• 50% of Kuchchaveli DS Division has been appropriated for various “development” initiatives with 26 viharas have been built on 3,887 acres of seized land.
• The expropriation of fertile agricultural and coastal areas has devastated Muslim communities, while the persistent military presence blocks attempts to reclaim their land.
The 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has been examining Sri Lanka’s human rights situation. A new report highlights how, 15 years after the civil war’s violent conclusion, the colonisation of Muslim lands has escalated in the strategic Trincomalee District.
Intensive land grabs in the six predominantly Tamil and Muslim populated Divisional Secretary (DS) Divisions of Trincomalee District have resulted in Sinhalese now making up 27 percent of the population while occupying 36 percent of the district’s total land area.
The 2012 Sri Lankan census estimated that 70.2% of Sri Lankas are Buddhist, 12.6% Hindu, 9.7 % Muslim, and 7.4 % Christian. Most of the majority Sinhalese ethnic group are Buddhist. Tamils are mainly Hindu with a significant Christian minority. According to a 2022 US State Department report, “Muslims are legally recognised as a separate ethno religious group, rather than as Tamil or Sinhalese”.
Kuchchaveli DS Division, which geographically links the Northern and Eastern Provinces, has experienced the most severe dispossession over the past decade. More than 50 percent of its land has been appropriated for various “development” initiatives and the expansion of Buddhist viharas (temples). At least 26 viharas have been built on 3,887 acres of seized land. Traditional livelihoods of Muslim communities have been devastated by the large-scale expropriation of fertile agricultural and coastal areas, while efforts to reclaim land are obstructed by the ongoing heavy military presence.
“Sinhalese control is expanding over Trincomalee District, which remains largely under military rule 15 years after the end of the war,” stated Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute.
“These land grabbing efforts strategically target the most densely Tamil and Muslim populated areas to erase their history and culture while destroying their claim to a unified homeland.”
The expansion of Buddhist viharas in predominantly Muslim areas is part of an effort to Buddhize the East, altering demographics and erasing the cultural heritage of Tamils and other Muslims. Since 2009, 26 viharas have been constructed on 3,887 acres of appropriated land in Kuchchaveli DS Division. In 2020, the government established an 11-member Presidential Task Force for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province, led by military and monks, aiming to seize land in the region.
In October 2023, after documenting these religiously motivated land seizures, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended adding Sri Lanka to the Special Watchlist for severe violations of religious freedom.
As documented in this and previous Oakland Institute reports, the Sri Lankan state uses military occupation to assert ethnocratic control over Muslim populations in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. These regions remain highly militarised, housing five of the seven Regional Headquarters of the Sri Lankan military. This military presence facilitates land grabs for the establishment of Buddhist viharas and Sinhalese settlements.
The extensive land grabbing in Trincomalee District has impacted thousands of people, robbing them of their traditional livelihoods due to the expropriation of fertile lands. Those attempting to reclaim their lands face legal barriers, harassment from settlers, and are deprived of basic services.
“Our future is a question. We can neither farm nor fish. If this situation continues, there will be no chance for our descendants to continue living in this village,” expressed a Tamil fisherman from Kuchchaveli.
“Trincomalee Under Siege” amplifies the voices of affected community members, who courageously demand justice amid severe repression by the Sinhalese state.
“The intensification of Sri Lanka’s ethnocratic practices documented in this report exacerbates the existing suffering, injustice, and resentment, jeopardising any chance of accountability and redress for crimes committed by the Sri Lankan state during the civil war and beyond. Unless the government demilitarizes the Northern and Eastern Provinces and respects the basic rights to land and life of the Tamil and Muslim communities, peace and reconciliation will remain unattainable,” Mittal concluded.
