Northern Sri Lanka Facing "Structural Erasure": Concerns Grow Over State-Led Land Grabs
(Tamil) தமிழில் படிக்க Northern Sri Lanka Facing "Structural Erasure": Concerns Grow Over State-Led Land Grabs KILINOCHCHI — The Northern and Eastern provinces are currently witnessing what local activists and political representatives describe as a sophisticated "structural erasure" of Tamil identity through systematic land acquisitions and Sinhalization. Recent parliamentary sessions, spearheaded by representatives like Dr. Ramanathan Archuna , have brought these issues to a boiling point. The focus remains on the Forest Department's aggressive gazetting of lands in Kilinochchi and Vavuniya, which has reportedly blocked over 300 Tamil families from returning to their ancestral homes in areas like Chettikulam. Key Drivers of Current Land Dispossession The following mechanisms have been identified as primary tools for altering the demographic and cultural landscape: ● Forestry Gazettes: Under the guise of conservation, thousands of acres of hist...