SRILANKA MUSLIMS> Injustice to Mannar Muslims - who is the BIG LIAR?

[Rizvi Mohammed]

For your information

 

Assalamu Alaikum.

Good said by Dr. Mareena Reffai.  Thanks to you and to others for initiating this matter for discussion which is one of the most important issues of the Muslims of Sri Lanka of the day in my opinion.   

I wish to add few additional points on this.  The information that I am adding here come from my own observations on this and similar other issues that returnee Muslims are faced today in the north.  I can substantiate what I say in the following section with necessary evidences  if situation warrants so.  

• Politicians, state officials, clergies and legal system in the north including in Mannar have been trying their best to prevent the return of Muslims who waited for more than two decades to return  their places of origin. Muslim displaced hoped that those forces would help and facilitate their rightful return to north with self-respect and dignity. But unfortunately it did not happened  as what returnee Muslims hoped for.
• In Mannar, Catholic Church and leading priests are in the background in planning and executing an agenda of non-return of Muslims with the help of other anti-Muslim return forces.
• Legal establishment in the north and in Mannar was used by these forces to deny or grab lands belong  to Muslims  and other traditional rights enjoyed by Muslims for decades such  as landing rights of fishermen.  A good  example  to this is what happened to Mannar Uppukulam Muslim fishermen in recent days.
• Mannar Uppukulam incident was one among many such denials of rights of returnee Muslims.    
• Many do not know as to how thousands of acres of land (the figure mentioned is not an exaggeration) legally belong to Muslims for many decades have been misappropriated by the joint action by the above mentioned forces which I hope soon it will to come to light.  I cannot give the full details of these attempts because people affected will have to go through legal system to challenge this.  Also if I provide those information now I may be accused of contempt of court because some of court ruling have yet to be challenged by these poor returnee Muslims.  However, if necessary, I can substantiate this matter in a future correspondence without interfering the legal proceedings.  But the question is whether these poor innocent people will have the capacity to challenge such a powerful force which is behind this unjust agenda or will this land issue also end up like the presently what happened  to Uppukulam Muslim fishermen.  In other words, those Muslims who lost  lands are also in need of legal and other helps from  concerned people  to challenge the powerful opposing force in Mannar.   
• Mannar Uppukulam fisher folk were driven systematically by the above mentioned forces to come to street to ask for justice as the normal legal and administrative system has failed to rectify their genuine grievances for nearly a decade and very systematically in recent months and days as it is evident from the recent events.
• Those opposing forces are clear in their agenda by using the media and other information channels  to discredit the plight of returnee Muslims. It is very unfortunate that it was done by a group said to be representing another discriminated population (minority) of the country who too seek justice to what happened to them during the long years of ethnic conflict and civil war. 
• Those forces do not see that returnee Muslims who at present were only a small fraction (less than one per cent) of present northern  population and about 15 to 20 per cent of the total north Muslims displaced population.  In fact, other displaced Muslims who are yet to return to north or will decide not  to return because of the ongoing agenda and propaganda of Tamil nationalistic  forces. 
• At the same time, it must be mention that presently displaced Muslims are faced with numerous social, economic, political and environmental problems where they live now (in the places of displacement e.g., Puttalam and other places in the south).  They will  soon be removed from the  right to return to their places of origin by the state because state has already indicated that they will do so. Therefore, displaced population will be left with no alternative for living  other than the place where they live now and also  will  loose to regain the rights of return that include rights  of assets and properties in the north not to mention their other traditional, cultural and religious rights in their places of origin.   At that point, they will be real 'place-less or forgotten' people of the country.
• They (Tamil nationalist forces) are trying to show the returnee Muslims are an anti-social elements to the north. In some respect, they have been successful in doing this.  They have been successful painting this picture in Jaffna few months before which is another issue that needs the attention of those who are concern about the plight of the north Muslims.
• Tamil media locally, nationally and internationally trying to show  that the Muslims are not fit to ‘Tamil national territory and/or Tamil national aspirations’. Unfortunately national and international media also caught up in this systematical propaganda by  Tamil nationalist  and anti-Muslim forces.
• Such agenda is almost equal or more than equal to what LTTE's ethnic cleansing of Muslims from the north in 1990. 
• It is so unfortunate that  the those forces among  Tamils act  in this negative manner. At the same time, there are progressive  forces and individuals among Tamils who acknowledge unjust done  to north  Muslims  and want to do necessary positive measures to rectify what happened to Muslim victims in the past and present.  Unfortunately, those  progressive forces are numerically and politically small and weak to make substantial  impacts on this right to return of north Muslims so far. But certainly it is necessary to recognize and get the help of those positive forces among Tamil in order create a situation of a true reconciliation among different population  in the conflict affected north and east and in the country.    
• It is the right of all peace loving citizen to be aware of these developments and not allow another historical mistake by the nationalistic forces by preventing return of displaced Muslims. With all these challenges, many displaced Muslims want to return home to live with dignity and self-respect because they are left with no other option in the  present political frame work  of the country.  Therefore, we cannot rule out  the possibility  of using the goodwill and commitments of those progressive forces  in all communities especially among Tamils in the future for this.
• It is the duty of all to help the north Muslims to stand firmly to the challenges that they are now faced now.  In this  respect, we have to look at the issue of the denial of the right to return of north Muslims above political and other interests. Very frankly, political unity among Muslim politicians is a must at this juncture.  I beg our political leaders to unit on this issue.  I pray this request will be heard and fulfilled.  

I am sincerely hoping that those who understand and concern as to what is happening to north  Muslim could do their best to help them to recover from the present dreadful situation that the rerunning Muslims are faced in the north and in the south now.

In this respect, I endorse fully what Dr. Mareena Reffai said on this and encourage others also come forward on this  matter. 

Thank you and wassalam.

S.H. Hasbullah  

University of Peradeniya

 

On Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 2:46 PM, Dr. Mareena Reffai <Dr.R...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Assalamu alaikum 

We have to understand the problems regarding   this issue is three fold. And each of them are separate and not necessarily to be taken together. 

1.Did  Minister Rishard Badurdeen actually abuse the judge? if so what is the proof?

2. Did the judge act within his power? And  did the judges and lawyers go on strike after having  absolute proof that in fact Minister Rishard Badurdeen did actually abuse the judge? Or did they stamp a person guilty before being proved? 

3. unrelated to these incidences  what is the plight of the displaced Muslims? 

Please listen to the following videos and think: one of them is lying, lying through their teeth.

which one? 

YA TV interiewed Minister Rishard Badurdeen  but some Lawyers  prevented TNL from broadcasting the programme below.

 Please watch here to listen to what Minister Rishad Badurdeen has to say: 
http://youngasia.tv/?p=3067

Speech made by Hon. Hunais Farook in the parliament 

 

http://youtu.be/rdrqgvNGN3E

Save the Muslims of Mannar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOJkhJXNRU4&feature=youtu.be

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: M Siddeek <sidd...@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 10:21 PM
Subject: RE: [lankamuslims] Injustice against returning Muslims to Mannar
To: "lankam...@yahoogroups.com" <lankam...@yahoogroups.com>

 

Dear all,

aaww,

There are five serious issues raised in this email:

 
1. Illegal act of the minister,

2. Partiality of the judge,

3. Disunity of the Muslim politicians,

4. Pathetic state of the fishermen, and

5. The existence of the LTTE elements and their involvement


Can anybody elaborate on these if you have more information? This is worth lengthy impartial discussion and action in the best interest of the country and the communities living over there.   

Siddeek

 

 

 

 

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To: lankam...@yahoogroups.com
CC: Musli...@yahoogroups.com; srilank...@yahoogroups.com
From: Dr.R...@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2012 06:04:54 +0530

Subject: Re: [lankamuslims] Injustice against returning Muslims to Mannar

 

i totally agree. The picture given in the papers is totally misleading. No one has mentioned about what Rishad Badiuddeen has protested about and no  mention of the Muslims either.

 And the silence of the other Muslim politicians is deafening indeed. 

Will the MCSL take this up? 

On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 1:57 PM, Muhammad Siddique <siddiq...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

 

I am writing to draw the attention of the forum members concerning the continued injustice committed against Muslims of Mannar by the remnants of LTTE and their sympathisers.  It is unfortunate that the Muslim political leadership is so divided that there is a deafening silence from them and the religious leadership is also silent. Though we remain unconcerned anti- Muslim elements are active in their efforts to perpetuate the injustices against the Muslims. However, The Island newspaper has editorially commented on the latest issue and has identified the injustice done to the Muslims.

Most of us might have read the sporadic news coming from Mannar which is mainly in the context of allagedly "high handed acts" by Minister Rishad Badiuddeen. These news reports mask the real issues. The latest is the islandwide boycott of the courts by judges and lawyers in protest of the attack on the Mannar courts and alleged "threat" by the Minister against the Mannar district court judge. While I do not condone these acts by the attackers on the courts premises, I also think the Minister should have handled this issue within a legal framework taking the matter to the higher courts.

The real issues are that the Muslim fishermen who were driven away by the LTTE from Vidattaltivu long ago and have now returned to their homes are having to encounter intimidation and threat by the Tamil fishermen in their fishing activities and mooring their boats. The Muslim fishermen quite rightly sought redress from the Mannar Courts. As can be expected the judge who did not hide his partiality towards his community had issued a judgement against the Muslims.

Previously, when the returning Muslims were given lands by the Minister, the well known Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph made such a hue and cry that Muslims were deprived of new lands for their agricultural efforts.

I do hope that the Muslim leadership will unite forgetting their petty differences and demand justice to the returning refugee Muslims.

 

 

 

 

 

--

Dr.Reffai

--

Dr.Reffai

--
Professor in Geography,

University of Peradeniya, 

Sri Lanka

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---------------------------------------------------------------------------Muslims worst affected by terrorism: LTTE terrorists attacked Muslim community and no any other community than Muslim in the Eastern and Northern Provinces was attacked during the last three decades said Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. The Minister said so at a mass rally held at the Al-Adhan Muslim Vidyalaya, Badulla, recently. The Health Deputy Minister Vadivel Suresh and several Provincial Council members also participated. (http://www.dailynews.lk/2010/01/01/news32.asp)
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"The Muslims are the forgotten party in the Sri Lankan conflict. They have never resorted to violence to achieve their aims and so have never been properly consulted on how to end the conflict. With the new war in the east, they again are caught in the crossfire. Muslims once more face serious insecurity and concerns about Sinhalese nationalism.

The government needs to address the Muslim issue more directly, instead of merely manipulating their concerns for political advantage. However, that requires a comprehensive plan to develop a political settlement to the conflict, which at present is a very distant possibility.

In the absence of serious attention to Muslim concerns from either Tamil militant leaders or the government, Muslim communities will continue their own efforts to maintain security and political stability with little assistance from outside.

The best way to deal with these tensions is for the government to demonstrate a serious commitment to a political solution that for once would include the very genuine concerns of Sri Lanka’s Muslims."

From "SRI LANKA’S MUSLIMS: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE" by International Crisis Group. Colombo/Brussels, 29 May 2007

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4868

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