Buddhist monk-led Sinhala mobs threaten to burn alive religious leaders

Siva Parameswaran 

A multi-religious team along with cattle farmers were issued death threat and detained for over three hours by Sinhala mobs in Batticaloa district on Tuesday (22) Tamil National People’s Front leader and Jaffna district MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam has tweeted.

The team was visiting the Tamil village of Mylathamadu in Batticaloa district, to look into the alleged illegal encroachments by Sinhala people from the adjoining district of Polonnaruwa.

“A mob of 150 men armed with swords surrounded the multi-religious team. A Priest has been assaulted and the rest held as a hostage for over 3 hours” he tweeted.

The incident happened at the Mylathamadu bridge army point.

In his tweet, he said although he had informed the secretary to the President, the top cop of the nation the Inspector General did not respond to his calls.

“The Secretary to the President informed me that he has informed the army commanded and the Minister for Public Safety to look into the matter,” his tweet says.

Apart from being assaulted and threatened with dangerous weapons, the Sinhala mobs also took away the keys of the two vehicles in which the multi-religious team travelled there.

However, the keys to the vehicles were returned back later after recording the statements of three members of the clergy who were part of the team.

In a series of tweets on the incident, he said “The OIC of the Karadiyanaru Police along with two officers went to the site and talked to the mob. No signs of the mob dispersing”.

The team part of the Batticaloa multi-religious forum comprised two Rev. Fathers, one Hindu Priest, and a Muslim Moulavi. Two journalists were also part of the delegation.

They went there on an invitation from the cattle farmers to discuss the issues faced by them said Rev. Fr. Jegathas who was part of the team.

“When we were returning a bhikku along with those Sinhalese people who were forcefully and illegally resettled there blocked our vehicles. The bhikku forcefully not only took away the keys from us but also threatened us saying we would be burnt inside the vehicles. He also spoke in abusive words that we are acting at the behest of the diaspora taking money from them.”

He further said the bhikku recorded a video standing in front of them stating the team had come there to create trouble for them with the money from abroad to create trouble in Sri Lanka and stopped them from leaving the place.

“Subsequently, the local Sinhala villagers to gathered around and forced journalists to delete all the pictures and recordings, and forced us to write and sign on a white paper that we won’t inform or speak to anyone about the incident and detained us and intimidated for over three hours. The Karadiyanaru police came after we were detained. Once they arrived the Buddhist monk told them, we are agents of the MP Shanakkiyan and we are there to gather information for him”.

Rev.Fr. Jegathas added the atrocities of the monk were of the highest order whose intimidation was petrifying.

“The Hindu priest was held by his tuft and about to be assaulted when someone intervened and stopped it. We were almost kept as hostages. The police instead of handling the issue properly were acting according to what was told by the mob. The cameras of the journalists were seized and all recordings were deleted”.

The Mylathamadu-Mathavanai area situated on the left bank of the Mahaweli has vast grazing lands where 100 acres were allotted to the Tamil villagers to take their cattle to graze. However, illegal colonization and forced occupation by Sinhala people from nearby has been going on for years-a fact which was admitted in the court of appeal by the Attorney General’s office on the 7th of March 2022. 

A writ petition was filed by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP’s Shanakkiyan Rajaputhiran and Govindan Karunakaram after the Mahaweli development authority decided to hand over the 100 acres of land earmarked for grazing cattle to private parties for maize cultivation. Another TNA MP and senior attorney M.A.Sumantharn had argued in this case that illegal resettlement and forced colonization are happening in the allocated grazing lands. The Additional Solicitor General submitted that action was being taken to evict those who were resettled illegally.

Cattle farmers in the area say, their only source of livelihood is through selling dairy products, milk in particular, and with the forced takeover of the grazing lands allocated to them, their livelihood has been jeopardised. 

Selvakumar Nilanthan a freelance journalist who went along with the team says media oppression is continuing unabated and he is so scared to venture out for coverage.

“I am terribly traumatized. I was told straight away if the videos or photos taken by me is released then I would be killed. I was shocked when the Sinhala thugs held the Hindu priest by his tuft. It was very humiliating and he was a direct assault on his culture and traditions. This has affected me mentally very much. When I was told the consequences would be serious, then it’s clearly something is very seriously wrong there”.

Locals say the Buddhist monk and the mob who attacked the team are from the nearby Amparai district and such threats are happening regularly.

Cattle farmers say the economy of Batticaloa district depends on the dairy industry. Seenitambi Thiyagaraja, President of the Mylathamadu-Mathavanai Cattle farmers association says close to 2000 cattle farmers live in the area and they are dependent on the 100-acre land granted by the government for grazing their cattle.

“The economy of the district depends on cattle farming. Sinhala people hold on to 10-15 acres of land and starve the cattle and threaten us. Mahaweli Development Authority remains silent as the grasslands and the forest areas where the cattle graze is set on fire. The Wildlife authorities say they won’t permit us to have a piece of iron and threaten to arrest us if so. But the Sinhala people are allowed to come with weapons and attack us and none are arrested. Many courts including the Batticaloa and Valaichenai have permitted cattle rearing here. So where do we go and what do we do if we can’t take our cattle for grazing in the lands allotted by the government?”

TNPF and the TNA has vowed to take the issue of the multi-religious team held captive and intimidated including death threats would be raised at all platforms including the Parliament.