Sri Lanka Police withdraw case against Tamils protesting Aussie mining company

War-affected Tamils have won a moral victory after the police withdrew a case against them as they sought to protect the natural resources in Mannar which is being eyed by an Australian firm.

The Tamils protested against millions of cubic meters of mineral-rich sand planned to be excavated from the shores of Mannar by an Australian mining giant when the investors along with government officials came to inspect the areas.

Police filed a case in the case only to withdraw it later.

Local journalists say a huge team comprising officials from the survey department Central Environment Authority, the Assistant Government Agent of Mannar, and other department officials visited the Olaithoduvai, Vala Nagar area to collect samples to test the presence of Titanium in it. These areas come under the Mannar Divisional Secretariat.

The public strongly protested against any such excavation of mineral-rich sand from their area. Women were at the forefront of the protest. “There is no need for you to explore here, you are not welcome here,” a local woman told the officials in Tamil during their agitation.

Representatives of Australia-based ‘Titanium Sands’ are eyeing contracts at five places for excavating sand and extracting valuable minerals from it. The company has been recognized by the Geology Department of the Government of Sri Lanka for mineral excavation on a large scale.

Based on the approval by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) earlier this month, Orion Minerals (Pvt) Limited was incorporated to apply for proper permission.

“The guidance and support of the BOI was of great help in this in this venture. The permission granted to Orion Minerals by the Geology exploration department and the Mines and Minerals directorate at lightning speed for excavation was very useful. When the results come out in a few months, it will directly create a huge impact,” Prof. James Sears, Managing Director, of Titanium Sands told local journalists.

When the visiting team was pointed out the opposition to the project in English by a local resident of Valar Nagar, a representative of Orion Minerals reacted by saying, “We don’t want to fight, we don’t want to argue”.

The return on investment by ‘Titanium Sands’ is expected to be 2 billion Australian Dollars (AUD), and annually there is a potential to excavate 150,000 tons of mineral sands says Dick Bright, who has over fifty years of experience in mineral sand excavation. Adding further he said 122 million AUD will be invested in the project and around 600 locals will get employment opportunities through international Ilmenite producers.

Local residents including local people’s representatives, and religious leaders who say they lost livelihoods due to a new windmill project fear they may have to suffer further. They say the investment will bring more harm than good to them. The authorities accuse the public of hindering the investment and operations.

Dude Thavarani, a local woman spoke of their ordeal by the new windmill project and says, that now the government falsely claims it was completed ahead of time with the support of the local and international experts.
“When the windmill was installed here, the authorities said, they had checked it and the government would not do anything that would affect us. However, today we are standing in the streets believing them. If it rains today, we have to stay in the temple or a shelter for over three months. We are suffering due to the wind energy and sand excavation”.

Dude Thavarani also swore, in such a situation, no outsiders would be allowed to enter their villages. She also warned how multinational companies and huge investments taken forward without the approval of the local community erode the lives of the people.

“No one can come to this place. Even if they come we won’t allow them to step down. The government has offer a solution to this. If we don’t protest at the outset, they will come do the tests and sign the agreement. We have come here with the people’s support. They will claim they have done the soil test. But we will not allow any testing further”.

Even as the government officials arrived at the shore area to collect soil samples where the sand mining was planned, the Tamil protestors gathered and expressed their strong opposition to the project. Mannar police officials who reached the spot immediately filed a case in the Mannar Magistrate’s Court under Article 106 of the penal code by submitting form B.

While the case was being heard, a police officer who exited the courtroom, re-entered and informed the Magistrate they were withdrawing the case, according to lawyer S. Dineshan.

“During the hearing, a police officer suddenly went out and subsequently returned and informed the court, he received a telephone call and informed the court they were withdrawing the case even as the hearing was nearing its end. As such the case was withdrawn”.

Local journalists add that government officials, representatives of the sand mining company, and others were forced to leave Olaithoduvai and Valar Nagar after the change in the police stand and withdrawing the case from the court.

The protesting Tamils point out this is an example of the need for land powers to be devolved to the Provincial Councils under the 13th Amendment to the constitution.

However, the new government led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake too like the earlier governments has made it clear that land and police powers would not be granted to the Provincial Councils.