{"id":46893,"date":"2015-08-13T11:42:01","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T18:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=46893"},"modified":"2015-08-13T11:42:01","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T18:42:01","slug":"wilpattu-real-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/08\/13\/wilpattu-real-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilpattu real story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mahinda Gunasekera\u00a0Toronto, Canada <\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

August 13, 2015<\/p>\n

His Excellency, Maithripala Sirisena
\nPresident of Sri Lanka
\nColombo 1<\/p>\n

Your Excellency,<\/p>\n

I am submitting herewith pictures covering the ceremonial inauguration of houses built on state
\nland classified as ‘conservation areas’ abutting the Wilpattu National Park, where I believe Minister
\nRishad Bathiutheen is seen in the company of Arab visitors representing\u00a0 Sheikh Jassim Bin Jabor
\nAl-Thani Charitable Foundation based in Doha, Qatar, who funded the illegal housing project.\u00a0 This
\nmatter was brought to your attention by my letter dated April 27, 2015 which is annexed hereto.<\/p>\n

It is indeed distressing to note that Sri Lankan citizens are able to partner with foreign financiers
\nand encroach into state lands deemed conservation property and construct houses for members of
\na particular community, and even name the encroached region by the name of the donor organization
\nwhich in this particular case is referred to as “Jassim City”.\u00a0 To my knowledge, even backward countries
\nderogatorily called “banana republics” do not allow their citizens or foreigners to illegally acquire land
\nand set up housing schemes for members of a particular ethnic group.\u00a0 Even if they are persons who
\nhad been previously evicted by the terrorist LTTE, then it becomes the responsibility of the state to
\nensure that they are re-settled in their original places of residence just like the Tamil IDPs were settled
\nafter de-mining the land, putting in essential infrastructure and making the area safe and habitable.
\nJust as much as the Tamil IDPs were resettled, similar action has to be taken to resettle the 27,000
\nSinhalese who were evicted from the north between 1971 and 1981, and the roughly 75,000 Moslems
\nwho were also driven out of the north by the LTTE around 1990.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has enough and more laws to cover every subject, but it is most disappointing that the laws
\nare either unevenly applied or not enforced by the officials due to political interference.\u00a0 All law abiding
\ncitizens of Sri Lanka expect you to take appropriate action against those responsible for the illegal
\nencroachment and construction work carried out in Wilpattu and elsewhere in the island.<\/p>\n

I trust the rule of law will be upheld by the administration headed by your excellency.<\/p>\n

Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n

Mahinda Gunasekera
\nToronto, Canada<\/p>\n

Encl.<\/p>\n

On 4\/27\/2015 3:31 PM, M. Gunasekera wrote:<\/p>\n

By E-mail<\/u><\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 84 Tambrook Drive
\nAgincourt, Ontario
\nM1W 3L9\u00a0 Canada<\/p>\n

April 27, 2015<\/p>\n

His Excellency, Maithripala Sirisena
\nPresident of Sri Lanka
\nand Minister of Mahaweli Dev & Environment
\nPresidential Secretariat
\nColombo 1
\nCopy to: Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe
\nPrime Minister of Sri Lanka<\/p>\n

Your Excellency,<\/p>\n

Continued Rape of the Wilpattu National Park and
\nEstablishment of Unauthorised Settlements \u00a0 <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am writing to bring to your notice the continuing rape of the Wilpattu National Park that is
\ntaking place at this very moment, whilst the authorities responsible for the conservation of
\nforests and protection of the environment are hibernating in their comfortable offices in the
\ncapital city.\u00a0 When this matter was brought up earlier by another group of concerned citizens
\nwith photo evidence, they pointed a finger at a minister of the state whom I believe was
\nMr. Rishad Badthiutheen, as being the person responsible for the encroachment and
\nconstruction of houses for settling members of his community.\u00a0 I note that Mr. Badthiutheen
\nis once again holding a cabinet rank in your administration as well.<\/p>\n

I am giving below a link to a 5 minute 51 second video which shows the construction of roads
\nand permanent houses within the Wilpattu National Park. This is a clear violation of the
\nexisting laws relating to conservation of the limited forest cover in the island needed for climatic
\nreasons as well as provision of areas for our wild life to freely roam in safety as envisioned by our
\nwise rulers from ancient times. \u00a0 Please click on the link to view the video:
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/438356542898780\/videos\/636685536399212\/?fref=nf<\/a><\/p>\n

You will observe paved roads and permanent houses already in place, with road extension and
\nhouse construction underway.\u00a0 A board has been erected denoting this illegal housing project on
\nencroached crown land in a conservation area as ‘JASSIM CITY’ comprising a total of 179 houses.
\n<\/strong>The funding has been provided according to the signboard by Sheikh Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani
\nCharitable Foundation based in Doha, Qatar.\u00a0 Does the law allow foreign organizations to establish
\ncities for members of a particular community on Sri Lanka’s sovereign territory involving the
\ndeforestation of national parks which are deemed conservation zones? Such funds should instead be
\ndireted to the government to resettle Muslims and others who were internally displaced in their
\nformer places of residence.<\/p>\n

The usual reason given for such illegal action is that there has been a delay on the part of the
\ngovernment to re-settle members of the Muslim community who had been forcibly evicted by the
\nLTTE from their abode in the northern province.\u00a0 There were also over 27,000 Sinhala people who
\nhad also been evicted from the north by the separatist Tamil terror groups between 1971 and 1981,
\nnone of whom have been resettled by the state, except for a handful of about 25 families who have
\nstaked out their temporary homesteads in Navattakuly without any assistance from the state. The
\nright of return of those who had been forcibly evicted by the Tamil terror groups who carried out
\nethnic cleansing of non-Tamils in both the north and east must be honoured by the government.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While there are an abundance of laws established in Sri Lanka, the failure to prevent wrongdoing
\nis mainly due to the non-enforcement of the laws by the authorities concerned.\u00a0 Could this be as
\na result of political interference which prevents officials from carrying out their entrusted duties?
\nI have also been made aware of similar encroachments in the Eastern Province by members of the
\nMuslim community into strictly conservation areas such as the forests surrounding the estuaries of
\nwaterways flowing to the sea, and even producing bogus deeds prepared by members of their own
\ncommunity working in the kachcheri or district office administering the area.\u00a0 We are also aware of
\nthe ‘Ashraf Nagar’ <\/strong>where 500 houses were built on land close to the Deegavapi Temple complex in
\nthe Ampara district supposedly to house 89 Moslem families who had been displaced by the 2004
\ntsunami, nearly 30 miles inland from their original place of residence with funding from the Middle
\nEast.<\/p>\n

I trust that you would initiate an investigation immediately and take appropriate action against who
\nso ever has had a hand in this unlawful venture to build unauthorized houses by encroaching into
\nconservation properties belonging to the state.\u00a0 These houses have to give way to the preservation
\nof the National Park, and steps taken to restore the forest cover without delay.\u00a0 Notwithstanding
\nethnicity, the government must uphold the law in order to win the trust and confidence of the people.<\/p>\n

Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n

Mahinda Gunasekera<\/p>\n

Copies to: Senior officials of the Forest Dept. and Ministry of the Environment
\n” \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 ” \u00a0\u00a0 Sri Lankan Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mahinda Gunasekera\u00a0Toronto, Canada August 13, 2015 His Excellency, Maithripala Sirisena President of Sri Lanka Colombo 1 Your Excellency, I am submitting herewith pictures covering the ceremonial inauguration of houses built on state land classified as ‘conservation areas’ abutting the Wilpattu National Park, where I believe Minister Rishad Bathiutheen is seen in the company of Arab […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}