not cultivate these lands after 1989. After the war ended in 2009, we returned to these lands. It was then that the Navy had put up a board saying ‘This land is owned by the Navy. Entry is prohibited’. At that time there were ‘white vans’. People disappeared. So people were afraid to start any struggle.

The village officer – Gramasewaka – said that nothing will happen to our lands. All our family members had licenses. There are 64 people who have land licenses. There are 350 people who do not have licenses. There are those who have annual passes. Some people’s licenses have been burnt. Some of them are not issued a license  by the Gramasewaka. Only our family has about 20 acres of land with licenses. We were promised that the camp would be built behind our lands. We went to the Divisional Secretariat, and the officials said nothing will happen to our lands. However,  little by little construction was carried out and finally the camp was completely built.

Some were able to go to their lands after the war. Even during the war, they went to the land and cultivated it. Later, the army beat them, set their houses on fire and broke down the temple and set it on fire. 

STF took the licensed land for their camp. Then a village was built by the Thawalama Foundation which put up  about 70 houses. The STF removed those houses to set up a training camp. Those who did not leave were forcibly removed. These people then secretly went to their lands. We started the protest. Politicians came and asked us to leave, but we did not leave. The group from Thawalama village was also with us. We protested and stayed there for three months.

Air Force, Navy, STF, all of them are occupying people’s lands. On February 15, 2015, the cabinet issued a decision to release the land. Nothing happened yet.

Other people here know there is a problem here. They do not care about it because they haven’t faced it yet. The day the problem touches their lives, they will know why we protested.

Ashoka Dayani 
Panama