“In 1990, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam expelled the Muslims from the northern Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar districts, giving them a 48-hour deadline. The then government did virtually nothing and was helpless. The world did not utter a word although years later we saw how the international community reacted angrily to the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims by Yugoslav Serbs.” Photo shows a Muslim lady walking our side the refugee camp in Muttur, photo by Nuwan Jayatillake from Muttur.By: Ammen Izzadeen
(October, 09, UAE, Sri Lanka Guardian) Muslims are fighting Muslims in the holy month of Ramadhan in Sri Lanka. Has the virus that is doing the rounds in Iraq come to Sri Lanka? The question was posed to me by my non-Muslim colleague in reaction to a newspaper headline which read: “Muslims portray a divided house”.
The incident that drew that strong headline took place recently in Puttalam, a bustling coastal town in the Northwestern province. The population in the town is predominantly Muslims who constitute more than eight per cent of Sri Lanka’s 19 million populations. The town used to be a transit for people who travelled between Colombo and Jaffna. Even today, it is via Puttalam that many suspected Tiger cadres proceed to Colombo.
About ten miles inland from the shore are the ruins of Taprobane or Thambapanni where Vijaya, the first king of Sri Lanka, established his kingdom. The 14th century Muslim adventurer Ibn Batuta wrote extensively of this area, its people, its cinnamon trade and its Tamil king Arya Chakravarty, for it was here that he landed after his ship was caught in a storm. This history remains buried in Puttalam and we hardly hear anyone talking about the glorious past of this area.
So actually what happened in Puttalam recently that made Muslims in Sri Lanka to put their heads down in shame? It is not that Muslims do not fight or kill each other. But when it happened in the holy month, it became scandalous. After a meeting where the development work of the area was discussed, a Muslim deputy minister flaunted his gun and allegedly threatened to shoot a Muslim minister. A weekly newspaper which carried the full story pasted posters on Colombo walls showing a gun-toting deputy minister.
The two politicians disputed over a World-Bank-funded housing project for tens of thousands of displaced Muslims living in Puttalam. These displaced Muslims are the victims of the Tamil Tigers’ ethnic cleansing programme. In 1990, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam expelled the Muslims from the northern Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar districts, giving them a 48-hour deadline. The then government did virtually nothing and was helpless. The world did not utter a word although years later we saw how the international community reacted angrily to the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims by Yugoslav Serbs.
The LTTE did not allow them to take any valuables with them. The Tamil residents were warned not to extend any help in the form of transport or food to the fleeing Muslims. Some 90,000 Muslims were forced to walk south towards government areas with few possessions other than the clothes on their backs. When they reached the government-held areas, there was little help from either the government or a plethora of humanitarian agencies working in Sri Lanka. Camps were set up only after they underwent a life of gypsies and beggars for more than a year, living in mosque premises and depending on food from the area people.
Today, some 60,000 northern Muslims live in refugee camps in squalid conditions. Politicians, including Muslim ministers, paid little attention to their problem because the displaced northern Muslims were of little use to them as they were all registered voters in LTTE areas and therefore could not vote.
But after sustained and vociferous campaigning by the displaced themselves, the government and the international community began to pay some attention. The World Bank agreed to fund a massive project of some 7,000 houses for the displaced Muslims. The enormity of the project which is being handled by the Resettlement and Disaster Relief Service Ministry headed by Risath Bathiyutheen, obviously made the local people unhappy. Area politician and deputy minister AM Baiz demanded that at least 30 per cent of the funding should be diverted to build houses for the homeless people who were permanent residents of Puttalam. When Minister Bathiyutheen refused to oblige, supporters of the two politicians took to the streets in their numbers and drew battle lines. The army was called in to restore order and keep the two sides apart.
The incident was a classic example that shows how projects which are launched with good intention could go wrong. This reminds me of a conversation I had with an NGO friend recently. She says one has to be conflict sensitive when launching projects. When resources are introduced to help victims of a conflict or a natural disaster, the move could give rise to fresh conflicts. For instance, she says hundreds of houses built in an interior area by an NGO for tsunami victims who lived on the coastal area were burnt by the villagers. The reason: the villagers did not want the victims who were from a low caste to desecrate the purity of the high-caste village.
In the early days of Islam, thousands of displaced Muslims from the holy city of Makkah found refuge in Madinah. History records that the Madinah people, who are fondly remembered as Ansars (helpers) shared their wealth with refugees (Muhajirs).
As Muslims make up more than one third of the world’s 21 million refugee population, the manner in which the the holy city of Madinah people treated the Muhajirs stands out as an example to emulate by today’s Muslims. But the Puttalam incident and reports we hear from other parts of the Muslim world indicate that there are only a few takers. No wonder hundreds of Muslim refugees form Darfur have trekked through several Muslim countries to find refuge in Israel.
Courtesy: Kaleej Times
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