Sri Lanka: a Muslim backlash is coming

The Muslim community is being driven to the brink of retaliation, says A S H SMYTH

Of all the parties to Sri Lanka's protracted civil war, only one can be considered blameless either of provoking or of perpetuating the conflict: the Muslims.

But, 25 years in, they continue to endure more than their fair share of the suffering. And the injustice - as a new report warns - is starting to take its toll.

It is not simply geographical bad luck that has put Sri Lanka's Muslims in the firing line. Though they are disproportionately represented in and around the war-zone (30-40 per cent of the regional population, as opposed to eight per cent of the national total), the manner and pattern of the attacks have come to show the Muslims of the north and east are being intentionally targeted.

In the north, the Tamil Tigers have long been guilty of civilian displacement,

massacres and ethnic cleansing. In 1990, the Tigers expelled all 75,000 Muslims from the Jaffna peninsula; brutal attacks were frequent during the early 1990s; and Tiger intimidation continued throughout the duration of the 2002 ceasefire agreement, not least through the abduction and conscription of children and the imposition of 'taxes' on Muslim villages.

The atrocities peaked last August in the murder outside Muttur of 100 Muslim refugees accused of collaborating with the government's security forces. Though the Tigers denied responsibility for the attack, they issued a blunt enough threat to the Red Cross to prevent them searching for bodies.

Beyond straightforward ethnic enmity there is a political strategy to this secondary conflict. Since the Jaffna purge, the east is the only political buffer against the dominance of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). The Sri Lankan government wants to encourage Muslim aspirations of semi- autonomy as a bargaining chip; the LTTE wants them out.

Furthermore, over the years Muslim youths have taken up arms to protect their homes against LTTE attacks, and thereby sided with Colombo and the opposition Tamil groups: the Tigers want revenge.

Hitherto, Sri Lanka's Muslims have been a model of forbearance. But persecuted on the one side and politically manipulated on the other, sections of the Muslim population are moving towards alternative solutions.

A recent report warns Sri Lanka is at risk from incipient Islamist extremism. Sri Lankan Islam has been infiltrated by hardline agendas, through contact with groups such as Jemaah Islamiyah. Muslim militias show increased willingness to take up arms. Forcible conversions have been reported, and violence has erupted between factions.

Colombo has not done enough to protect Muslims, and treats them as an expendable resource for political leverage. If unchecked, this short-sighted policy risks incubating an Islamist movement in Sri Lanka which could sow the seeds of chaos for years to come.

 

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