The Muslim Factor in Tamil Eelam
- By M.Nadarajan

The Muslim factor or the problems raised by the Muslims have to be solved sooner or later. The majority of Muslims live in the East, and are spread over the rest of Sri Lanka in almost all provinces, in small numbers, and always as minorities in the areas that they live. They are the spoilt children of Sri Lankan politics. Almost all of them speak the Tamil language, but want to be considered separate from Tamils and Sinhalese. Tamil Christians call themselves Tamils, and Sinhalese Christians call themselves Sinhalese, but Tamil Muslims want to call themselves Muslims. Many claim to be descendants of Arabs. This may be true in the case of some small groups who call themselves Moors. There are also some Muslims who are descendants of the Malays, and are mainly settled in the Western Province.

The Muslims in the East, Mannar, and in very small numbers in the rest of the Northern province, are really converts to Islam or descendants of relationships between Tamil women and Muslim traders who came from the Middle East or from India . There have been several Tamil scholars, poets, short story writers and journalists among Muslim Tamils. The Federal Party considered the Muslims as part of the Tamil speaking people of the country, which they are. When the 1961 Sathyagraha against the imposition of Sinhalese on Tamil speaking people took place, most of the Muslims of the East and North participated and even were jailed.. Several Muslims were elected to Parliament on the Federal Party ticket, but after winning their seats, invariably joined one or the other of the two major Sinhalese parties in return for favors of office. They became conscious of their importance and started contesting parliamentary seats, mostly in the East, as candidates of the two major parties. They earned their rewards and thereafter, the number of Muslim Ministers, Deputy Ministers and others in important positions became far in excess of ratio of the Muslim Population of the country. It was much later on that Mr.Ashrauff formed the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress to contest seats in the East.

Farsighted politicians like the Late Badhudeen Mohamed, one time Minister of the SLFP government saw that their future lay with a relationship with Tamils with whom they had been living in amity for several centuries, mainly in the East. There was a major Sinhalese-Muslim riots in1914, and periodic minor riots against them by Sinhalese in the Sinhalese areas. When communal riots against the Tamils took place Muslims too were attacked in several places. When large-scale state aided colonization by Sinhalese took place in the East and Southern parts of the North, Muslims were also affected. They lost land in Amparai and became a minority in the area. In some instances they were driven away from their lands, the same as Tamils were, and the demography of the East changed. The Sinhalese population in the erstwhile Eastern Province increased from a little over 4% in 1924, to a little over 9% in 1947, just before independence, and to 25% in 1981. There have been no proper census taken lately, but it is claimed that Sinhalese are now nearly 32%. Having made this shift in population a fait accompli, the Sinhalese now claim that almost a third of the population in the East is Sinhalese.

On the question of de-merger that President Chandrika threatens to carry out subject to a referendum, she thinks that if it were carried out in the erstwhile Eastern province, the Sinhalese together with the Muslims would vote against the merger. If a referendum is to be carried out to find out if the people want to live together in one province as they have for the last 15 years, or separately, it should be carried out in the entire province and not only in the East where the demography has been changed deliberately and consciously by State aided colonization.

In !988 Mr.Badhudeen Mohamed led a delegation of Muslims to Chennai in India to have discussions with the LTTE on the future of Muslims after the war for liberation was over. A consensus was reached and an agreement was signed, with the Late Col. Kiddu as one of the signatories on the LTTE side.

Since then several things have happened. The Muslims fell a prey to government machinations against Tamils with their divide and rule policy. Incidents were created and the blame placed on Tamils. Muslim youth formed a number of groups to fight a ‘jihad’ or holy war against Tamils and joined the armed ‘Home Guards’ created by the government. The Muslim Home Guards joined the armed forces in killing Tamils and committing other atrocities against them. They joined in driving away Tamils from their lands and either taking the lands or buying them at ‘fire sale’ prices. Tamil businesses were also attacked and traders driven away. Destitute people were granted loans and property confiscated for failure to repay on time. Tamils did fight back at times, but the home guards were armed and had the assistance of the armed forces.

Muslim leaders were conscious that they had to live amongst Tamils when there is peace. They went in a delegation to meet the LTTE leader and some agreements were reached. Subsequently, after some fighting between Muslims and Tamils, conferences between local Muslim and Tamil leaders were held and solutions arrived at, but they have proved to be only temporary ones. Due to some incidents between Muslims and Tamils, started either by the government, or forces bent on disrupting the peace process, the bad blood between them continues. Not to be outdone, Muslim politicians want their pound of flesh purely for personal gains. Muslims were already divided into two, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the breakaway National Unity Alliance (NUA). Now the SLMC itself has broken into two. All three factions want to be known as a champion of Muslims. They are not speaking with one voice. Sections have been having discussions with both the Prime Minister and the President’s party in opposition. They have been visiting Muslim countries with their tale of woe, meeting visiting political dignitaries of other countries, speaking with foreign embassies, and with the Norwegian facilitators. They have formed a Muslim Parliamentary Group made up of all Muslim MPs, irrespective of party affiliations.

The current Peace Talks are between two warring parties that fought each other. The LTTE lost nearly 17,700 men on the war front and the government, probably over 25,000. The Muslims without having lost a single person at the front, want to be accepted as a separate group in its own right during negotiations, and not as part of the government delegation. One could understand it, if after Peace Talks are concluded, they wish to know their position in the future political set up. For the moment they have reached an agreement with the LTTE and assurances have been given of equal treatment by both the LTTE and the government,. If they need changes they could speak to the LTTE again.

One time most of them wanted the merger between the erstwhile Northern and Eastern Provinces to continue. Now some of them want a de-merger. Some want a separate administration outside the Northeast province. Others want a separate administration for Muslims but within the Northeast Province, Yet others want Muslim areas outside the Northeast but attached to it. We do not know what Muslims as a community want.

The Muslims in the country do not live in a contiguous area, They live in almost every province. They do not speak a language of their own. They do not come under the definition of “People” or “Nation” as recognized by the UN covenants, unlike the Sinhalese and Tamil Nations do. In the East they live in pockets interspersed with Tamils. The situation is compared to ‘Kullal Pittu’ which has rice floor and coconut interspersed with each other. Only in Amparai they live in sizable numbers.

The time has come for the Tamils to say enough is enough. All those who want to stay in the Northeast should be treated as equals in all respects with no one given any special privileges. Muslims having enjoyed special privileges over the last several years not only want them now, but would continue to ask for them at every stage in the future too. They would be a canker in our body politic. Tamils should ask the Muslims to make a choice. If they want to stay in the Northeast province they would be treated equal to others in every respect with no special privileges. If they do not want to be part of the province they should separate and go now. May be for a short period of time like five or ten years appointments or other benefits could be based on population ratios to compensate for backward areas After that, it will be based solely on merit and suitability.

Tamils should be prepared to part with some land to the Muslims. Our struggle is not about land, but about rights. The land given to them should be contiguous. Of course, there has to be some movement of population. Such movements are not unheard of in history. These movements need not result in blood -shed, killings and atrocities as in the case of the partition of India.

A large percentage of Muslims chose to stay in India. In fact, India is a country with the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. Very few Hindus chose to stay in Pakistan. If the population movement takes place on an agreed and civilized manner and all displaced people are given alternative equivalent property and adequate compensation, this should not be a major problem. During this process certain wrongs that have been committed previously such as take over of property by force or at bargain prices can be corrected. There should be a cut off point at which such adjustments have to be made. It could be based on population ratios of the census of 1947, the year before independence. Another cut off point could be July 1983.In both cases the natural increases have to be taken into account. As there would be lots of emotions and accusations involved, there should be several commissions with personnel from the International Community to arbitrate. They should be supported by local personnel to collect and present the necessary documents to support claims. Since there are no major buildings that will be involved, there would not be too much money involved in paying compensation. It would be worth the compensation given, since it would save lot of problems later on, and also save a lot of agony and lives.

This offer should be made to the Muslims so that they could decide if they want to be an independent administrative unit or form part of some other Sinhalese majority province. Only if the know what their choices are that they could make an educated decision.