Targowiska Tribune

Tamil land held by Sri Lankan security forces to be released for tourism development by Anishkaa Wed, 15/10/2025 22: 48 Body Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Tourism, Ruwan Ranasinghe, announced in Parliament on 7 October 2025 that all land currently held by Sri Lankan security forces in Trincomalee will soon be released for “tourism projects”. This announcement comes as land rights continue to be a contested issue in the Tamil homeland. Trincomalee, a historically Tamil district, has been a key target of Sinhalisation for decades. Since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, the Sri Lankan government has facilitated land grabs, state enforced demographic change and prolonged failure to return occupied land to their rightful civilian owners. Ranasinghe claimed that the move was aimed at boosting tourist investment and promoting regional development in the district. It remains unclear whether Tamils will be able to reclaim and return to land that is rightfully theirs. His announcement comes as farmers in Muthunagar have been participating in a continuous satyagraha protest in front of the Trincomalee District Secretariat, demanding for the return of farmlands seized for a state- supported solar power project. Farmers reported that 800 acres of agricultural land has been acquired for the project, and two local reservoirs had been filled in to accommodate its development- further endangering the region’s fragile water resources. The protesters have complained that despite solutions repeatedly promised by Sri Lankan authorities, their livelihoods remain threatened as corporate interests continue to be prioritised. In July 2025, a peaceful demonstration was held by Tamil residents in Trincomalee in opposition to the leasing of land to those from outside of the region. The Tamil protesters carried placards and chanted slogans, demanding for the land to be returned to the community instead and voiced their frustration over the injustice of land rights in the region. Further evidence of the “Sinhalisation” of Trincomalee was also pointed out during the 2025 budget debate earlier this year when Shanmugan Kugathasan, an Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) Member of Parliament, announced that 3, 820 acres of land had been taken control of by Sinhala Buddhist monks under the guise of “Pooja Bhoomi”. The term is used in reference to land seized for the purpose of Buddhist religious use in the Tamil homeland. This adds to the patten of Buddhist temples being constructed on Tamil-owned land, under the protection of military and police forces, despite the minimal presence of a Buddhist population.