MP and Tamil protesters in Thaiyiddy were arrested while they protest against the illegally constructed buddhist temple on private lands confiscated from Tamilse

-International Council of Eelam Tamils-

The Sri Lankan government continues to use violence even in peaceful protests.

Democratically elected MP Selvarajah Kajendren and civil activists were arrested by the Sri Lanka police. They protested against the illegal construction of a Buddhist temple in Thaiyiddy, Jaffna, on lands owned by Tamils.

Selvarajah Kajendren and the activists were demanding the immediate removal of the Buddhist temple which was built illegally on occupied 12 acres of private lands owned by local Tamil farmers.

Ranil Wickramasinga government on one side talks reconciliation and on the other side committing genocide by driving Tamil people out of their own lands. Sinhalese settlements are being carried out In the north on the original lands of the Tamil people that have been confiscated by various government departments.

Any land confiscated by the Mahavali Development Authority is allocated for Sinhalese settlements within the traditional homeland of the Tamils. It has already been officially notified to the divisional secretariats that Tunukai and Mantai East Divisional Divisions of Mullaitivu District and Manthi West Divisional Division of Mannar District have already been absorbed into Mahavali Development Authority’s ‘J’ zone. The Government of Sri Lanka is continuing its policy of Tamil Genocide by driving Tamils out of their own lands.

We urge all the Tamil people to come together and stop the land grab. Only united people ask to exert their power to stop the Tamil Genocide and safeguard our ancestral lands.

We strongly condemn the arrest of MP Gajendran Selvarajah, lawyer Sukas Kanagaratnam and the protesters who are protesting the illegal land grab and Buddhistization of Tamil homeland.