Buddhist monks seize thousands of acres in Trincomalee as land grabs continue - Shanmugam Kugathasan
Sinhala Buddhist monks have taken control of 3,820 acres of land in Trincomalee district under the guise of "Pooja Land", according to Shanmugam Kugathasan, a Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) Member of Parliament, during the 2025 budget debate.
Kugathasan stated that under the names 'Pooja Land' and 'Pooja Donation', vast tracts of land have been appropriated by Buddhist monks. In total, hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, which was previously used for agricultural cultivation, has been seized and rendered unusable for Tamil farmers, he claimed.
This, he warned, will inevitably lead to rising rice prices and growing discontent among the public, further eroding the Sri Lankan government’s already fragile support.
These land seizures are part of a broader and systematic state-backed Sinhalisation effort that has escalated across the North-East. Tamil lands, particularly in Trincomalee, Mullaitivu, and Jaffna, continue to be expropriated under the pretext of religious donations, archaeological reservations, and so-called "Buddhist heritage" projects.
Trincomalee, a historically Tamil district, has been one of the key targets of Sinhalisation for decades. Since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, the Sri Lankan government has facilitated large-scale land grabs, displacing Tamil farmers, limiting access to ancestral lands, and militarising key regions.
The role of Buddhist monks in these land takeovers is well documented. In many cases, Buddhist temples are artificially erected in Tamil villages, with military and police protection, despite there being little to no Buddhist population in these areas. In some instances, Tamil Hindu and Christian sites have been forcibly taken over and converted into Buddhist sites, often with the complicity of state institutions.
The loss of agricultural lands has devastated Tamil livelihoods in Trincomalee. Farmers who have cultivated these lands for generations have been forcibly removed, leaving them without income and pushing many into economic desperation (TG)