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| Sunday, 26 June 2005 |
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Safeguards for regional minorities in P-TOMS Fact file
As a community, Muslims were the worst affected, 12,000 deaths amounting to 41 per cent of the official death toll of 30,718. To put Muslim dimension of the catastrophe in a nutshell: of 10,436 total deaths in the Ampara district, 7,258 are Muslims. In Trincomalee, out of 1077 total deaths 808 are Muslims. In Hambantota, out of 4,500 total fatalities, 3,800 are Muslims. Out of 5,815 total missing persons, 1,980 are Muslims. Over 41670 Muslim families have been misplaced. The total displaced population in the Ampara District, amounting 107,885 is equal to the combined figures of the tsunami devastated areas of the Southern and Western coast. by Ranga Jayasuriya Conflict resolution is a process which requires a delicate balancing of interests of parties to the process. The process could be further complicated when too many interests are involved in the process, where one community would feel marginalized in the process of addressing the interests of another group. This is perhaps the best case scenario to describe the Muslim concerns on the proposed Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). Given the disproportionate impact on the Muslim community by the December 26 tsunami which killed nearly 12,000 Muslims and obliterated key Muslim towns on the Eastern coast, Muslim demands for a greater share in the proposed joint structure sounds justifiable. And, interestingly, Muslim political leaders who are generally divided over political leanings have at last got together to secure a greater share for the community in the P-TOMS. LTTE's response to the Muslim concerns conveyed to the LTTE political commissar, Thamilselvan by the Deputy Norwegian foreign Minister, Vidar Helgesen did not make any new commitments on the LTTE's part in respecting the participatory right of the Muslim community in the joint mechanism. "We are firmly committed to ensuring that Muslim people are represented in the post-tsunami reconstruction mechanism....," Thamilselvan was quoted in the pro-LTTE Tamilnet. These remarks would not help allaying the fears of Muslims of being marginalized in the P-TOMS, given the LTTE's strained relations with the Eastern Muslims. Even though it keeps on criticizing the successive Sri Lankan Governments of reneging agreements aimed at addressing discrimination of the minority Tamils by the majoritarian policies, the LTTE too has a history of unilaterally abrogated agreements with the Eastern Muslims. One stark reminder of LTTE's atrocity against the Muslims is the eviction of nearly 100,000 Muslims from Jaffna, Mannar and the Wanni. Another is the broken promise of handing over lands for Eastern Muslims who have been evicted by the LTTE. According to a study conducted by a Muslim think tank, Muslim Right Organization and funded by the USAID nearly 62,000 acres of land originally owned by Muslims has been occupied by illegal settlers. It is in this context of mutual suspicion between the Muslims and the LTTE that the Muslim political leadership demands a greater share for Muslims in the P-TOMS Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem appeals to Muslim parliamentarians of both sides of the House to forge a common stance on the statues of the Muslims in the P-TOMS. National Unity Alliance leader and Minister Ferial Ashraff heads a forum of Muslim Ministers and Deputy Ministers of the Eastern province, campaigning for an equal share for the Muslims in the proposed joint structure. Minister Ferial Ashraff had demanded an equal participation for the Muslims in the P-TOMS, meaning five members equivalent to the LTTE's participation. Even though the LTTE had already indicated its disapproval, Mrs Ashraff will campaign for the equal share for the Muslim participation when she and the other Muslim Ministers and Deputy Ministers meet the President this week, according to her media secretary. She will not quit the Government in protest to the LTTE's rejection of an equal share for Muslims, contrary to the earlier reports, but will insist Muslims concerns to be addressed when she meets the President, her media secretary told the Sunday Observer. But, there is a sense of frustration among even some quarters of the Muslim political leadership that it is too late to accommodate Muslim concerns. When the SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem, during his meeting with Mr Helgesen demanded a greater share for the Muslims, the Norwegian envoy replied that the P-TOMS had already been finalised by the government and the LTTE and that an amendment would not possible. "It is too late to campaign for rights of Muslims in the JM," laments the SLMC President Hasan Ali. The SLMC demands Muslims to be a signatory to the P-TOMS agreement. The President initially, during a meeting with Minister Ferial Ashraff has expressed her willingness to consider Muslims as a party to the agreement. Though the LTTE has not commented on this demand- i.e, Muslims as a signatory to the agreement- going by Mr Helgesen's remarks that the P-TOMS was already finalised, the SLMC political leadership feels that it is too late for any amendment. The regional council of the proposed P-TOMS consists of 10 members of which three members are Muslims whereas the LTTE is entitled to five members. Given the magnitude of the destruction by the ocean waves on the Muslim community, Muslim concerns that the community is under-represented in the P-TOMS is quite understandable. The Muslim fears of being marginalised in a council dominated by the Tigers also has its justifiable grounds. But, one should not forget that the proposed P-TOMS has a safeguard for the regional minorities where by a two third majority will be required to pass crucial decisions. According to this, if any two members disagree with a proposal taken up at the regional body of the joint mechanism, it triggers a requirement for a two third majority, meaning the approval of seven members of the ten member regional body. This is aimed at addressing Muslim concerns, but the real test is its implementation. |
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