Kuragala, Wilpattu:

Politics of heritage and politics of land

by Latheef Farook

In the British Parliamentary elections held on Thursday May 7, the Labour Party suffered heavy losses. Within 24 hours, a devastated Ed Miliband resigned as leader of the Labour party saying “It was time for someone else to take over as leader”.

This is democracy that Sri Lanka once enjoyed but which has eroded since independence in 1948, due to short sighted racist politics. Late president J. R. Jayewardene’s draconian 1978 Constitution made the country a democratically elected dictatorship - a one man show.

However, defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa, especially after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, virtually turned the country into an autocracy paving the way for rapid erosion of democracy, democratic institutions and values.

Realising the unfortunate trend, people, risking their lives, voted for President Maithripala Sirisena in the January 8, 2015 Presidential Elections in the hope democracy, human decency and all such cherished values would be restored.

Corruption

Under the circumstance what is the duty of defeated political leader in the island? Obviously to respect the people’s verdict and allow their new Government to implement its program of good governance, re-establish democratic institutions, eliminate crime, corruption and lawlessness to bring the country back to where it was during the time of independence.

Instead what has been going on since January 8, 2015 is unfortunate. Every possible effort was made to hoodwink the people and snatch power by hook or crook by the defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his team about whom charges of crime and corruption were released almost on a daily basis in the print and electronic media.

As part of these program bus loads of people were brought to visit Mahinda Rajapaksa with slogans such as ‘We want Mahinda Rajapaksa back as President’.

This was followed by public meetings of people brought in by private buses. Then they get sycophants, including racist politicians, extremist monks and pseudo socialists to promote Mahinda Rajapaksa as the potential Sri Lanka Freedom Party prime ministerial candidate.

However, one should not forget that Sri Lanka is a country with one of the highest literacy rates in Asia.

Daily disclosures of crime, corruption, fraud and injustice made even those who voted for former president to become disillusioned with him and his regime, his family, his ministers, top officials and others who were accused of plundering the nation’s wealth.

In the midst, the very same racists who flourished under the patronage of the Rajapaksa brothers began raising their ugly heads, obviously, to destabilise the Government of President Maithripala Sirisena’.

It was part of a sinister move that Sinhala extremists tried to destroy the mosque at Kuragala, Balangoda and the allegations that Muslims were illegally destroying forests and building houses at Wilpattu forest areas.

Popular legend has it that Sheikh Mihiyuddeen Abdul Qader Jailani, regarded as saint of all saints, meditated for 13 years in a cave dwelling at Kuragala on the ancient pilgrimage route between Galle and Adam’s Peak.

The site where the saint meditated has been referred to as ‘Dafthar Jailani’ and Muslims have visited this place for centuries especially during annual Jailani festival.

In 1971, some Sinhalese claimed for the first time that Kuragala mosque site was a place of important to Buddhists and the Department of Archaeology started building a stupa at the summit of Kuragala and tried to maintain that it was 2,000 years old.

However, dismissing this claim late Balangoda MP M.L.M.Aboosally whose family was deeply associated with Daftar Jailani pointed out that the stupa was built using local bricks and Kankesanthurai cement.

In 1972, a Cabinet order directed the construction of the stupa, which was two feet high at that time, be stopped. Aboosally also stated in his book ‘Dafthar Jailani; that Ven. Kiriella Gnanawimala of Ratnapura, in an article published on January 21, 1971 in the now defunct Dawasa Newspaper had stated that he had visited Kuragala on five times and inspected the area fully with Charles Godakumbura, the then Deputy Archaeological commissioner.

However he found no trace whatsoever of Buddhist ruins in the area.

Illegal structures

In January 2013, Sihala Ravaya and Bodu Bala Sena organised a group of about 150 monks to storm the Jailani mosque.

However, their efforts were foiled by a massive thunder shower that caused monks and others to retrace their steps.

In early April 2013, then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived at Kuragala by helicopter and ordered all illegal structures in the mosque area such as shops, halls, bathroom facilities and the like, built prior to 1970, before the site was brought under the Department of Archaeology, to be broken down.

Only the main mosque structure and the graves in the vicinity were allowed to remain.

Gotabhaya Rajapaka assured the Muslims that their religious rights would not be hindered and that the government would ensure that no Buddhist monuments would be constructed on the site which would be free area open to both Muslims and Sinhalese.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa also said that the Department of Archaeology would decipher the Buddhist inscriptions at the site and assured that Arabic inscriptions would be protected.However, when the Civil Defence Force was clearing the site of illegal structures a stone tablet from 907 AD with the inscription ‘Ya Allah Hijri 300’ had been defaced and then broken with crowbar.

The aim obviously was to obliterate evidence of Muslim presence there.

Thus, this site was turned into a controversial issue. In the midst the Sinhala Ravaya move to demolish the mosque and place Buddha statue at the mosque site is certainly a provocation placing President Maithripala Sirisena Government in a dilemma.

This was followed by yet another controversy when extremist elements began accusing Muslims of illegally settling in the Wilpattu forest areas. However, Minister Rishad Bathiudeen claims that Muslims who were evicted by the LTTE during the ethnic war are now trying to settle down in their own land.

Vicious campaign

They claim the presence of a dilapidated mosque and other structures speak for the existence of Muslim settlements there once. Thus the evicted Muslims are returning to their homes and lands which became forest due to long years of neglect and the growth of trees which the returning Muslims started to clear.

Meanwhile Sinhala extremists backed by a section of the media began unleashing a vicious campaign against Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and aimed at provoking Sinhalese against Muslims.

In view of the growing tension the Janatha Vimukthi Party (JVP), and the Rapid Response Team, comprising mainly of lawyers who had come forward to help the helpless Muslims who claim they were dragged into this conflict, visited Wilpattu area for an on the spot survey.

In their report the RRT members disclosed many truths on this issue.

According to the report there was a well planned and systematic encroachment by the armed forces in an around Wilpattu National Park and the Sinhalese settlers, brought from outside, were given protection.

No Muslim settlements were found in and around Wilpattu by the relevant government authorities. This fact was not revealed by the civilian administrators under pressure from the racist elements in the government and in the media.

After 25 years of displacement in refugee camps when the Muslims returned to the places of their origin they saw jungles in their old cultivable lands or their lands taken or given to members of other communities by the local government authorities or occupied by Army or Navy.

Now the Forest Department also claims those lands. Muslims suspect that there has been a plan to expel them from there and give their lands to non Muslims.

The Muslims who were chased out of the North and the East in 48 hours were not supported by the Rajapaksa government, Non government organisations or even by the Muslim community. In fact, even the assistance that came from the international community was diverted by the Non-Muslim administrators.

This revealed by the RRT investigation. Now the question is, who is behind these sinister provocations which pits Sinhalese against Muslims?