16th November 1997

Muslim factor in the ethnic tangle

Point of View

By Henry P. Abeyasekera

The generous hospi tality of the kings of Kandy towards the Muslims at the time the Portuguese were conquering the south western coastal areas and driving them off the seas, has boomeranged on the present day Sri Lankan government which succeeded to the sovereignty of Kandy which at one time claimed to embrace the entire island.

As is well known, the conflict between the Protuguese and the Muslims to dominate the spice trade and later the gem and other trades led to the Muslims being driven off the seas altogether. They were also prevented from using their harbours. In fact they were driven out of their homesteads.

These seafaring Muslims, finding that the Portuguese onslaught was crippling their trade throughout the South Asian seas, and even beyond, were at their wits' end as they had not encountered any opposition before. In their desperation, with nowhere to go, they turned to the Kings of Kandy whose kingdom was the only remaining bastion against the guns of the dominant Portuguese armies.

It was an established tradition of Sinhala kingship that they were tolerant to any other people arriving in the island and living peacefully with the indigenous population.

They did not consider them as outsiders but as their own citizens. The appeal of the displaced Muslims therefore did not go unheeded. The kings of Kandy considered it their duty to succour the Muslims in their extremity. They granted them villages nearby or around Kandy to settle in. However, the desire of many of these Muslims was to recoup their sea trade from which they had been driven away.

So, many of them, with the permission of the Kings went eastwards and settled on the eastern coast where some Muslims had settled from early times. Thus did it come to pass that Muslims in considerable numbers established settlements on the eastern coast from near Mullaitivu, in Kutchchaveli through Trincomalee and Batticaloa areas down to Pottuvil, Arugam Bay and even Panama.

While some of them went back to their ancient sea trade, for there were spice and gem producing areas within easy reach, and some took to fishing, others branched off to paddy cultivation for which there were good opportunities.

From this it followed that they took to rearing of large herds of cattle and buffalo and poultry breeding of course, became a very profitable and widespread cottage industry. The good business men that they were, they soon owned large tracts of paddy lands and even coconut estates. There were then the itinerant traders, who with their pack bulls penetrated into the villages of the dry zone, to Bintenne and the hinterland of Hambantota. Peena, who figured in R. L. Spittal's 'Savage Sanctuary' and the Muslim traders mentioned in Wolfe's 'Village in the Jungle' were vividly characteristic of this group. Some also became experts at noosing elephants. They formed a special group called the Pannikars. Trading in elephant tusks was a lucrative business.

The Muslims who settled in the eastern province thus became a very prosperous community and lived in peace with the other communities among whom they had settled. It was in this background that ethnic strife in these areas erupted.

The LTTE came down heavily on the Muslims who along with the Sinhala inhabitants of these areas were subjected to the ethnic cleansing policy of the LTTE in the Eastern Province as a prelude to achieving their unattainable dream of wresting from the Sri Lankan government what they claim as their 'traditional homelands.' If the Portuguese chastised the Muslims with whips and drove them out of their traditional trades in the western and southern coasts, the LTTE chastised them in their eastern settlements, with scorpions.

The litany of their woes at the hands of the LTTE is a long one. To mention only a few of the more gruesome acts of terrorist mayhem: On the 3rd. of August 1990 in Kathankudy in Batticaloa, the LTTE massacred in cold blood 93 Muslims and wounded 70 while they were kneeling in prayer in the Meera Jumma and Hussaina Mosques.

Two days later, at Mullayankanda in Ampara, they killed 17 unarmed Muslim farmers returning from their fields. On the 19th September 1991 they killed 13 and wounded 6 in the Muslim village of Palliyagodella, in Polonnaruwa. On the 29th April 1992, 58 Muslim were hacked to death and 15 injured in the village of Karapola in Polonnaruwa. On the same day about 50 persons were killed in the village of Allinchipathana. On the 15th of July 1992 at Kirankulam in Batticaloa, they attacked a bus and killed 19 Muslim passengers. Entire villages were wiped out. There were many instances of very rich Muslims who were kidnapped and held to ransom. The litany is unending.

Given this scenario, one would have expected the Muslims in these areas to throw in their lot heavily on the Sri Lankan government side and help it to establish peace so that they could return to their homes. They had been living in peace and amity through the centuries with their Sinhala brethren except for the aberration of the 1915 riots.

What is happening in the east is an unbelievable reversal of norms.Muslim politicians, instead of aiding the government in its efforts to end the war, are following a line of action which is confounding an already existing confused situation.

The problem of ironing out difficulties with the Tamil Parties who are demanding a merger of the two provinces, or at least redrawing their boundaries to form one Regional Council for the north along with contiguous Tamil villages in the east, is difficult enough.

These politicians are so unimaginative that they cannot see that when the day of reckoning comes and the LTTE onslaughts against the Muslims begin in their chimerical search for an independent Eelam, their dream of a Muslim kingdom with its own harbour will vanish into thin air.

It may be that he too intends to go militant to meet such a situation and with global Muslim fundamentalism spreading its menacing wings, who can foretell the future? Will this small island become the cockpit of warring secessionist groups? If the package gives in to secessionist demands and permit the formation of ethnic enclaves, it will only succeed in helping the Balkanisation of the country. The Muslims have a stake in this country. Let them not permit political ambitions jeopardise that stake.

Continue to Plus page 13 * A salute for his melodies * Telling of torment in hues

Return to the Plus contents page

Read Letters to the Editor