The Divisional Secretary, members of the Rural Development Society (RDS) and the residents of the village Ma’natcheanai, situated in Poththuvil DS division of Ampaa’rai district, have forced the SL Police at Poththuvil station to arrest 12 SL policemen including a Senior Superintend of Police (SSP) and a contractor employed by them for encroaching the lands of Tamil residents in the village where more than 150 families reside.
The arrested police personnel and the contractor are now detained in the police station.
The suspected SL police personnel, led by the SSP who had been working in Akkaraippattu police station, had gone to the village with heavy vehicles for clearing lands on Saturday around 1:00 p.m.
A large number of upcountry Tamils, displaced from Badulla and Moneragala following the 1977 state-sponsored pogrom against Tamils, settled for the last 34 years in the Ma’natcheanai village.
In recent days, certain SL government politicians were actively engaged in chasing them out of the village by producing forged documents with the support of the Sri Lankan forces.
Meanwhile, Poththuvil DS said that arrangements should be made to provide permanent deeds to the people who are residing in the village for several decades.
However, the DS is unable to hold land kachcheris for official distribution of lands, due to political interference.
The extent of the involved land in the village is about 635 acres.
Several incidents of encroachment by Sinhalese are reported in Tamil villages of Ampaa’rai district in recent times.
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