The government had revoked a gazette notification that would have enabled the mass appropriation of land across predominantly Tamil areas, following sustained opposition from Tamil political leaders and civil society, Tamil Guardian reported on Tuesday (27)
The report claimed that the move had come after intense backlash to Gazette No. 2430, issued on 28 March 2025, by the Land Title Settlement Department, under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation. The notification, now cancelled, had laid the groundwork for the declaration of thousands of acres of land in the Northern Province as state property.
The government’s decision to withdraw the Gazette was formally confirmed on 27 May, it said.
“The government has revoked the Gazette issued on March 28, 2025 over the land settlement in the Northern Province,” the Ministry said.
According to the original document, the lands targeted for settlement, spanned multiple Tamil-majority districts, including Jaffna,Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, and Mannar. Tamil politicians and local residents swiftly condemned the move as a state-sponsored land grab aimed at dispossessing Tamil families and accelerating Sinhalese-Buddhist colonisation in the North-East.
Tamil politicians raised their protests in a meeting with the Sri Lankan Prime Minister earlier this week.
The Gazette drew fierce opposition from across the Tamil political spectrum. T. Ravikaran, a Vanni District MP, delivered a scathing speech in Parliament earlier this month, criticising the government for demanding ownership documents from families who had fled during the 2009 Mullivaikkal genocide, many of whom lost all possessions while escaping Sri Lankan military offensives. “Are you demanding documents from people who had fled with nothing but a loincloth?” he asked.
The now-revoked Gazette would have permitted the state to seize over 5,900 acres of land, including 934 acres in Mullivaikkal alone, the very site where tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed in the final weeks of the 2009 genocide. The lands also included areas in Pudumatalan, Ambalavan Pokkanai, Valayanmadam, and other villages that were once part of the so-called “No Fire Zones.”
The announcement of the Gazette’s revocation is seen as a rare reversal by the Sri Lankan state, prompted by a groundswell of Tamil resistance. Tamil parties had warned that if the government proceeded with the land seizures, it would face protests and possible legal challenges.
However, Tamil leaders have expressed caution, noting that this is not the first time the state has backtracked under pressure only to reintroduce similar efforts through other bureaucratic means.
