10 April 2007
The de-merger of the northeastern province by a Sri Lanka Supreme court order has posed a fresh threat to the minority Muslims in the east.
Muslims in general fear the sudden spurt of state aided colonisation in the predominant Muslim areas in the east. They fear that this turn of event might change their life overnight.
The de-merger has aggravated the state sponsored colonisation and Muslims in particular are getting prepared for a showdown.
The Sri Lankan government is actively engaged in grabbing every inch of unutilised lands in the Ampara District and some adjoining areas to ensure occupation of Sinhalese from the South.
The Muslims who have already been clamouring for a Muslim majority district in the Ampara District that comprises Pottuvil, Sammanthurai and Kalmunai are now disillusioned.
Some Muslim traders based in the east said Muslims who never resorted to carrying arms might be compelled to do so, like the Tamil Tigers, if the government failed to understand their sentiments.
“We are a very patient lot. But if we are provoked, we can react violently,” they warned.
The Nation learns that state aided colonisation is fast progressing in Pottuvil, Deegavapi, Norachcholai and Akkraipattu and this has irked Muslims who have been at the receiving end from the brutality of the LTTE and the armed forces.
The colonisation according to them is on a steady process and they charge that if the local politicians failed to address this issue or take it up with the President, they will start agitations.
The recent Supreme Courty court order to de-merge the north and east has apparently blocked every opportunity that was available for the Muslims to push for a separate Muslim District through peace negotiations.
Muslim political parties that were looking for an opportunity to place this issue before the government and the LTTE during the peace talks and receive a positive answer from both, now say they lost that chance due to the court order.
The SLMC continues to insist that the Muslims too must be considered a main stakeholder of the peace talks and The Nation understands the party’s goal is to place before both the government and the LTTE its proposal for the creation of a separate Muslim district.
“We foresaw that this was going to happen,” says the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, part of the ruling coalition.
“Colonisation is not new in Sri Lanka. Even in some of the Tamil dominated areas there has been colonisation. But if this time the matter is left unheeded, it will end in disaster.”
“We will take the matter up with the President soon. In every letter we exchanged with the President prior to joining [his government], we made very clear that there should not be any state colonisation.”
Meanwhile some of the Muslim traders pointed out that it is only the Muslims in Sri Lanka who do not have any authority over any particularly demarcated area. “This country has 24 districts and six out of them are administered by the Tamils. How about Muslims? Nothing,” they observed.
They argued that they too should deserve at least one district to reflect on their sentiments and to practice their own traditions.
“How is our future generation going to recognise the ethnic or religious identity when we do not have a single district? It is essential that we too enjoy control over a particular land so that we could preserve our own culture and traditions. Certainly we are not demanding for a separate state as such. This must be understood by the government,” Muslim traders said on the condition of anonymity.
They further pointed out that their request was a reasonable one given the current trend to devolve powers to the peripheries.
Meanwhile they also supported National Heritage Minister Anura Bandaranaike’s statement made last week in Parliament that the north and east should be merged again.
“We actually did not like the merger of the north and east. But we thought the de-merger would take place at a different forum- preferably at the peace talks. But this sudden court decision to de-merge north and east has really upset all of us,” traders pointed out.
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