On the morning of April 23, 2018, about 350
people from the Iranaimathanagar in
northern province of Sri Lanka decided to sail there in about 40 boats towards
Iranaithivu Island . Iranaithivu people displaced and lived in Iranaimathanagar
since 1992, and the Navy has occupied the island, barring the local people from
staying or even visiting their traditional land, on which had hinged their
livelihood. The islands also had important institutions such as a school,
churches, cooperative, weaving centre, hospital and village council etc.
These people hoped that they could return to
their island after the end of the war in 2009, and the election of a new
government in 2015. Yet, they
were still not allowed to return, despite a series of
meetings and correspondence with Ministers, politicians and government
officials from 2016 to 2017. In desperation, they resorted to a continuous
protest for almost a year (359 days as of April 23). Even that didn’t bring
them home.
Praja Abhilasha has supported for Pulakkudiruppu
land struggle, through the continuous land struggle Pulakudiruppu people gained
their land in March 1st 2017. Iranaithivu people also learnt the lesson from
Pulakudiruppu people and staged their continuous protest on 1st of May 2017.
The first mass protest was conducted in May 28th
, 2017 at Kilinochchi town in Northern province, PA coordinator and Mannar
District Fisheries Solidarity Coordinator took part at the first mass protest.
also supported other communities to join with this protest. after the protest , people met the District
Secretary of Kilinochchi and he stated that he would pass the message to
President and let us know... after that, there were many meeting was held with
government officials, but nothing happened.
on 18th April, I had a meeting with the church
priest at the parish house in Mulamgavil , he said they have an idea. when i
heard , i got scared . he requested me to bring a team of journalists from south to cover the news in
Tamil and English Medias. because they are going to do a serious thing.. I thought it was an good idea too. He said
" People are going to occupy their land in Iranaithivu forcefully. but we pass the message just we are protesting.
no one mentioned about occupying their island through sailing their boats
towards Iranaithivu. The priest Further said that he need more people's support
and big crowd. and I agreed to arrange more people . Then Praja Abhilasha(PA) and NAFSO have arranged a van for the journalists from Colombo to Iranaimathanagar. At the
same time, PA mobilized people from Mannar and nearly 70 people came from
Mannar and joined hands with the Iranaithivu people.
also I had a meeting with the community
separately- they requested me they need media support and food and water once
they occupy the land in Iranaithivu. I discussed with our partners and other
organizations too.
Finally, on 23rd April 2018 people believed
their power and decided to sail the boats towards Iranaithivu island which was
occupied by the Navy since 1992.
morning , the parish priest had a mass on 23rd
April at 7.00am. after the mass , started a march towards the anchoring point
of Fisher folks in Iranaimathanagar. at the anchoring point, we started to move
towards the Iranaithivu Island in 40 boats rest of the people stayed at the
coast. we reached the Iranaithivu around 11.30am. as soon as we
entered to the Island , Navy personal have come and inquired us but they didn't
stop because many people suddenly landed in the island. and people decided to stay in the island until they receive the land officially from the government.
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