Ambalavar Nallathambi Velayutham points to a boundary stone placed by the forest department on disputed farmland in Kunjankulam village, Batticaloa. (AFP pic)BATTICALOA: Tired but resolute, dozens of Tamil cattle farmers have held a round-the-clock vigil for almost three years in eastern Sri Lanka, protesting what they call land "theft".
At shift change, farmers exchange news before settling beneath a tarpaulin beside photographs of the bloodied bodies of their dead cows.
"They have been shooting our cattle, threatening us, assaulting us, and spraying pesticides or poison on the pasture lands where our cattle graze," said Seenithamby Thiyagarajah, president of the local farmers' association, detailing the push his community felt from recipients of a state-funded program that was driving them off their land.
