25 years on:

Muslim IDPs still waiting for Godot

by Hilmy Ahamed

Muslims of the North overnight became unfortunate Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) after being forcibly evicted from their homes in 1990 by the fascist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with 48 hours notice. For the Jaffna Muslims, it was a mere two hours of notice.

Deed of Muslim ownership of land adjoining the Uppu Aru, issued under the seal of King Edward VII

As we mark another anniversary this October of the brutal eviction and displacement of the Northern Muslim population, there seems to be no redress to the plight of these unfortunate patriotic citizens who refused to betray the Sri Lankan nation by siding with the LTTE’s Eelam quest.

It is 25 years since this tragedy.

Why is it that no government in power since 1990 has offered a reasonable solution to the Muslim IDPs, while all other war- affected are being adequately addressed? The Tamil population with the support of the government, the Tamil National Alliance, the international community and the UN mechanisms seems be heading in the right direction towards their full resettlement. Some 1055 acres of land that were under security forces’ control had been returned in Sampur in the Trincomalee District.

Divisions

The Geneva process and the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration’s resolve to address the war-affected through an internal mechanism however, does not seem to extend to the Northern Muslims.

While addressing the suffering of the Tamil population for over 30 years under the LTTE brutality and the domination of the armed forces, it is regrettable that the Northern Muslims who sacrificed their lives by being patriotic Sri Lankans, are not offered any reasonable consideration by the Sri Lankan State or the international community.

It is unfortunate that even the Muslim political leadership has been divided over this issue due to their political rivalry. In the absence of State or the international community’s support, even Muslim initiatives to seek financial support from Muslim nations for their resettlement has been challenged by some extremist Buddhists.

The Sri Lankan civil society, who would have screamed at the drop of a hat if this had happened to another community, is silent on the Muslim resettlement. Is this due to Islamaphobia or is it due to the politics of the land?

President Maithripala Sirisena, whose dream of high office would never have been a reality if not for the Muslim vote, too accused the Muslim IDPs of Musali south of encroaching in to the Wilpattu and Kalaru reserves and of clearing forestland.

This is a totally misconceived perception and is a fabrication by some extremist Buddhists and misguided environmentalists.

The Musali IDPs are returning to their own lands that they were forced to abandoned by the LTTE’s ethnic cleansing in 1990.

During a recent visit, I personally witnessed the ridges of paddy fields that the Muslims abandoned and other signs of farming in areas that the Forest Department has now demarcated as forest reserves.

It is ironic that all the circulars and amendments to the Forest, National environment, Antiquities Ordinance, Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance that deprive Muslim resettlement had been brought in only after the Muslims were evicted from their lands in 1990.

While the Muslims are denied their resettlement, it is alleged that the Rajapaksa administration with the assistance of the armed forces, settled over 3,500 Sinhala families from Hambantota and Suriyawewa clearing thousands of acres of forest land in the Northern Province.

The armed forces too occupy large extents of civilian land in the Musali area where military camps were established during the war.

The following are some of the legislation that had been used to deprive the Muslims of their lands:

National Environmental Act
Act No. 47 of 1980 (Section 23)
Act No. 56 of 1988
(Section 23Y, 23Z, 23AA)
Gazette No. 772/22 (1993.06.18 – Order under Section 23Y)
Amendment No.53/2000
(Section 23A)
Circular 05/2001
Antiquités Ordinance
Act no. 12 of 2005
Gazette Notification
No.1152/14–2000
Amendment No. 24 of 1998
(Section 40B, 43A(1)
Antiquities Ordinance –(No. 7, 8 and 20)
Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance
As amended by Acts Nos. 44 of 1964, 1 of 1970 and 49 of 1993
Section 2(1), 2(4), 3(1), 3(3), 6, 67(f), 71(4)
Gazette Notification
No. 1779/15 of 2012
Amendment Act No. 22 of 2009
Forests Ordinance
Chapter 283 of the Forests Ordinance (Section 3 and 4(2)
Circular No. 5 of 2001
Gazette Notification (1779/15 of 2012)

The Mahinda Rajapaksa administration is also accused of amending the Forest Ordinance and declaring large extents of lands as forest reserves through Global Positioning System (GPS) Mapping undertaken from Colombo prior to the Provincial Council Elections of 2012 without consulting the relevant divisional secretaries.

This is believed to be a deliberate attempt to deprive the Northern Provincial Council –which the Mahinda Rajapaksa government knew would lose to the TNA – the extensive land powers that are vested in the Provincial Councils. The Muslims who were not allowed to return to their lands were not identified in this mapping due to their displacement.

The LTTE and the Sri Lankan armed forces prevented the Muslims from returning to their lands during their eviction.

The returning Muslim IDPs have in their possession, title deeds to their lands in Musali south issued under the seal of King Edward VII of England in 1906. One of these deeds is for a land adjoining the Uppu Aru, a few metres away from the border of the Wilpattu National Wildlife Reserve. Yet, the current resettlement of the Musali Muslims that was approved by the former government’s powerful Presidential Task Force (PTF) headed by Mahinda Rajapaksa’s sibling Basil is 1.25 km away from the Wilpattu National Reserve.

The PTF constituted of government institutions that included the representatives from the forest and environment departments, the Divisional Secretaries, representatives of the armed forces and all other institutions involved in the resettlement of the war-affected.

The ‘right of return’ is a principle drawn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This right should not be deprived to the Northern Muslims to go back and cultivate their lands simply because of the racist agenda of a few. It would be encouraging to address all the issues of the war affected without cherry picking and to use the proposed local mechanism, to achieve the same.