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Nalaka
Nonis and Santhush Fernando reporting from Sivurangala This seems to be the underlying tone of the remarks made by more than thousand Muslim villagers who on Tuesday gathered on the outskirts of the Sivurangala (Surangal) checkpoint in anticipation of joining the Sihala Urumaya protest march towards the LTTE's controversail camp at Manirasakulam.
"The peace process has only made our situation worse. We don't want this peace," said a Muslim leader who had arrived from Kinniya, a Muslim dominated area in the Trincomalee district. The Muslim protesters
who also came from Sivurangala (Surangal) and Mollipothana expressed
anger and disappointment when the Police and the Army prevented
them from joining the Sihala Urumaya marchers. However, some 200
of them managed to join the march, carrying and shouting slogans
such as "We don't want this peace". 'The 20-year war had brought untold hardship on us and we had lost much of our income-generating avenues. To keep the home fires burning, many of the Muslim women had left for West Asia as housemaids and this situation has given rise to many social problems and badly affected the institution of family. "But after the signing of the ceasefire agreement, we have been forced to abandon paddy and chena cultivation, cattle farming and fishing. Besides, we are forced to pay illegal taxes to the LTTE (See box) and our youths are abducted by Tiger cadres who demand huge sums as ransom for their release. The ceasefire has brought us nothing but more hardships," the spokesman said. He said that despite problems, the Muslims managed to cultivate their land in the vicinity of the Manirasakulam LTTE camp during the Yala season but they were not sure whether they would be able to do so in the coming Maha season because of the presence of the camp, which he pointed out was set up just three months ago on a land which was previously inhabited by the Muslims. The Muslims, most of whom are internally displaced, said they irrigated their land with water obtained from the Kurangupanchan tank which was known as the lifeline of Kinniya for its large capacity but due to the LTTE presence in the area, they were unable to draw water from the tank. They said besides the LTTE-induced restrictions, the high security zone restrictions imposed by the security forces had also severely affected their fishing activities which they depended on for their livelihood. The Muslims also alleged that much of their cattle had been stolen or forcibly taken away by LTTE supporters and they were now forced to take their remaining cattle to Kantale for grazing. One villager said that in spite of provocation by the LTTE, the Kinniya Muslims had always lived amicably with the Tamils and never resorted to violent reprisals as happened in other areas of the Eastern Province in the recent past. The Muslims said they hoped the Government, the LTTE and the SLMM would lend a sympathetic ear to their plight and help them live peaceful lives.
Sihala Urumaya
leader Thilak Karunaratne said their attempt to storm the LTTE camp
at Manirasakulam was a "symbolic" act aimed at creating
awareness on the dangers posed to the country's security and they
did not go there to physically remove it. He said the LTTE had refused to accept the SLMM ruling that the camp had come up in the Government-controlled area but the Government was just sitting like an idle observer. Referring to reports that LTTE had built a camp in Kantale, the SU leader warned that at this rate soon there would be camps in Habarana, Dambulla and Kurunegala and scoffed at the government, saying that even if the Tigers set up a camp at Temple Trees, it would do nothing. Questioning a statement by the Defence Ministry Secretary that the Manirasakulam camp issue had been referred to Oslo, Mr. Karunaratne asked what right a foreign country had to take a decision on a matter that affected the security of Sri Lanka. He said that the Sihala Urumaya had to abandon the protest to avoid a confrontation between the security forces and "patriotic Muslims" from the areas around Manirasakulam. "These Muslims have been pushed into a desperate situation. We feared that their agitation might lead to an unruly situation as the security forces had been given instructions by the Defence Ministry to stop the marchers," Mr. Karunaratne said. These Muslims felt that they had been abandoned by mainstream Muslim parties, the SU leader said adding that they even shouted slogans hailing the Sihala Urumaya and invited his party to open a branch in Kinniya. Apart from Mr. Karunaratne, National Organizer Champaka Ranawaka and Propaganda Secretary Udaya Prabath Gammanpila, the march under the theme "Arms are yours, land is ours" was joined by some 200 SU activists from Colombo, Gampaha, Kandy, Kalutara and Kantale. The marchers were turned back by the police and the army, some six kilometres from the camp. Referring to the failure of the Police to intervene or arrest LTTE cadres who tried to block the SU march, Mr. Karunaratne said that what ruled the North and East of the country was not the law of the land, but the law of the LTTE. He said that even if the LTTE cadres were arrested, some lawyers would threaten the policemen with fundamental rights petitions and get them released. He also accused the Government of not bringing to the notice of the international community that the LTTE had violated the ceasefire agreement more than 3,000 times and had not respected the SLMM ruling with regard to the camp and the hoisting of the Eelam flag at recent Pongu Thamil celebrations in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Mannar. Mr. Karunaratne said the government inaction had given the LTTE so much courage that its female cadres even show their buttocks to security forces personnel to provoke them. |
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Manirasakulam
Muslims burning in ceasefire 
