October 22, 1990, is well etched in the minds of tens of thousands of Muslims who for generations had lived in northern Sri Lanka till then. It was the day that the LTTE issued an evict order on more than 100,000 of them to leave the northern districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya within 48 hours. Uprooted from their homes, livelihoods lost, education in shambles, men, women and children moved enmasse to the north central province to settle into a life in welfare centres mainly in the Puttalam district.

Now, with the end of hostilities in the north after the military defeat of the LTTE, the hopes of returning to their homes after 19 years may finally become a reality.

A day in the life of a family inside the compound of a welfare centre home.

Back to welfare centre from school: The new generation born and bred in welfare centres

However, when The Sunday Times spoke to some of them, they expressed mixed feelings about the prospect of going back and restarting their lives. While those of the older generation were more enthusiastic at the prospect of rebuilding their lives back in their earlier surroundings, for the younger generation who has not known life outside the welfare camps in Puttalam, such a move did not appear to be that appealing.

The number of northern Muslims living in welfare camps stands close to 80,000 people or around 20,000 families. Of these, over 18,000 families or 73,640 people live in the Puttalam district while the rest are scattered in the districts of Kurunegala, Anuradhapura and Colombo.

Kasi Fatheema Deen from Kilinochchi was a widow with three children who made a living by doing contract work. She had her own home and an income to fend for herself and her children. But with the eviction order by the LTTE, she had to flee her home within hours, leaving all her belongings behind. “The LTTE used loudspeakers to tell us to leave our homes. The orders were specific that we leave all our belongings behind and go. We managed to find whatever mode of transport available and flee to safety,” she said.

Today, she works in the saltern near the welfare camp in Puttalam and is struggling to make ends meet. After years of living in a mud and thatch house, she has qualified to own a new home under a World Bank funded project in the area. But for her the defeat of the LTTE is not good enough reason to persuade her to return to Kilinochchi. “What is the guarantee that the same thing will not happen to us once again. Even if life here is difficult, I feel safe here,” she said.

Prior to the 1990 eviction, Muslims occupied a prominent place in the Jaffna town running textiles stores, tailoring shops , gold shops, meat shops and the night bazaar. Mohamed Sultan Tameen who worked in the meat market in the town and gets nostalgic about life there. “We lived peacefully with everybody but now things may not be the same,” he said. Tameen too is apprehensive about going back, with security being his main concern.

Waiting to buy provisions at a shop run by displaced persons.

Their views are contrary to those of S.M.Bhanu who lived in Kilinochchi with her husband and five children. They owned a hotel in the town and led a comfortable life until their lives were turned upside down overnight by the LTTE. “We moved from place to place soon after we left our home and finally settled in Puttalam. My husband found a job in a hotel in the town here. But we like to go back to our old home and restart our lives,” she said.

The Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services last week concluded a survey of several welfare camps in the Mundal area which comprised about 1,000 of the displaced persons asking them to fill out a questionnaire which included a question whether they would like to return to their homes in the north

. Although the final results of the survey is yet to be compiled, a Ministry official involved in it said, many of the older generation of Muslims were happy at the prospect of returning home. “Many of the children who were displaced are now grown up, some were born here and many are married and have families of their own. They are now well settled so they prefer to live here,” he said. The questionnaire used in the Mundal area will be used in the other welfare camps too as a first step to resettling the people.

M.N.M.M.Fahry who is the Acting Commissioner of the Secretariat of Northern Displaced Muslims which was set up in Puttalam in 2005 to attend to the administrative requirements of the displaced persons said, that several villagers especially those from Mannar have relocated their entire village by now after buying several acres of land and distributing it among themselves. “Those who have relocated will not go back but there are others who want to go back to their homes, particularly people who owned land in the north,” he said.

The resettlement moves are being supported by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). Party leader Rauff Hakeem said they will be cooperating with the government on the issue .As a first step the SLMC will initiate a dialogue with the Task Force that has been set up on northern development and discuss the modalities of resettling the Muslims.

“Earlier the Muslims were wary about security guarantees by the government in the backdrop of the LTTE being active, but now that fear is no longer there. However, issues including infrastructure development, guarantee of livelihoods and the clearing of land for cultivation need to be addressed before the resettlement process begins,” he said.

Mohamed Sultan Tameen	S.M.Bhanu	Kasi Fatheema Deen

With the government announcing elections to the Jaffna Municipal Council scheduled for August, Mr. Hakeem said the SLMC is also working to ensure that the Muslims displaced from the Municipality are allowed to vote from their present places of residence.

Sapna Banu was just three years old when her parents fled their fishing village in Mannar on the orders of the LTTE. She has little memory of her life outside the welfare camp that she had lived in for 19 years and the prospect of going back to her old home excites her.

“My parents have told me about their life back home and I am eager to go back and live there. It will certainly be better than living in a welfare camp,” she said.