Victims of brutal LTTE atrocities...:

Evicted Sinhala families resettled in North

By Dhaneshi Yatawara

Ranathunga ran a rice mill in the heart of Murunkan until he left the town on December 24, 1984 when the LTTE abducted and tortured him. His National Identity Card says Ranathunga Mudiyanselage Gunapala and villagers called him Ranathunga. “Murunkan is where I was born and for generations we lived in the town,” Ranathunga said remembering the painful memories of his wonderful youth.

The rice mill I was running was on a lease from a Muslim friend where workers from all three communities worked together,” Ranathunga said. During the terror time, a Tamil boy working in Ranathunga’s rice mill was killed by the LTTE in the Nannattan area of Mannar accusing him for working and associating with Sinhala people.

“The LTTE threatened Sinhala families and distributed letters threatening us to evacuate our homes, lands and businesses. Hitiyoth Maranawa kiwuwa (They said if we stay we will be killed), Ranathunga said. One night Ranathunga was abducted and beaten by the LTTE as he was one of the adamant to stay in their ancestral land. “I still remember who did it. Some I know personally, and some are living in Murunkan and leading an ordinary life” he said.

“Receiving a tip-off three police officers came towards our house. As the LTTE was beating me and taking me away they couldn’t do anything and just watched. I knew the police officers. I held my hands up while the terrorists were taking me. The terrorists tried to tie me to the bus stop on the road. They broke in to a shop and finding no rope there, they raided a house and found a rope. They made me kneel and started verbally abusing me. “They asked me what we called the LTTE and I said ‘koti’ (Tigers),” said Ranathunga. The terrorists had started torturing him and young Ranathunga fought back and managed to escape. “I fled to the woods and hid there for 21 days. Those who provided food and water for me were a Tamil family. Then I escaped to Medawachchiya,” Ranathunga said.

Paddy harvest being collected in Murunkan A playground in Murunkan on a Sunday evening

“There were a large number of Sinhala people living in Murunkan. My entire family was born and bred in Murunkan. Also my wife’s family. Some families living in the Madhu area were murdered by the LTTE in their own houses. We simply couldn’t live there. We could not walk on the roads at night, if we did we were killed. Then with the help of the Army we went towards Medawachchiya and Anuradhapura,” he said. He said even in those areas where they fled leaving their ancestral lands they could not lead a comfortable life. In the areas they settled down away from Murunkan, they were given a ten perch land and the people had to look for daily jobs.

“We didn’t have lands to cultivate though we were farmers,” he said.

The Army liberated the lands for us. They made our ancestral lands free from terrorism. We came to Murunkan in September 2010, rented a house and 16 families, lived in the house until we cleared the disputes over the lands, he said.

They had no proper food or water and no income. “It was the Sri Lanka Army who noticed us and provided us with food, water and medicine and helped us,” Ranathunga said with gratitude.

Today the Sinhala resettled people live in a land for which they fought for many months, amid much inconvenience and without basic facilities. The number of families increased to 52 from 16. “The road to the village was done by the Economic Development Ministry and with government funds a community hall, toilets and two wells are under construction. It is the Army who helped us to build them,” said Ranathunga who now leads the Village Civilian Committee.

“Without a proper place to live how can we bring up our children?” questions Ranathunga. As he explained some people managed to find their paddy fields but some could not.

Samaraweera Arachchige Amarasinghe is another person who lived in Murunkan and today he has returned looking for his ancestral lands. “If we stayed we would have been killed. That was their (LTTE’s) only controlling method,” he said.

They remembered five Sinhala families in Adampan being killed by the LTTE. “Some families lost their members as the LTTE killed them. As we left in haste some had to come back for their household items and many were killed in the process,” Amarasinghe said.

“The elderly people who live in Murunkan now know us. They ask the young people to be with us as we were also people living there for generations. These people belong to our parents’ era,” Amarasinghe said.

The people believe as their parents, grandparents and great grandparents lived on these lands the future generation too must live there. “We missed our homeland but at least our future generation must not be helpless like us,” they said. The Sri Lanka Army, assisting the government development program in the resettling villages, is conducting programs on infrastructure development, healthcare, religious and cultural activities among these communities.

To keep the villagers safe Village Citizen Committees have been set up in the resettling areas. The VCC members meet once a week and have discussions with civilians, Police and the Army.

“Although many think that in these areas mainly the Tamil community was affected there are native Sinhala communities too who have been affected, said Competent Authority for Resettlement in the North Major General Boniface Perera.

“They also were displaced. We have to care for them too, not only those living in welfare centres as Internally Displaced Persons,” he said. There are nearly 6000 Sinhala people now resettling in their original lands. Through the housing scheme funded by the Indian Government, 50 houses will be given to the Bogaswewa village of the Sinhala community in the Vanni region, Maj. Gen. Perera said. “And we are trying to find some donors to build the rest of the houses. The resettled communities are poor people and can be easily influenced by the wrong parties. But they are innocent and need our help at this moment,” he said.