The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has issued a letter to Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, calling for the immediate withdrawal of a Gazette notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Settlement Ordinance, which could pave the way for the mass appropriation of lands in the Tamil North-East.

The letter, dated 3 May 2025 and signed by ITAK General Secretary M.A. Sumanthiran, raises grave concerns over Gazette No. 2430 issued on 28 March 2025, which gives landowners just three months to formally assert ownership claims before their lands are declared state property under Section 5(1) of the Ordinance.

The Sri Lankan government has issued a Gazette notification announcing the mass appropriation of lands across the Tamil homeland, including large coastal areas from Pudumatalan to Mullivaikkal—site of Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils in May 2009.

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A photograph of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake taken during the government’s May Day rally in Colombo has swiftly been removed from official platforms at the request of authorities.

The image, captured by Lahiru Harshana, a staff photographer for a Colombo-based daily newspaper, depicts Dissanayake mid-speech with both hands raised and his gaze directed skyward, with a sickle and hammer symbol in the backdrop.