The Struggle for Land in the North: A Tale of Two Communities

By Minoli de Soysa

As some of the scars inflicted by the decades-long civil war slowly begin to heal in the Northern Province, two communities – Muslims returnees and Malaiyaha Tamils – are facing many challenges fitting in. For both groups, the major concern is land; they also lack proper housing, infrastructure facilities and livelihood opportunities, and face ongoing discrimination and marginalization.

In October 1990 some 75,000 to 100,000 Muslims in the Northern Province, about 5% of the province’s total population, were forcibly expelled from their homeland by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In some places, they were given only about 12 hours to leave. Beginning in Chavakachcheri on October 15, all the Muslims were evicted throughout Mannar, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Jaffna and Vavuniya by October 30. Families were allowed to take only Rs 500 and some clothes; some were forced to flee without any belongings. Unable to get transport until they reached towns further south, many walked for more than three days.

“It’s inhuman. It’s the worst crime that has ever been committed in the name of Tamil liberation. We should be sorry for this for the rest of our lives,” said Aruliniyan Mahalingam, editor of the Jaffna Monitor, an English-language newspaper and website based in Jaffna.

Many of the displaced moved to Puttalam, Vavuniya and other areas to live with relatives or in rented houses. Second and third generation children have put down their roots in other parts of the country, and most have little interest in returning, but for those who were born there and still consider Jaffna their home, the need to return is paramount.

Jaffna’s Muslims are descendants of Arab and Indian traders who came for business and settled in the North centuries ago. By the 15th century, they were integrated into the political, cultural and economic life of the community. Tamil became their language. They were primarily businessmen dealing in jewellery, hardware, groceries and textiles. The island of Nainativu or Nagadeepa is the site of one of the earliest mosques, the Mohideen Jumma Mosque.

Since the civil war’s end in May 2009, some of the 22,000 northern Muslims who were evicted have started returning, but the challenges are many. There were 4,000 families in 1990 in Jaffna. Now the population has increased to 12,000 families. There were 2,000 families registered to come back, but only 800 have come. Of the 800 families, only 400 are living in their own homes or own lands. Others are living in rented houses and relatives’ houses. Although the Jaffna Muslims would like to live in one area as a community, this is not possible in Jaffna town.

Old Moor Street and the surrounding roads, once a thriving area with houses, shops, mosques and schools, are largely deserted. The remaining mosques are dilapidated, and the shops have few customers. The number of schools has reduced from six to two.

Moulavi B.A.S. Sufyan, chairman of the People’s Secretariat that works for the resettlement of displaced Muslims, was newly married when he was forced to leave his home. He returned in 2002 because it is where he belongs, where all his known ancestors were born and died and where his land is. “I enjoy a happy life here, but we are voiceless people,” he said. While Moulavi Sufyan attends to his community’s religious and social needs, his wife and children remain in Puttalam.

“The reason Muslims are not willing to come to Jaffna is land and housing. If these were provided, the Muslims would come back, even some of the younger generation,” he said, adding that while the government was concentrating on resettling those affected by the war, it had no plans to resettle the Muslim community that was scattered around the country. Many members of the community sold their houses and land after they were evicted.

The men live in Jaffna to do business because, as the Moulavi said, they are not farmers or fishermen. “The men are not bringing their families but coming to Jaffna to look for a way to earn money. Jaffna is a suitable place for business.”

He said he does not have any problems integrating with Jaffna’s Tamil population. “We are trying to rebuild a relationship with the Tamil community like earlier days. We go to Tamil people’s weddings, and Tamils also come to participate in our wedding ceremonies. However, there is a gap between the younger generations. We are trying to bridge that gap.”

N.M. Ifham is a roti maker on Old Moor Street. He was three years old when his family was expelled from Jaffna. His wife and children remain in Puttalam. He says it is not economically viable to bring his family to Jaffna because of high living and rental costs.

“There are 50 houses about 2.5 km from here, built with tin sheets. There’s no electricity and no proper toilet facilities. It is difficult and uncomfortable to live like that. It seems like a village is being built, but it has not been completed yet. It is not a good situation here,” he said. “Most of the houses that were left behind are in ruins. Some people came back, cleared the land and sold it. Others have sold their houses. A lot of the people do not want to come back, but those who do don’t have any land here.

“I don’t live here now, but this is where I was born, my hometown. That is why I keep coming here, at least to work. It is difficult to live here, but I am just continuing to work. Those who left in 1990 have got used to Puttalam and settled there now. I go home twice a month. It takes six hours to travel,” Ifham said.

Another group that has migrated from other parts of the country to the North is the Malaiyaha community.

Beginning with discriminatory legislation in the late 1940s and the rise of majoritarianism with the Sinhala Only Language Act in 1956 and anti-Tamil riots of 1958, the Malaiyaha Tamils in Galle, Kalutara, Monaragala, Badulla and Nuwara Eliya moved to the Vanni. These were sparsely populated, forested areas with poor infrastructure and facilities and undesirable to locals. Their numbers swelled with successive anti-Tamil violence, including the riots in 1977, 1981 and 1983.

The early settlements were largely a failure. Subsistence farming was unfamiliar and income was poor. The community’s only asset was the land adjacent to the main roads, which, once cleared for cultivation and with rising value, was attractive to locals, pushing the migrants into the poorly irrigated interior, and to work as agricultural labourers.

Malaiyaha Tamils faced discrimination in the provision of housing, education, political representation, employment, infrastructure development and water to drink and for agriculture. The community remains under-represented in local bodies and unrepresented in provincial institutions.

Karunaharan, a member of the Malaiyaha community, has mobilized manpower and resources to assist in the resettlement of people in the Kilinochchi district, where the Malaiyaha community makes up 40% of the population or 90,000 people, while in some villages, all the people are from this community. Karunaharan went to Kilinochchi after being displaced from Jaffna in 1995. Being a media person, he has given publicity to the problems facing the Malaiyaha community in the North and also raised the issues with government officials.

“Some people settled in Vavuniya, some others settled in Mannar, and many of the people came to Kilinochchi. But the problem is they have no land. The political leaders are not ready to provide land to them. Now they are working as labourers in the Jaffna people’s lands. They have no water to use for cultivation, and in some places, there is no electricity,” he said.

However, there are some professionals and skilled people among them, such as those who go for de-mining work or have qualified as teachers, doctors or lawyers. Others sell their produce in the markets. They also receive some assistance from the government in the form of housing schemes, as well as some NGOs’ support.

There are problems of caste with the other northern Tamils. The higher caste people do not want to recognise the hill country Tamils. The lower caste people face difficulties in the offices of government departments and in the universities.

“When they settled in this area, it was totally different from the hill country where they worked on plantations. There were no jobs, so they had to work as daily labourers or as cooks in the restaurants and in shops. The Jaffna community still does not accept these people and is discriminating against the Malaiyaha community,” Karunaharan pointed out. “Northern politicians come during the election period to ask for support, but they are not ready to raise their problems.”

Perumal Ganesan is a former principal who has lived in Kilinochchi since 1971, when his father sent him north to study. When his father retired, the family came to Kilinochchi to settle on land he had bought.

“It was a thick jungle. My father cleared it and planted bananas and chillies,” he said. “But we were not accepted by the Jaffna people. The bureaucrats refused to give my father land, but he managed to find someone to sell him some land.”

Perumal Chandrasena is a farmer who managed to get some land to grow vegetables and coconuts, but he has no land to live on.

“We are from a village called Malayalapuram in Kilinochchi. Everyone here lived on estates in Kandy, Ratnapura, Avissawella and Deniyaya. Some of us came in 1977, and after 1983. After the war, the military left, but the land occupied by them was given to Jaffna Tamils. We were chased out, and now we are on the streets. We have deeds, but nobody cares. We stay in rented houses,” he said.

They are unable to file cases because they have no money for lawyers.

“We want the land that belongs to us. It is the Jaffna Tamils who have stolen our land. They are always trying to chase us away because we are from the estates. They are saying all the land in Kilinochchi and Vavuniya belongs to Jaffna Tamils, so we have no rights,” Chandrasena pointed out.

-This article was originally featured on groundviews.org