From T.D.S.A. Dissanayaka's 'war or peace ....' : The Muslim factor

In June "The Sunday Observer" serialized Chapter I "Sri Lanka: What Went Wrong?" During that month T.D.S.A. Dissanayaka travelled intensively within the Eastern Province conducting research into Chapter II "Peace: At What Cost?"

He is now writing Chapter II which will be completed in August and the book will go into print in September, simultaneously in Colombo and New Delhi. We are pleased to announce that "The Sunday Observer" has obtained exclusive rights to serialize Chapter II as well.

The Author has drawn our attention to the additional information he gathered in the Eastern Province last month, in respect of Chapter I. He has therefore offered us an additional installment in respect of Chapter I which we gladly publish as an Addendum. At this juncture it is appropriate to add a few paragraphs on the Muslim community, which accounts for 7% of our population and is the third largest ethnic community in Sri Lanka. At the time of our Independence they were a model minority.

They kept aloof of any dispute between the Sinhalese and Tamils and had very cordial relations with all communities. For over a thousand years the Muslims earned their livelihood as coastal traders from the Middle East. Three hundred years ago Malay seapoys, craftsmen and exiles were brought in by the Dutch from Java and Sumatra. The coastal traders were interspersed all along the coastline covering the entire Island. Due to religious persecution by the Portuguese, some coastal traders migrated to the central highlands where they were well received.

Wherever they lived, be it amidst the Sinhalese or the Tamils, the Muslims co-operated with the majority. At the advent of Independence the Muslims were not the majority in any of our districts and their population centres were as follows according to the Census of 1946:

District % of Population

Batticaloa   42.3

Mannar       35.5

Puttalam     32.3

Trincomalee 31.3

(Source: Department of Census and Statistics)

In the Eastern Province, then consisting of the Districts of Batticoloa and Trincomalee, the Muslims and the Tamils lived side by side in roughly equal numbers for centuries. For example, in the Census of 1901, 1911, 1921, and 1931 Muslims (45%) and Tamils (50%) accounted for the bulk of the population whereas Sinhalese (2%) and Burghers (2%) - all figures are correct to the nearest integer - accounted for the distinct minorities.

Thus the concept of Tamil homelands as expounded by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam in the decades of nineteen fifties, sixties and seventies and thereafter by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, is basically a misnomer. The factual position is that the Eastern Province consisted largely of Tamil homelands and Muslim homelands. Reference to Tamil homelands alone is sophistry. Since the decade of the nineteen thirties, the land policies of D.S. Senanayake resulted in the Sinhalese population increasing from 2.4% in the Census of 1931 to 24.7% in the Census of 1971.

Whether that was wisdom or folly is largely a matter of opinion. In the context of our Civil War, in 1983 the fighting in the Eastern Province were confrontations between the Army and the LTTE or the LTTE attacking some isolated Sinhalese village such as Arantalawa or Dehiattakandiya. Indeed the LTTE was initially so careful not to attack Muslim towns. However in 1985 the LTTE attacked Akkaraipattu, Kalmunai, and Samanturai, in 1986 they attacked Muthur and Valachchenai and in 1987 Eravur and Kathankudy. Following the departure of the IPKF in June 1990, 105 Muslim Policemen who surrendered to the LTTE with the 507 Sinhalese Policemen were executed by firing squads whereas the 111 Tamil Policemen who surrendered were allowed to go home. In July 1990 the LTTE butchered Muslims at Jumma Prayers at the Mosques of Kathankudy and Eravur, on successive Fridays.

The death toll was 103 and 122 respectively. The same month the LTTE slaughtered 62 Muslims in Nintavur and 40 Muslims in Akkaraipattu. In September 1990 in implementing a new policy of ethnic cleansing the Muslims were driven out of the Northern Province where they had accounted for four to five percent of the population, since time immemorial. Thus the Muslims also became an integral component in the Civil War. Even after the Ceasefire became effective in February 2002, the LTTE attacked the Muslim minority in Valachchenai in June 2002, attacked the Muslim majority in Muthur in October 2002 and again in May 2003.

There is one crucial interim measure which President J.R. Jayawardene introduced into the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution way back in 1987, which has still not been implemented. The merger of Northern Province and the Eastern Province is subject to a Referendum in the Eastern Province where the breakdown of the population according to the Census of 1981 was:

Tamils ....     42.9%

Muslims ....    33.1%

Sinhalese ....  24.9%

Under pressure from India, President Jayawardene took that calculated risk because both the Muslims and the Sinhalese were averse to this merger. However such a Referendum was not possible in 1987 and 1988 due to the security conditions in the Eastern Province. In 1989 President Ranasinghe Premadasa was negotiating for peace with the LTTE who wants this merger on a permanent basis.

After a respite of one year the Civil War erupted again. Therefore once again security conditions precluded a Referendum being held for quite sometime. However the General Elections in 2000 and 2001 were very satisfactorily conducted in the Eastern Province. Thus a Referendum could have been held then or now, but it is not expedient for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to do so in the near future. He himself is committed to an interim solution by virtue of his electoral pledge at the last General Election and reiterated more recently at the pledging conference in Tokyo held in June 2003. Besides as of now bifurcating the North-Eastern Province is anathema to the LTTE.

However at the appropriate time a Referendum has to be held to determine whether or not the North-Eastern Province reverts to the status quo of two separate Provinces. That is the irresistible conclusion, because according to the Census of 2001 the Muslims, not the Tamils, are now the majority in the Eastern Province.

According to the Director-General of Census and Statistics, the Census of 2001 was satisfactorily conducted in eighteen of the twenty-five Districts including Amparai. In the other seven Districts including Batticaloa and Trincomalee, it was flawed due to security related problems.