KAMALIKA PIERIS

Tamil Separatist Movement used all sorts of tricks to try and stop Kurundi. Since there was strong evidence to show that Kurundi was indeed Kurundi, this was not easy and Tamil Separatist Movement found that they were making contradictory statements.

Tamil Separatist Movement asked whether Kurundi was Kurundi. Was it really the one built by Kallatanaga as mentioned in the Mahavamsa? No archaeological evidence has yet proven that the Kurundi vihara discussed in the literature is the mound at Kurundi, they said. Tamil Separatist Movement thought that the correct location for Kurundi was Karikattumulai in Vavuniya district, far away from Mullaitivu.

Historian Dewasiri suggests another approach. While archaeological evidence may suggest that the site was a Buddhist one, there is no evidence to prove that the worshippers were Sinhala..  We don’t know the ethnic identity of the people who were worshipping there, he said.

Tamil Separatist Movement stuck to the fiction of a kovil at Kurundi. Mullaitivu was Sinhala Buddhist only to end of Anuradhapura period, they said.  After Chola  rule, the place was full of Tamils who had got  left behind, said an observer, naming the Tamil kingdoms in the wrong order, Chola- Chera- Pandya -Pallava.” The north then became a Tamil majority region. This   change was a natural development and it must be accepted as such.  Kurundi was no longer in use as a vihara so it was turned into a kovil.  What is wrong with that.

Tamil Separatist Movement   then turned to land rights. The clash over Kurundi shows the difficulties of conserving archaeological sites while also ensuring people’s land rights, said an observer.  

International law  does not recognize an  absolute right to land ,  but at a popular level  a  historical  right to land ,  land that  people have lived on for generations, is r recognized. But this avenue is closed to the Tamils .Tamils are not    indigenous  to Sri Lanka .  They are recent arrivals. The  Sinhalese , on the other hand, can claim historical land rights in the north and east. They are the   nationals of Sri Lanka .

The Tamil Separatist Movement  then  tried to claim land through agricultural rights.  UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP 2018) said people living in rural areas have a right to  their land. They cannot be displaced from it. ( Article 17) .

Tamil Separatist Movement  announced that 400 acres at  the Kurundi site had been cultivated by local Tamil farmers for centuries. If Kurundi site was developed as a place of worship, the Tamil farmers would  lose their paddy lands and livestock farms., they said.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe ordered that Kurundi land be released to the local farmers for cultivation. This took place at his well known meeting with the Department of Archaeology  in June 2023. But  he  withdrew the order following harsh criticism, reported analysts.

Tamil Separatist Movement also quickly deforested acres of Norochcholai forest reserve  and created an extent of paddy land near Kurundi, and  said  it was an ancient paddy field cultivated for centuries. But they did not dare   cultivate the land. The so called paddy field  was in an archaeological reserve.

The second land argument used by the Tamil Separatist Movement is the fiction of land  hunger.  Tamil Separatist Movement said that the threat to land is most acutely felt in Mullaitivu .That is false.  Mullaitivu is the least populated district in Sri Lanka.  It is grossly under populated and there cannot be land hunger in Mullaitivu.  In 2021, Mullaitivu had an  estimated 98,000 Population, in an area of 2617  sq. km².  Its Population Density was    0.66% . This is the lowest population density in    Sri Lanka  . https://lankastatistics.com/economic/districtwise-population-and-density.html

There were no  human settlements near Kurundi  stupa. The nearest Tamil village was 10 km away  at Kumalamunai and Mulliyavala. Ven. Santhabodhi  spoke well of the Tamil  villagers  living there.

Santhabodhi and his team  said that the villagers were not against the  Kurundi stupa. They have given Dane to the monk who had resided there some  years ago.  Santhabodhi  has gone for gilanpasa to their  homes.  They were  helpful and  cooperative. They had supplied milk  and kurumba to the Archaeology Department team working at Kurundi.  Santhabodhi and his group of donors had helped the villagers, specially the children. I have  provided school books for their children   and was planning to provide the computer  lessons they had asked for, Santhabodhi  said.

But it is clear that the Tamil Separatist Movement has got at these villagers,  and told them what to do and say. This is seen when you look at the statements the villagers made when they were interviewed.

 When interviewed, Tiruchelvam Divar said that Buddhist s were trying to claim the area. Kanagaraja Vijayakumar said that the Buddhist were building an unlawful temple at Kurundi, They were now prohibited from worshiping at Kurundi and he has been informed t is intended to settle Sinhalese there.  Baskaran Susila Devi (56 yrs) said that from the time she was small they  had worshipped at    Kurundi kovil.. Her son,  Baskaran  Divyaraja said they had deeds for the paddy fields at Kurundi.

 These    responses indicate that these  villagers are not the ‘ahinsaka  demela janatava” Santhabodhi  says they are. They are repeating what they were told to say. They have also been advised to obtain as much assistance as possible from the  Kurundi team for their  needs. They have been told to stay out of the demonstrations.

It will be a rude shock to Ven.  Santhabodhi and his team  when the villagers, after getting   everything they can from the sponsors of  Kurundi vihara,  turn against  them and    support the Tamil Separatist Movement . That will    happen soon.

Tamil Separatist Movement has turned to  the law courts  to  stop Kurundi. They had the advantage over the Buddhists, at Mullaitivu. The  court proceedings were in Tamil and the  Tamil judge, Saravanarajah  was  definitely for them. He permitted Hindus to conduct a Pongal  at the site on July  2023. The Tamil lawyers are also in this,  said Santhabodhi.

The  lawyers appearing for Santhabodhi and Kurundi  had many angry comments to make about the proceedings in Magistrate court, Mullaitivu. They complained that the hearing was one sided. The statements from the Department of Archaeology  were  not even recorded  . Magistrate only listened to  what the Tamil  protestors said and issued orders accordingly.

The  proceedings  were conducted in  Tamil and no provision was made for submissions in  Sinhala and English. The Sinhala lawyers, found that  at Mullaitivu the  court worked only in Tamil., They could not speak in Sinhala.  Translators were not  evadible to translate from    Sinhala  to Tamil. They could not speak in English either, as there were no translators for English to Tamil . Court orders  were only in Tamil..  Santhabodhi had to get them translated.

Three charges were made against the Kurundi restoration. One was  by the police  for  disturbing the peace, another for obstructing a Hindu Pongal,   the third was about constructing a new stupa at Kurundi under the guise of conserving  an old stupa.

When the  Tamil demonstrators disrupted the relic enshrining  ceremony, the police charged Santhabodhi with disturbing the peace. There was no charge against the Tamil protestors. When police brought in the charge of breaking the peace we pointed out that this was not due to monks or Department of  archaeology but due to the Tamil politicians, the Kurundi team said.   

Santhabodhi had made a complaint against Selvarasa  Gajendran,   S.Nogaradalingam , K Sarveshvaran and T Raviharan for  entering and disrupting the relic enshrining ceremony. The  demonstrators  were brought by MP  Raviharan Santhabodhi said.  These four should have been charged under the Penal Code,  Instead my complaint was ignored.. 

A case had been filed by a group of  Tamil  protestors, who alleged that in the guise of conserving an old  stupa, the archaeology team were  building a new stupa at Kurundi. The magistrate  believed them and ordered the removal of all new constructions at Kurundi. The Archaeology Department must refrain from any further  new construction.  

As the complaints continued, the Mullaitivu Magistrate held that the Archaeology Department had violated three court orders from 2022,.The Department can only protect ancient sites. It can’t do as it pleases,” the judge said..

The Department of Archaeology through its lawyers, the  Attorney Generals Department replied  that the work was done according to  approved policy as well as international  standards,  and to give permission to continue the work.

A group of Tamil  objectors then  petitioned  the Magistrate court, Mullaitivu saying that the court order issued in June 2022  which had prohibited  new structures at Kurundi had been violated. Army-sponsored new structures were coming up at Kurundi .

 State counsel representing the Archaeology department said no new constructions had been built .but the petitioners submitted proof such as photographs to show that new constructions had taken place and asked the magistrate to make an inspection. Magistrate  inspected the site on 04 July,2023  and decided that the complaint was correct. His competence to do so  was not questioned.( Continued)