TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s main Tamil political party has accused government authorities of beginning religious construction at the disputed Kanniya site in the eastern district of Trincomalee despite a court order that it says prohibits such work.
Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, the parliamentary group leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi, or ITAK, said the Department of Archaeology, together with the Trincomalee district secretary and other government officials, had commenced construction work at the site on Wednesday morning.
Mr. Rasamanickam said he had attempted to contact the director-general of the Department of Archaeology after learning of the development. ITAK representatives had only recently held discussions with archaeology officials over a series of longstanding disputes involving religious and archaeological sites, with an emphasis on resolving them through dialogue and within the framework of the law.
“The Kanniya site is the subject of a 2020 court judgment, which clearly states that no religious construction should be carried out at the location,” Mr. Rasamanickam said in a statement. “If the reported construction has proceeded despite that judgment, it raises serious concerns regarding compliance with the rule of law and the authority of the courts.”
Kanniya, near Trincomalee, has for years been at the center of competing religious and historical claims, making construction and archaeological activity at the site a politically and religiously sensitive issue.
Mr. Rasamanickam said actions by state institutions that appeared to disregard judicial decisions risked undermining efforts to settle such disputes through engagement and dialogue.
“At a time when we are making genuine efforts to resolve sensitive issues through engagement and dialogue, actions of this nature undermine confidence and create unnecessary tensions,” he said. “State institutions must act in accordance with court orders and the law at all times.”
He said M.A. Sumanthiran, ITAK’s general secretary and a President’s Counsel, would take legal action over the matter.
Mr. Rasamanickam also cited a response from the minister responsible for Buddha Sasana and religious affairs, who, according to the lawmaker, said that if a court order existed, it must be respected and that appropriate action would be taken in accordance with both the judgment and Sri Lanka’s archaeological laws.
“I trust that the Government will act swiftly to uphold the law and ensure that no public institution acts in contravention of a valid court order,” Mr. Rasamanickam said.
The dispute comes amid longstanding tensions over archaeological and religious sites in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces. Tamil political representatives have repeatedly accused state agencies of using archaeology and heritage conservation to facilitate the expansion of Buddhist religious sites in areas they regard as historically Tamil. Government authorities and Buddhist groups have rejected such allegations in the past, maintaining that archaeological interventions are intended to protect sites of historical and cultural significance.
