Sri Lanka's forgotten displaced Muslims

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by sathyajith | June 23, 2009 at 11:19 am

Displaced in Sri Lanka due to late LTTE terror.

Sri Lanka's forgotten displaced Muslims

By Swaminathan Natarajan

BBC Tamil service, Puttalam

As the world focuses on displaced Tamils in northern Sri Lanka, a large group of Muslims
forcibly ejected from the north by Tamil Tigers 20 years ago are finally contemplating a return
home.

There are more than 100,000 Muslims living as refugees across Sri Lanka .

Many are in Puttalam - a small fishing town on the north-western coast of Sri Lanka.

They vividly remember the day when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forced them
to leave at gun point.

"On 27 October 1990, I was working in the fields. LTTE cadres came and asked us to leave the
place within two hours. We took a few clothes in plastic carrier bags and walked a long way,"
says an elderly man now living in a Puttalam camp.

The entire Muslim population of Sri Lanka's northern province moved out fearing brutal
attacks by the LTTE.

The overwhelming majority of Sri Lankan Muslims speak Tamil as their first language. Yet they
are regarded as a separate ethnic minority in Sri Lanka .

The LTTE's eviction of Muslims from the north was preceded by a massacre in the east.
Suspected Tigers opened fire at two mosques near the town of Batticaloa, killing more than 100
people.

The LTTE accused the Muslims of allying with the Sri Lankan government.
Difficult life

Many Muslims living in Puttalam are happy about the fall of the Tamil Tigers. But they are not
sure about going back.

"We are happy that LTTE is defeated. This gives us hope

that we can go back. But we can go only if the
government helps us. We want assurances about our
safety," says Nawaz.

Local Muslim leaders want government help in tracing back

properties to original owners as many people were not
able to take their documents when they fled the area. They
are also worried about security.
When I went back to
Amir runs a shop amid the rows of houses built by the Killinochchi nothing was there. I
displaced people. He says he wants to go back to Jaffna . have built everything there. I
even dug up a well
"I am 51 now. I would like to go back to Jaffna and spend Mohammed Akbar
the rest of my life there. Here the conditions are not good," he says.

People here say there is an acute shortage of water. They say successive governments have
done little for them.

But others have developed a liking for Puttalam.

Zawana came here as a child and had her children here. Her
mother and other relatives are keen to go back. But she
feels Jaffna would be alien to her.

Mohamed Kabir, a leader of the Muslim Front, says people

are yet to be convinced that the LTTE is fully destroyed.

But a Muslim MP from the pro-LTTE political party, the

Tamil National Alliance, says these fears are baseless.
Zawana feels her home is in
"The LTTE has realised its mistake and even asked the Puttalam
Muslims to come back. So I can say with 100 percent confidence that no harm will be done to
them," says Mohammad Imam.
Bitter return

The LTTE has made a few overtures towards Muslims in recent years. A few Muslim families
returned home under the auspices of an agreement reached during the Norweigian-backed
peace deal.

Syed Mohammed Akbar decided to go back to his native Killinochchi and opened a tea shop
there in 2006.

"When I went back to Killinochchi nothing was there. I have built everything there. I even dug
up a well. The LTTE was running the government there. We paid taxes to them. We had good
relations with the Tamils.

"When the LTTE came to know that my elder son knows Many houses which once
Sinhala, they took him away and used him as a radio belonged to the Muslims are
announcer against his will. He was forced to work for them completely destroyed. Some will
for two months. Then they let him go because he suffered even find it difficult to locate
from fits," he says. their ancestral lands
Minister Risath Badiuddeen

With great difficulty he left Kilinochchi shortly before it fell to government forces. However,
when the police back in Puttalam got to know that his son had worked for the LTTE, they
apprehended his son and his brother who he says had nothing to do with the rebels.

"They are in prison for the last six months. No one is willing to help us," he says.

Sri Lanka's relief and rehabilitation minister, Risath Badiuddeen, is a Muslim from northern
town of Mannar. Like others he too left his home and lived as a refugee for five years in the
Puttalam area.

He says once the land mines are cleared, the process of re-settling of displaced Tamils and
Muslims will take place.

"It will be much easier to resettle Tamils, because they moved out recently. Many of their
houses are damaged but with some repair they can live there. On the other hand many houses
which once belonged to the Muslims are completely destroyed. Some will even find it difficult
to locate their ancestral lands. The government will help them to get necessary documents. It
will also help those who have decided to stay back," he says.

Many Muslims say they have no ill will towards the ordinary Tamils and are hopeful of living
with them in peace as their forefathers have done for centuries.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk