Sectarian violence between orthodox Muslims and an Islamic Sufi sect that preaches pantheism resurfaced in the Muslim town of Kattankudy, Batticaloa, following the death a leader of the Sufi sect

Mr. M. S. Abdul Payilvan, 69, one of the leaders of the Sufi sect and the President of All Island Tharikathul Mufliheen, passed away in Colombo Apollo hospital on the night of December 6 and was buried at Tharikathul Mufliheen Mosque burial grounds in Kattankudy the following afternoon.

Orthodox Muslims observed a hartal (general shutdown) demanding the removal of the body from the burial grounds. They claim Kattankudy soil is sacred and bodies belonging to those who preach views contradictory to the holy Quran should not be buried there.

The Orthodox Muslims are demanding that the body of Mr. Payilvan, who is from Maruthamunai, another Muslim village in the Amparai district, should be exhumed and buried elsewhere.

Tension prevailed in Kattankudy due to the general shut down and police in large numbers patrolled the area. The Sri Lanka Government provided special police protection to prominent figures of Sufi sect, and the burial ground was guarded by security personnel.

Three houses belonging to the followers of Payilvan were set ablaze on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, officials of the Kattankudy Jammiyathul Ulama Council and Federation for Kattankudy Mosques and other Organizations submitted a petition at Batticaloa District Courts demanding the exhumation of Mr. Payilvan's body.

The death of Mr Pavilvan has only exacerbated a tense situation. On December 3, extremists had dug up the buried body of a Sufi follower from the Tharikathul Mufliheen Mosque burial grounds and dumped the body on a local road as an act of protest.

Kattankudy Police recovered the body, re-buried it in the original burial space. The area was guarded for few days after the incident.

In Kattankudy, the hatred between the two factions has widened in the last few years. Violent clashes between the two factions have grown in intensity and have left many injured, and millions of rupees worth of property, including houses and vehicles, damaged.

In November armed men, alleged to be orthodox Muslims, threw hand grenades and opened fire on Abdul Rauf Moulawi, an Islamic religious teacher belonging to Sufi sect. Civilians standing in front of his office near Kattankudy Bathuriya Mosque were injured.

While Abdul Rauf Mowlavi's critics say that his teachings have borrowed from Hinduism and he is influenced by Muslims of Tamil Nadu origin settled in Kattankudy, the Sufi sect charges that a Wahabi extremist group funded by powerful sources in the Middle East is responsible for harassing Sufi followers.