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Fear
is the key: Muslims in East mull armed option
The Colombo-based Council of Muslims of Sri Lanka, an umbrella organisation, which visited the East early this month and conducted a questionnaire-based survey, says the salient feature of the survey result was that Muslims in the East feel that they are increasingly becoming physically, socially and economically insecure. "It is security, security and nothing but security that the Eastern Province Muslims are concerned about and worrying over," Council President A. H. G. Ameen told a news conference held this week to release the survey results. Scoffing at the division of the East into cleared and uncleared areas, Mr. Ameen said the LTTE domination in the so-called uncleared areas or areas under government control was expanding with the armed forces themselves consulting the LTTE on security matters. "Muslims in the Trincomalee Town told us that when they felt there was an attempt to drive them out following the recent Kinniya and Muttur incidents, they complained to the security forces. But the answer given to them was that they could not assure their security without consulting the LTTE's area leader Pathuman," Mr. Ameen said. Two years of no war have made the plight of Muslims worse. During the war, the security forces in the east were firmly in control, but the ceasefire has rendered Muslims insecure because the security forces are reluctant to trigger hostilities and take the blame for sabotaging the ceasefire. There has been no improvement in their security even after the Defence Ministry was taken over by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The LTTE's harassment of the Muslims in the form of land-grabbing, double taxation and physical harm continues and is on the increase while the protection the Muslims expect from the armed forces is largely absent. Muslims say they never asked for protection from the LTTE and the Government has failed to act in this situation. The general feeling among the Muslims is that the Interim Self-Governing Authority of the LTTE has already come to stay in both cleared and uncleared areas. It is against such a backdrop that Muslim youth are seriously thinking of taking up arms to defend themselves and their right to live in a place where they have been living for nearly a thousand years, according to Mr. Ameen and other council members who said their observations were based on extensive discussions with civil society members. Recalling that the LTTE and other armed Tamil groups were a byproduct of the failure of the established Tamil parties to find a solution to genuine Tamil problems, the council members said they observed a similar trend in the Muslim body politic in the East -- the only province where the Muslims are a majority, constituting 40.1% of the population. The Tamils constitute 32.3 percent and the Sinhalese 26.5%. With Muslim MPs of the area doing little or nothing towards finding a solution to the security problem, the youth are losing faith in politicians and seriously thinking of countering LTTE violence with violence, though they know that they are no match for the LTTE firepower. Several months ago, President Kumaratunga, commenting on the worsening security situation in the East, warned of such likelihood. The survey report based on answers to thousands of questionnaires, distributed across the east, also dealt with tax, land and other issues that are vital for the survival and security of the Muslims. On the question of taxation, the report says that the Muslims of the East are subject to dual taxation. Muslims living in the so-called cleared areas are also being subjected to LTTE taxation. Even a poor firewood seller has to pay a tax of Rs. 500 to the LTTE. They cannot even cultivate their land without paying the LTTE tax, the report notes. It also notes that land belonging to Muslims is being grabbed by violent or dishonest means. "Despite the call by the LTTE for Muslims to return to their paddy-fields, Muslims are harassed and intimidated when they return to their fields. In Akkaraipattu after discussion with the LTTE leaders Muslims had gone back to their paddy-fields but they were chased away by the LTTE and some were assaulted. "Muslims are compelled to sell their lands to Tamils for a nominal sum. It is the LTTE which fixes the price of the lands. A Muslim diplomat was forced to sell several acres of land to the Tamils by the LTTE for a meagre sum against his will," the report says, noting that although Muslims constitute 40.1% of the province's population, not even 15% of the land has been distributed among Muslims. According to the survey, the Muslim population in the Trincomalee District is over 40% but they hold only 12% of the land while in the Batticaloa District 36% Muslims hold only 2% of the land. The unremitting harassment and intimidation have eroded Muslim confidence in the LTTE and they fear the situation will become worse when the LTTE interim administration unit comes into being. They say they have lived with Tamils in harmony for centuries but it is difficult to assume that the Muslims will be safe under an LTTE administration, judging by the subtle attempts to eliminate or ethnically cleanse them from the East - like what happened in Jaffna in 1991 and recently in Kinniya and Muttur. It is this fear that is making them to call for the demerger of the North and the East. It is this fear that prompted the Muslims to say yes to the question: "Do you want the de-merger of the Northeast?" It is this fear that is also driving them towards the final option of armed self-defence. The Muslims say that they do not want to sabotage the peace process or add a further complication to the ethnic war. They say that as a solution they once suggested that Muslims be enrolled as police officers so that they could provide security to Muslim villages. But they allege that the government dropped the idea of recruiting more Muslims to the Police force under pressure from the Tamil National Alliance, whose support the government needs for its political survival. They point out that when more than 1750 Muslims from Akkaraipattu applied to join the police force in response to a recent recruitment drive, only 72 were called for interviews and that was the end of it. The Council of Muslims say the Muslims of the East request the President to recruit 2000 Muslims to the Police Force on an urgent and priority basis in a bid to beef up security in areas where they live. The Council also appeals to the President and the Prime Minister to immediately intervene and ensure security for Muslims. The Council of Muslim report in its conclusion stresses the need for an independent Muslim delegation at the peace talks to achieve permanent solution to the ethnic conflict. The report also notes that most of the Muslim MPs stand divided and fail to extend their help to the Muslims at the time of crises. “Most of them are in Colombo and do not visit their electorates. Muslims in such areas are helpless and have become ‘orphans’. "Three Muslim Parliamentarians of the Trincomalee District have not visited their respective people for a long period of time. The angry Muslims have stoned their houses in the Trincomalee District. There is a demand for Muslim Parliamentarians to unite. Civil society is of the opinion that the time has come for Muslim leaders to unite together for a common objective," the report says. |
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