| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
I write in response to the Sri Lanka
Guardian article ‘Returning IDPs in Kokulai, Mullaitivu,
being robbed of land’ by Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole.
( November 27, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka
Guardian) It upset me very much to read that the land of farmers in Mullaitivu
were being robbed of their land – farming land. I know through
farmers in my Kiliniochchi family and through farmers in Thunaivi area – how
dear their farming land is to them and how farm work takes precedence over all
else. Professor Hoole writes about farmland taken over by the Government ‘Nonetheless,
dismal levels of abject poverty – driven by caste, marginalisation and war –
are characteristic of Menik Farm returnees to the Vanni. Water is scarce due to
deteriorated culverts and polluted wells. Their tools are lost or rusted. But
poverty is the hardest to bear. Yet, the thrill of being home kept them going.
That is, till early February 2012, when
Namal Rajapaksa paid a pop-visit to the returned villagers of Kokulai. The
belief that he was coming to assist them with their most urgent needs increased
the excitement in the air. Peter and his friends perked up with hope. A new
dawn indeed, it seemed. As they expected, Namal spoke to the people with a
sense of great gravity, pity, and commiseration. He toured the lands of
Kokulai, as they believed, to better understand their sorrows. He left that day
with promises, raising much expectation in Peter and the poor returnees.
Whether Namal’s intentions were later
led astray, or they had never been honourable in the first place, is difficult
to know. Nonetheless, the next day the local AGA received a call from his office
informing him that 20 acres of land, belonging to around 30 families, would be
given to an East Asian company for the extraction of ilmenite. Before the
families themselves knew of the transaction, strangers arrived and started
setting up walls and fences around their property! Peter told me of the
surprise that filled the villagers when strangers took over their land.
Concerned, they approached the AGA with their deeds in hand. Now these are not
government permits which can be revoked by the government; what they possess
are deeds proving their ownership to this property for generations, yet the AGA
claimed his hands were tied. How was he to stand up to the forces arrayed
against these families? After the experience of the chief justice, would there
be any judge who could be trusted to hear pleas on this dispute in a fearless
manner?’
I could feel the pain that these farmers
would have felt when their lands were taken over for lesser purpose than
farming. Vanni was the strength of the Tamil Tigers due to Tamil farmers in
that area and their real sense of belonging. To the extent Tamil Tigers ‘ruled’
by demoting these farmers – they lost that real power of the Land. Neither legal
title nor occupation for other purposes would be able to balance this real
power of the land and the feeling of natural freedom it generates. I have felt
it in Kilinochchi; I have felt it in Arali and I have felt it in Thunaivi –
through folks whose income as per my knowledge is in the lowest
range in Sri Lanka. It’s their ‘Karma-Bhoomi’ (Karma=work; Bhoomi=Earth).
Mullaitheevu area to me is sacred due
also to Vattrapalai Kannaki Amman temple. Kannaki Amman burnt down the city of
Mathurai because the king made a wrong judgment and killed Kannaki’s husband.
I believe that anyone who prays to Kannaki Amman with belief would have the
power to contribute to annihilation of Injustice. Kannaki Amman is revered
and/or feared by even Indian Tamil politicians. Kannaki Amman
is worshipped as Goddess Pathini by Sinhala Buddhists. Manimekalai –
the step daughter of Kannaki who became a Buddhist nun – is believed
to have come to Sri Lanka’s North – Naina Theevu – where Manimekalai is
believed to have obtained the Amutha Suraby – the vessel that is always
filled with food. All these forces would naturally unite to punish those
who are unjust to believers of Kannaki Amman in Mullaiteevu. Hence any act that
would damage the feelings of these Children of Mullaitheevu – would naturally
result in accumulation of punishment for injustice for the
perpetrators. How and when that would surface – we do not know. But surface It
will – in Its own time at places where rulers unjustly kill honorable civilians
– as both the Sri Lankan Government as well as the LTTE did in Vanni. Hence
the President’s son, if he influenced the above occupation, might
want to make amends before it is too late for himself and his
family. Ultimately it is not the votes that count. What counts is
the feeling through which others connect to them. The outer forms of government
are temporary. As Jesus said only the Kingdom of Heaven is the real and
everlasting Kingdom.
