a priest at the forefront of the fight for land restitution

A group of activists and journalists met Father Bastian Rocknadan, who is campaigning for the return of Catholics to the village of Mullikulam. The conflict broke out in 1990, when the Navy took over the area, forcing its inhabitants to flee. Fifteen years after the end of the war, the issue remains unresolved.

Mannar () – “We are tired of talking and talking for many years now, attending meetings, meeting and following some people and begging them to give us back our lands. Do something for our people. In the name of our people, ask for help to the United Nations. Many lands have already been returned, but ours remains in their hands.’ The speaker is Father Bastian Rocknadan, a priest from Sri Lanka, who tells of his great concern for his parishioners and their fate for years. suspended in uncertainty and precariousness.

Fr Rocknadan is a priest at Our Lady of Mullikulam Church in the Diocese of Mannar. In recent days, the priest has met with a group of activists and journalists from the south, led by the Law and Society Trust (Lst), to discuss the long-standing issue of IDP land in the northern province. The delegation has long shown interest and concern about the issue of IDP land in the north and visited the IDP community in Mullikulam expressing their concern and dismay.

In fact, Tamil Catholics consider the village an integral part of the Catholic and Tamil community, in addition to being part of a land-rich area, facing the sea and with vast rice fields, bordering the Puttalama and Wilpattu National Park, in Mannar district. There are 217 families living in the area who have led a prosperous life thanks to the land, the mud and fishing in the open sea.

The dispute for Tamil families began in 1990, when the Navy took possession of their land. “We were forced to leave our village for the first time because of the civil war,” explains Mariadasan Revel, a village elder. In 2002, with the signing of a peace agreement brokered by Norway, the local population began to return to their home villages. However, in 2007, when fighting flared up again, people found themselves with nothing and no resources to live on, displaced in the forest and in constant danger from elephants and snakes.

In 2012, the villagers tried again to retake their village, but once again failed in the interior. In mid-June 2012, however, the families received help from the late Bishop Rayappu Joseph and others who had taken up their cause in Colombo and Negombo, to build huts and makeshift homes with the help of branches, coconut leaves and other foliage and branches. At the end of June of that year, around 100 families reached the Marichchikattu jungle without considering any risk and started fighting for their homeland. In 2012, Card. Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo, reached an agreement with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, then defense minister, and some progress was made. However, the authorities’ response was very clear: “They cannot return to their homes.” Later, Gotabhaya promoted the construction of the naval base in the village, while building 26 houses for the residents in the jungle area as compensation.

“It’s been fifteen years since the end of the war, but we are not allowed to enjoy this freedom,” says Father Bastian Rocknadan. “We don’t have this freedom. I say this because you have come, especially from the southern province.” “We are glad that you have paid attention to our problem,” continues the priest, who “has tried many times over the years, but has not obtained the solution we need.” Addressing the journalists and activists from Colombo who met him, Father Bastian asks them to raise their voices. “Give us back the village of Mullikulam,” asks the priest, who says he is convinced that “the government will return the land that was wrongfully expropriated” in the past.

Continuing his testimony, Father Bastian reports that the inhabitants of this village are now scattered in four directions. About 40 families live in India, another 140 in Kayakkuli and another 50 in Mannar. The hope and demand of all these people is to recover their village and start their lives there again. “In short, that’s all we want: our village back. We can rise again,” adds an elderly couple from the village of Mullikulam, who only ask to be able to “finish” their lives in the “village where we were born.” .

It has been 15 years since the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, the anniversary of which falls in May 2024. For many years, the main demand of the population of the north and east, as well as politicians, has been that to return to their original inhabitants the houses and lands that had been seized by the army for security reasons during the war. Consideration of this legitimate request has been extremely slow, and local and international interventions and pressure to achieve a satisfactory solution have been in vain. In recent days, a great advance seems to be in sight, with a sudden – although slow and late – awakening of the issue that has returned to the foreground.

Thus, the town of Mullikulam, transformed over time into a naval base, also asks to be returned to its owners. Since 2009, 73016.50 acres of land in the Northern province and 12236.69 acres of land in the Eastern province have been used for setting up army camps, a military source in charge of media relations revealed. communication. At the moment, 63187.91 acres of land in the North that were in the possession of the army have been cleared, while another 9828.67 acres are still under the control of the military and waiting to be cleared.