Revised: 2 July 2013 Who looks after the environment of the oppressed?

The Armed forces *occupy Northern Sri Lanka and the Army/Navy are destroying the environment of the North with the help of the people brought from the South very detrimental is the building of more and more Buddhist statues and temples in the North: Large hotels are being built contaminating ground water and serving liquor near schools. When a Tamil industrialist (RAMCO) refused to restart KKS Cement saying the ecology cannot bear it, a Nepalese was brought in to tear our landscape apart. The police beat signs of Tamil aspirations into silence and do price controls to take bribes. Our institutions are mismanaged by political stooges'' S.Ratnajeevan H. Hoole, 30 June 2013, http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/tamiluniversity-part-i-fr-xs-thani-nayagam-and-the-mannar-university/

News-reports state that in Ariyalai East, contractors carry away 25 tractor-loads of sand for a fee of Rs. 10,000 to soldiers. The land is denuded. In these circumstances DIG-North Eric Pereras statement that crime in the North is out of control and he is taking action seems disingenuous his men never respond when telephoned upon seeing the tractors.2 Feb 2013, http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/state-repression-with-focus-on-warcrimes/ Are Tour Operators Turning a Blind Eye to Perpetrators of War Crimes in Sri Lanka?, 6 November 2012, http://www.tourismconcern.org.uk/index.php/news/38/61/Are-Tour-Operators-Turning-aBlind-Eye-to-Perpetrators-of-War-Crimes-in-Sri-Lanka.html July/August/September 2012: Were getting stories that the occupation army in the North is asking people not to have Thespesia populnea , a small tree or an arborescent bush, used for fences with an added use for harvesting its leaves as food for goats, dried twigs as firewood and its timber for making various utensils used daily. The occupied North is a dry zone and Thespesia is a Godsend to the people actually a gift of NATURE (=natural evolution). The occupation army (99.99% Sinhala Buddhists) says it insults Bo tree. The army is also planting Bo tree saplings and putting up Buddha statues under every Bo tree in addition to erecting several Budhhist temples in the North and the East. This is using up sand and other natural materials in short supply to the increasing population of the country and the space needed for natural vegetation, farming and buildings needed for the society:

Human rights situations that require the Councils attention: A/HRC/19/NGO/64, 13 February 2012: Sri Lanka: Land grabbing and development-induced displacement: ''The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), in association with three Sri Lankan non-governmental organisations, draws the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council to the alarming trend violations of the rights to adequate housing, land and property in postwar Sri Lanka. .... http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/HRC/19/NGO/64&Lang=E A. Sri Lanka offers islets, beaches, wetland on 99-year leases for tourism, 27 August 2012, http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=1513921377

''The abominable wasteful expenditure of public funds should be terminated forthwith for the welfare of the country- Environmental Protection And Sustainable Development In Sri Lanka, 8 July 2012, http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2012/07/08/environmental-protection-and-sustainabledevelopment-in-sri-lanka/ SL military-backed sand mining irreversibly destroys environment in Jaffna, 22 April 2012, http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35118 Madhu forest sanctuary in Mannar District being systematically destroyed through excavating sand and felling trees, 21 April 2012, http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/5748 Photo: NASA satellite view of Sri Lanka revealing sparser areas of forest to the north and east of the island - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_in_Sri_Lanka Sri Lankas people paying high price of tourist drive, Edward Mortimer, Chair, The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice3 April 2012, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7887744a-7426-11e1bcec-00144feab49a.html#axzz1qkOIebQR SLA assaults, threatens activists who protest against sand mining in Batticaloa, 29 December 2011, http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=34742 SLA threatens villagers protesting illegal sand mining in Batticaloa, 6 December 2011, http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=34679 Colombo brings Sinhalese to culture prawn in Jaffna marshlands, 14 October 2011, http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=34520 Land in Ampara belonging to Sinhala and Tamil villagers forcibly taken for navy base and tourism development, 27 August 2011, http://transcurrents.com/news-views/archives/3462#more-3462 ''SL fisheries department has banned catching conch shells in Jaffna since last December, considering the already endangered situation for the species. But the Sinhala fishermen who come from the south in the guise of catching sea cucumbers, eye on the conches. Very soon the historical Jaffna Chank will be an endangered species, the local fishermen said - Point Pedro to Mullaiththeevu coast encroached by Sinhala fishermen, 24 May 2011, http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=33989 ''Fisherfolk in Kalpitiya in the coastal district of Puttlam say that the tourist industry is utilising the Navy to take hold of land'' - Miltary used to 'promote tourism', 9 May 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2011/05/110509_kalpitiya.shtml 'The Govt. under the pretext of development of the north is transporting the trees, earth and sand via the Army to the south . If anybody opposes this action of the Govt., he is either murdered or is abducted by the white Van, they added - What is truly going on after the war in the North Sri Lanka? 'LeN expose after the tour, 16 March 2011, http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=10832 Fishermen in the Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee hoped the end of the islands civil war would bring prosperity, but dynamite and corruption now threaten their livelihoods. big operators bribe authorities and use dynamite to kill large numbers of fish, also damaging coral reefs- Sri Lankan

fishermen hard hit by peace, By Mel Gunasekera (AFP), 2 September 2010, http://www.skyscrapercity.com/archive/index.php/t-416245-p-3.html Sinhalese fishermen have been brought under naval protection to fish in the sea off Mannar Island without any restriction. The trawlers with Sinhalese fishermen use large Japanese nets of a kind now banned internationally, which drag the seabed, pulling out coral, the nets of local fishermen and damaging the breeding ground, eggs, weeds and fish fodder - A Marred Victory and a Defeat Pregnant with Foreboding, 10 June 2009, http://www.uthr.org/SpecialReports/spreport32.htm# Deforestation is one of the most serious environmental issues in Sri Lanka. Coral reefs have been degraded as a result of human activities (including tourism) and increased sea temperatures during Sri Lankas civil strife, 5 million trees have been cut down for military purposes http://www.unep.org/PDF/SG_message_conflict.pdf MESSAGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PREVENTING THE EXPLOITATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN WAR AND ARMED CONFLICTS, 6 November 2004: The army of occupation in the Northeast for more than 40yrs have been destroying the geologically fragile North (with low water table) of its rocks and sand. Arms are not the only form of destroying a people and their environment: introduce alien species and destroy their ecology scientists say that one big threat to the ecology of the planet around the world is alien species. The Northern province is under heavy militarisation and is being pillaged intentionally: http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33364 Orphaned elephants to be sent to Mullaiththeevu, 10 January 2011 Mullaitivu is not a suitable place for elephants http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33302 Pigs of HSZ harm crops, youth electrocuted in Jaffna, 30 December 2010 Deforestation is one of the critical environmental problems in Sri Lanka - Information Provided by the Government of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, November 1997