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Religious extremism compounds crisis in East
From Frances Bulathsinghala in Batticaloa
Batticaloa district which is turning out to be a killing field defying the ceasefire agreement has one more intrigue added to its list of deathly confusions. The emergence of what is seen by some quarters as Islamic extremism.

Last Friday there was news that Muslim factions, the mainstream groups and extremists, were on the verge of clashing, following a police complaint made by the mainstream Muslims that they were being threatened by the extremists. With the intervention of the Batticaloa police the clash was averted but as the Batticaloa SSP says the milieu concerning Muslim religious fervour in the area is becoming inflammable.

"There is now an assortment of Muslim factions. More than 90 percent of them belong to the mainstream. Last Friday we called a meeting with several groups and gave them a warning that they should respect the others’ right of belief. It was requested of them to lower the volume of their loudspeakers," SSP Nandana Munasinghe said.

Five minutes in Batticaloa’s streets, especially in the densely Muslim populated Kathankudy, one witnesses women completely covered, even their eyes sealed off with thick net in the manner found in Muslim countries such as Afghanistan.

"I do not think it is a healthy sign if Muslims here practise their religion as extremists groups do," said Batticaloa District SLMM Chief Steen Joergensen in an interview with The Sunday Times, referring to various aspects of Muslim fundamentalism seen mounting in the area.

His comment comes in the wake of the killing of a policeman a fortnight ago being traced to an emerging Muslim extremists group.

In his capacity as the district’s cease-fire monitoring head, Mr. Joergensen points out however that there is no ‘exact proof’ to assert that the killing was carried out by a Muslim faction, in the same manner there is no ‘exact proof’ to link the recent continuous killings with either the LTTE or the dissident Karuna faction.

"According to recent disclosures there are indications that Muslims in the region are incited with extremists views and aspects of fundamentalism. Since I came here last July I have seen a clear increase of women being completely covered up. There are meanwhile large numbers of people being sent to Saudi Arabia to study the Quran in the orthodox way," says Joergenson in his observations.

Meanwhile S. M. Izzadeen, a government Muslim representative of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Batticaloa adds that the Muslims are finding themselves caught increasingly between the LTTE and the Karuna faction.

"At present there is much unrest and fear among the Muslims. The most recent killings of Muslims have been of four men last month. There is the sentiment that Muslims must prepare to defend themselves. The situation here is complicated," says Mr. Izzadeen..

He refers meanwhile to the clashes last year in Kathankudy between the mainstream Muslims and a new faction advocating different thinking.
Muslim sources in the area meanwhile claim that the cultural identity that the eastern Muslims had retained over the years had become fused with influences from other Muslim countries starting with the Iranian revolution.

"The dress enabling the complete covering of women was introduced then with the free distribution of these items by some graduates of this country among the families here. However it is only lately that the people here adopted the strict and extremist Muslim laws which are not common here, especially to the east. Here the Muslims had a history of practising their religion in a pious but moderate manner that did not alienate themselves from the Tamils or the Sinhalese, in the multi ethnic east. Now there is a lot of influence from the Middle East with several moulavis given scholarships to those countries. Their influence when they come back here carries a lot of weight.

The Muslims in the area have suffered extensively due to the ethnic conflict and they feel that they do not have a proper voice. In such a context resorting to extremism could be seen as a shield," a Muslim scholar in the area said. Known for his moderate views on Islam, he claimed that last year's clashes have set a dangerous trend.

"We cannot speak openly. We might even have to face death threats," he said on grounds of anonymity. A. C. M Shamsudeen, a member of the areas Fishermen’s Association had just moved into the temporary shelter constructed by the LTTE-affiliated NGO, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation, in Ollikulam his birth place in Batticaloa en route to Kokadicholai.

He is one of the 319 Muslim families driven out in 1990 from Ollikulam. "We left, when we fled the region from the LTTE without anything but the clothes on our bodies. We come back here the same way, after the tsunami with only the clothes," Shamsudeen says adding that the Muslims feel they are neglected by the government and their Muslim representatives. But he adds that many support extremists, in the belief they will offer them humanitarian help.

He declines to give his opinion on Muslim fundamentalism pointing out that he has more immediate worries. His chief concern now, he says, is survival as only 5% of the fishing industry is restored and he is so far jobless.

Meanwhile, the Muslim farmers of the Kokkadicholai say they have not got any assurance from the LTTE of getting their land back and sources in the area say that agitation waged by them to get their rightful property returned to them might be supported by various Muslim factions.

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