{"id":55077,"date":"2020-12-26T10:47:52","date_gmt":"2020-12-26T10:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=55077"},"modified":"2020-12-26T10:49:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T10:49:30","slug":"mannar-island-is-a-bird-paradise-that-survived-sri-lankas-civil-war-now-an-australian-mining-company-wants-its-sand-abc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/mannar-island-is-a-bird-paradise-that-survived-sri-lankas-civil-war-now-an-australian-mining-company-wants-its-sand-abc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Mannar Island is a bird paradise that survived Sri Lanka’s civil war. Now an Australian mining company wants its sand – ABC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mannar Island is a bird paradise that survived Sri Lanka’s civil war. Now an Australian mining company wants its sand – ABC News<\/span><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
Fishing is one of the main industries on the island.(Supplied: Renuka Senanayake)<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Source:<\/span><\/strong>ABC<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As a small child, Shreen Abdul Saroor remembers getting up before dawn with her father to spy on the masses of migratory birds that would visit her island.<\/span><\/p>\n

The birds were on their way down the Central Asian flyway \u2014 a migration path that crosses 30 countries from Siberia to the Indian Ocean.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We would hide somewhere and \u2026 we don’t make any noise,” Ms Saroor recalls.<\/span><\/p>\n

“[Then we’d watch] them coming and landing in the causeway areas and then catching fish and taking off as a huge group covering the entire sky.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Up to a million birds stop at Mannar Island, off the north-west coast of Sri Lanka, to feed during the winter.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Vankalai Bird Sanctuary on the southern tip of the island is protected by the Sri Lankan government and has been internationally recognised under the Ramsar Convention for its importance to both local and migratory birds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms Saroor also remembers climbing the swollen trunks and gnarled branches of the baobab trees \u2014 trees synonymous with Africa, Madagascar and Australia’s Kimberley, but also found incongruously on her tiny island.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Even though I fondly remember these baobab trees, one thing that I really remember is how \u2026 [members of the militant separatist group the Tamil Tigers] put the mutilated heads of the Indian peacekeeping forces on those trees.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A baobab tree, native to northern Africa brought to Mannar Island by Arab traders.(Supplied: Renuka Senanayake)<\/cite><\/span><\/p>\n

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought a 30-year civil war with majority Sinhalese Sri Lankan military, in an attempt to create an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms Saroor had already left the island to study in Colombo in 1990 when the Tamil Tigers forced her remaining family off Mannar Island, along with all the other Muslim residents.<\/span><\/p>\n