Landowners fear military repercussion, reluctant to dismantle Buddha structures

The occupying army of genocidal Sri Lanka has left behind temple-structures, which were used by the Sinhala soldiers to house Buddha statues, intact even though it dismantled all other structures from the private property at 5th Mile Post in Ma'nmunaip-pattu (Aaraip-pattai) Division in Batticaloa. The owners of properties at the 5th Mile Post and the nearby rice mill say they were reluctant to dismantle the structures fearing reprisals from the SL military and Police. The removal of such structures are interpreted as hostile acts by the SL military regardless of their private ownership, civil sources said citing request from landowners to dismantle the structures. The SLA has relocated from the private property to Thaazhangkudaa in the same division last week.

Buddha temple structure intact while everything else dismantled by SL military that vacated from 5th Mile Post private property last week

According to SL Constitution, Buddhism enjoys ‘foremost’ place in the entire island.

Although the SL Constitution attempts to project all religions as having equal status, the constitutional provision of ‘foremost place’ and various other arrangements such as the SL police having a special division to protect the Buddhism under the guidance of SL Ministry of Buddha Sasana, make it a crime if anyone attempts to peacefully dismantle any Buddha statue in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils.

Temple structure left behind at the Rice Mill, 5th Mile Post in Aaraip-pattai

Article 9 (chapter II) of the current Sri Lankan constitution promulgated in 1978 says "The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.."

Eezham Tamils say that this Article constitutes a particular obstacle in negotiating any degree of autonomy with the genocidal State of Sri Lanka because it is an 'entrenched' section of the constitution.

The proposals for new constitution are also not going to change this reality and a federal government system of shared powers is not possible to achieve under the genocidal configuration of the Sri Lankan system. The fundamental genocidal character will continue to exist despite cosmetic reforms.