ITAK launches half-day hartal with twin objectives in North-East

Despite the mixed response in different areas, the hartal on the whole was successful

“Hartal” is a word that entered the political discourse of countries like India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia during British rule. The Gujarati word was popularised by Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian freedom struggle in the 20th century. A hartal denotes a total shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, schools, transport services and courts of law. The Gandhi-led Indian National Congress often resorted to such civil disobedience protests in their campaign for independence from Britain. The Mahatma being a Gujarati himself used the Gujarati word hartal to describe the mass protests resulting in stoppages of work and shutting down of business activity.

The term hartal was first introduced to Sri Lanka known formerly as Ceylon by organisations and trade unions representing the plantation workers of Indian descent in the hill country areas. Strike action was often coupled with a “hartal” shutdown.

When the Sri Lankan Tamils began politically opposing the Sinhala dominated State in the post-independence period, several hartals were conducted by the Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK) known in English as the Federal Party (FP). Even Tamil militant organisations have observed hartals in the past.

However the word hartal became famous in 1953 when an island-wide mass protest cum strike action was launched against the United National Party (UNP) Government in power then. The UNP Government led by PM Dudley Senanayake had removed the rice subsidy thereby increasing the price of rice by 180% .There were other price increases also. The call for the 1953 August Hartal was made by the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), Communist Party (CP), Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party (VLSSP) and the ITAK/FP. The hartal protest resulted in the Police shooting dead 10 persons. Eventually Dudley Senanayake resigned and Sir John Kotelawela became Premier.

Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi

The term hartal was very much in the news this week when the Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi launched a hartal on Monday 18 August. The ITAK is the premier political party of the Sri Lankan Tamils of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Incidentally the ITAK is the third largest party in Parliament with MPs representing all electoral districts in the North and East. The ITAK also heads 35 local authorities in the N-E.

The ITAK declared a hartal in the north and east for two related reasons. The first was to condemn and protest the suspected killing of a Tamil civilian by the military in the Mullaitheevu district. The second was to draw attention to the problem of large numbers of the Sri Lankan armed forces being stationed amidst civilians in the north and east and renew the demand to reduce and relocate military personnel in the two provinces.

The hartal originally scheduled for 15 August was postponed to 18 August. The duration was reduced to a half-day hartal from a full-day one. Although the ITAK alone had called for the hartal, several other political parties such as the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and Crusaders for Democracy (CFD) backed the ITAK call.

Meera Srinivasan the Colombo Correspondent of the Indian English daily “The Hindu” in her report stated, “A symbolic hartal was observed on Monday [August 18, 2025] across Sri Lanka’s north and east, where a majority of the island’s Tamil-speaking people live, against militarisation that continues 16 years after the civil war ended. Many commercial and trading establishments in the Northern Province and Eastern Province remained closed during the morning hours.”

ITAK president C.V.K. Sivagnanam and party secretary M.A. Sumanthiran held a joint press conference in Jaffna and declared the hartal was an overall success. It had been observed in all Tamil areas of the north and east. In some areas there was a large scale response while in others it was comparatively less.

Despite the mixed response in different areas, the hartal on the whole was successful stated the two ITAK leaders. They claimed the hartal was a total success in the Mullaitheevu district. The ITAK praised the Muslim traders of the north especially in Mannar, Vavuniya and Jaffna for their full cooperation. Sivagnanam and Sumanthiran also lamented the fact that the hartal was a failure in Jaffna town regarded as the Tamil cultural capital.

This columnist communicated with ITAK Batticaloa District MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam and asked him about the hartal. He seemed quite pleased with the result. Shanakiyan said the hartal was an 80% success in the Tamil areas of the East. He also said the hartal was not very successful in the Muslim areas though several Muslim owned shops had been shut down in some places. Shanakiyan also pointed out that a single party (ITAK) had launched the hartal and observed “for a single party to close down 80% is a great achievement”.

The ruling Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led National People’s Power (NPP) Government had been firmly opposed to the hartal. The Government was cock a hoop over what was perceived as a hartal fiasco. Gampaha district MP and Deputy Minister for Labour Mahinda Jayasinghe stated in Parliament that the hartal launched by ITAK was a failure and praised the people of the north and east for not cooperating. Other Tamil and Muslim stalwarts of the JVP-NPP also decried the hartal as a failure. Tamil politicians and media organs opposed to the ITAK in general and M.A. Sumanthiran in particular also mocked the hartal as a failure.

It is against this backdrop therefore that this column focuses this week on the North -Eastern hartal launched by the ITAK. This two-part article will delve into the background and reasons for the hartal and related details in depth.

Muthu Aiyan Kattu

Muthu Aiyan Kattu is an agricultural area in the Oddusuddan division of Mullaitheevu district. It is located about 333 km away from Colombo and can be reached by a road from Oddusuddan on the Mankulam–Mullaitheevu A-34 highway. Muthu Aiyan Kattu is about six km to the north-west of Oddusuddan.

Muthu Aiyan Kattu derives its name from the historic Muthu Aiyan Kattu Kulam Tank or artificial lake constructed during the rule of Chozha kings. It is believed that an “Adukkuk kal anaikkattu” (layered stone Anecut) was built across the 20 mile long Paeraaru river under Chozha rule by a nobleman of the Mutharaiyar caste group called Muthuraayan. The anecut was 220 ft. long, 18 ft. wide and 15 ft. high.

The surrounding area that was called Manmalai earlier became known as Muthuraayarkattu Kulam after Muthuraayan who constructed the anecut across Paeraaru and created the tank. As the years passed it became known as Muthaiyankattu kulam. In recent times there has been a concerted effort to revise the name of the place Muthuaiyankattu (Muthu-Aiyan-Kattu).

The ancient tank was restored, renovated and expanded after Sri Lanka known as Ceylon gained independence from the UK. The project undertaken by the Irrigation Department commenced in 1959 and concluded in 7 to 8 years.

Currently the Catchment area is 66 square miles while the tank’s storage capacity is 41,000 acre-ft. and water spread area is 3,100 acres. The MuthuAiyankattu kulam tank’s bund is 5,850 ft. (1,783 m) in length and 27 ft. (8 m) in height. The tank irrigates 6,100 acres mainly for paddy cultivation and subsidiary food crops. The irrigable lands are equally divided between areas coming under the right bank and left bank channel systems.

Muthuaiyankattu kulam is basically an agrarian village. The bulk of the people are engaged in paddy cultivation and growing subsidiary food crops. There is also dairy farming, poultry keeping, timber felling and inland fishing in the Muttuaoiyankattu kulam tank.

63 division camp

The large scale military presence that spread in the north and east after the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009 has resulted in a military camp being set up in Muthuaiyankattu kulam also. A battalion of the 63rd division was stationed in the village and adjoining the tanks.

Army-civilian nexus

As the years progressed, there developed a nexus of sorts between sections of the local population and some elements of the military personnel. This phenomenon was not restricted to Muthuaiyankattu and the 63 division camp alone. It was widely prevalent in a number of villages in the north and east where military camps had been established amidst Tamil civilian neighbourhoods. This process was further strengthened or supplemented by the Sri Lankan army military intelligence scheme to pay Rs. 30,000 per month to 3,500 rehabilitated former LTTE cadres who were required to function as the “eyes and ears” of the State.

In the case of Muthuaiyankattu kulam some of the village youths and sections of the army in the camp had an illegal commercial relationship. In a barter system of sorts, soldiers would provide the food items purloined from the rations allocated to the camps. There were instances of other items such as discarded clothing and scrap metal being given too. Soldiers would at times engage in the unlawful hunting of deer, sambhur and wild pigs and sell the venison and pork to the village youths.

The youths in turn provided the soldiers with toddy, illicitly brewed arrack and also Ganja and drugs. The soldiers sometimes paid cash up front for the purchase of liquor and drugs. These dealings were at times messy and there were incidents of friction too. Officially this army-civilian dealings were unlawful but there was suspicion that the higher-ups were wilfully turning a blind eye to these “unofficial” happenings.

Meanwhile the army has in recent times been quietly engaged in a re-structuring scheme in the north and east whereby some smaller camps are dismantled and the personnel transferred to other locations. The Muthuaiyankattu camp is also in the process of being relocated and the number of troops stationed there has come down from 250 to 25.

Edirmanasingam Kabilraj

On 6 August 2025, a young resident of Muthuaiyankattu kulam got a telephone call from one of his military contacts at the camp. This was followed up on 7 August by a message from another soldier also. The young man was 32-year-old Edirmanasingam Kabilraj. He was originally from the Jaffna peninsula but was now settled in Muthuaiyankattu kulam. Kabilraj had a 17-year-old wife and child. His elder sister had been recently elected a member of a Pradeshiya Sabha or divisional council in Jaffna on the Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA) ticket.

Kabilraj was reportedly told by his army contacts that the army was relocating and that there were a lot of tin roofing sheets available. He was asked to come over with a certain amount of spirits and powder and take away the tin roofing. Kabilraj enlisted the help of four other friends and went to the army camp on the night of 7 August 2025. They entered the camp through the rear.

What happened thereafter is somewhat unclear and confusing. There was a fracas inside the camp. According to one version the soldiers who had “invited” Kabilraj to come and take away the roofing materials were absent and other soldiers were there instead. They had thought the youths were thieves entering the camp by stealth and began assaulting them. According to another version, there had been a quarrel between the soldiers and youths because the stipulated amount of spirits and powder had not been brought by the latter. According to a third version, Kabilraj had earlier defaulted another soldier by taking his cash and not delivering the goods promised. This man seeing Kabilraj had along with two other soldiers begun assaulting Kabilraj and his friends.

Assault and escape

It is alleged that the youths were set upon by the soldiers who started assaulting them. Three of the five youths escaped by plunging into the Muthuaiyankattu tank and swimming across. One of the youths had reportedly managed to record the assault of his comrades on his phone. He had thrown the phone into a bush and escaped by swimming across the tank. The phone was later retrieved and scenes of the assault went viral via internet.

With three of the five youths escaping and returning to the village, news of the incident began spreading in Muthuaiyankattu Kulam. Concerns were expressed about the safety and security of the two youths in army custody. Agitated villagers began gathering at the camp and began protesting. After a while the soldiers released another youth who was hospitalised with assault injuries.

However Ethirmannasingham Kabilraj was yet missing. Soldiers in the camp they had no knowledge of him. People continued to raise concerns about his safety. Matters took a turn for the worse when Kabilraj’s body was found floating in the waters of Muthuaiyankattu kulam tank in the morning on 9 August. The Police from Oddusuddan arrived.

ITAK MP Raviharan

Large crowds converged demanding justice. ITAK Wanni district MP Thurairajah Raviharan who is from the Mullaitheevu district arrived at the scene and calmed the irate villagers. Raviharan warned the Police that he would lead the people and demonstrate in front of the Oddusuddan police station if the Police did not investigate the death and arrest those responsible.

There are various theories afloat about the body of Kabilraj floating in the waters. One is that he jumped into the water to avoid being assaulted and drowned because he could not swim. Another theory is that he allegedly died in military custody and the body was dumped in the tank. An open verdict has been issued and vital organs of the body have been sent to Colombo for an intensive medical examination to ascertain the cause of death. A special Police team was sent from Colombo to Muthuaiyankattu to conduct an intensive investigation.

4 soldiers remanded

Police officials acting in tandem with military police officials initially arrested three soldiers. Two of the soldiers were the ones who had asked Kabilraj to come to the camp. The third was arrested on suspicion of assault. Subsequently a fourth soldier was also arrested. All four were produced in the Mullaitheevu courts on 19 August and have been remanded until 26 August. ITAK Secretary and President’s Counsel MA Sumanthiran appeared in court along with lawyers from Mullaitheevu.

Meanwhile the impact of the incident was initially shocking. 16 years after the war had ended, a Tamil youth had been allegedly killed by the army. Furthermore he and four of his friends had been reportedly summoned by the soldiers themselves to the camp. Though full details of what had happened were not available, the news that the body of a Tamil youth allegedly killed by the army was discovered floating in the Muthuaiyan tank during a time of peace saddened and angered many people.

It was under these circumstances that the ITAK chose to act. The party’s 12-member politburo discussed the situation via internet and arrived at a unanimous decision to launch a hartal. The hartal had a two-fold objective. In the short term the hartal was to demand justice for the death of Kabilraj. In the long term the hartal would draw attention to the large scale military presence in the north and east even though the war had ended 16 years ago.

ITAK letter to President AKD

ITAK President C.V.K. Sivagnanam and Secretary M.A. Sumanthiran wrote a joint letter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake dated 10 August 2025 and informed the president about the incident and the intention of the party to conduct a hartal. This is what the letter stated -

“Your Excellency’s attention is drawn to the finding of the body of Edirmanasingam Kabilraj (32 Years) in the Muttaiyankattu Tank yesterday morning.”

“It has now been revealed that on the 07th August 2025, 5 men were asked to come to the 63rd Division camp of Sri Lankan Army and been severely beaten by the soldiers there.”

“One of them, the said Kabilraj, had gone missing and later his body was found floating in the Tank. We have come to know that some soldiers have been arrested in this regard”

“We bring this matter to your Excellency’s urgent attention not only to urge your Excellency to ensure unhindered thorough investigation and for the culprits to brought to book, but also to highlight the oppressive conduct and excessive presence of the military in the North and the East.”

“We urge your Excellency to take immediate steps to remove the excessive presence of the military without delay, and also to ensure the process of Justice in this instance is carried out without interference.”

“We have called for a “Hartal” on Friday the 15th August 2025, in the entirety of North and East Provinces to protest against the military’s brutality that continues to-date.”

Nallur Festival

A full-day hartal was originally scheduled for Friday 15 August but there were two major snags. Firstly the Nallur Kandaswamy “Thiruvizha” was on and the Karthigai Festival in which Lord Muruga accompanied by consorts Deivanai and Valli circles the temple in a three-compartmentalised chariot was to take place on 15th evening.

Madhu Feast

Secondly it was the day of the annual feast of our Lady of the Rosary at the Catholic Church at Madhu (Maruthamadhu) in Mannar. Thousands of Catholics were to attend mass on 15 August morning at the Our Lady of Madhu church.

Postponed to 18th

Due to these reasons the proposed hartal was postponed to Monday 18 August. Again there was a hitch. The 25-day-long Nallur festival was yet continuing and the Vel Vimaanam festival was to be held in the afternoon/evening of 18th. Lord Muruga parades in a Golden chariot at this festival also known as Thanga Ratham. Moreover several business and commercial associations were unhappy about a day-long hartal. Representations were also made on behalf of daily wage earners.

Morning to noon

As such a compromise was reached. The duration of the hartal was reduced in half. Instead of being from dawn to dusk, it was to be from morning to noon. What happened thereafter would be related in detail in the second part of this article.

(The writer can be reached at [email protected].)