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MUSLIMS IN THE
BATTICALOA
&
AMPARAI DISTRICTS
5.1.5 Comments by members of the Trustee Board on Special Report No.3
5.1.6
Colonisation and agriculture
5.2.2
The demand for new AGA’s divisions
5.4
Incidents affecting Muslims in the Batticaloa and Amparai Districts
Sammanthurai is among the best organised
of Muslim communities in the East. Its system of local government by its own
democratically elected body, functioning also as the Board of Trustees of its
religious institutions, is admired by surrounding villages. Each division elects
is leaders who then choose their trustee board. The trustee board functions
as the parliament. The parliament delegates functions to its members, which
include judicial matters. The work is voluntary, and the working of the system
requires persons willing to sacrifice much of their time. The parliament reflected
the character of the village - portraying an air of dignity and generosity.
The parliament wields considerable authority and has men of all ages.
The board of trustees was quick to
point out the good relations they have traditionally maintained with neighbouring
Tamil communities. When Karaitivu suffered from communal violence in 1985, the
people of Sammanthurai sent lorry loads of supplies to Karaitivu. Mustaq
Ali of Sammanthurai took custody of stray cattle belonging to owners in
Karaitivu and handed them over to representatives from Karaitivu. Muslaq
Ali was later killed by Tamil militants. They are also proud that Tamils
who bring grievances against individual Muslims to their courts are given justice.
They produced records where a Tamil, Rasiah, was in dispute with a Muslim
over a piece of land. The law courts ruled in favour of the Muslim. Rasiah then
resorted to the Sammanthurai tribunal. The latter ruled in favour of the complainant
and ordered the Muslim to pay him Rs.70,000/-. In another case a Tamil complainant
was awarded Rs.12,000/-, a part of which is recorded as having been settled.
We put down some points that came out of the discussion,
together with facts from the book ‘Eelathil Innumoru Moolai’.
Over the years there had been, it is said, a transfer of Tamil paddy lands to
Muslims for reasons discussed in Report No 7, some aspects
of which are also dealt with in Chapter 6 of this report. This is
an issue that played a role in misdirecting the militant struggle in the Eastern
province. There had been a long series of armed provocations, humiliations and
killings inflicted on Muslims. From the time of the arrival of the IPKF
there had been killings of Muslims in ones, twos and threes in their homes and
in paddy fields. Through all these the leaders point out, they restrained the
people from taking reprisals.
On 25th March 1989 M.A.
Mustaq Ali, a young graduate M.A.M.Yassin and B.A.C.M.M. Falil
who were in conversation on the street were shot at by Tamil militants Jeeva
and Asokan from Veeramunai. The first two were killed and Falil
was crippled. Mustaq Ali was a brother of the MP, M.A.Abdul Majeed,
known for his friendship with Tamils. Mustaq Ali had close friends in
the forces including a senior army officer in Amparai, as a result of his being
a sportsman together of his public school education. This appears to have marked
him out as a target.
On 4th May 1989, two students,
Najib and Pais, together with a van driver Jabar returning
to Sammanthurai were shot dead by Tamil militants. They were of a party of students
who had passed their O.Levels and had gone out to a scenic place to make a video
of a drama promoting communal harmony, to be released at the coming religious
festival. While returning after filming, the party was waylaid and attacked
by Tamil militants killing the three above. Others in the party were stabbed
or injured. The militants had accused them of having gone out for military training
and are believed to have been drunk. The camera-man, a Tamil from Karaitivu,
was spared.
When complaints were made to the IPKF,
it was mostly indifferent or blamed the incident on the LTTE.
The incident of 14th May
1989 was decisive in discrediting the IPKF . B.M. Salim was in
his tractor ploughing the field of M.A.Adam Bawa in Neyankadu. The latter
was standing by. Four militants, including Karthigesu and Periyathamby,
came with SLR rifles and two of them drove the tractor away to Karaitivu. The
two Muslims were shot dead at 6.00a.m. On the 16th some Muslim youths
disregarded the counsel of restraint, went to the fields and beat to death two
lonely Tamils, including a Vattavithanai.
On the 17th at 2.00 p.m.
the TELO leader Jana came into Sammanthurai in a Pajero jeep belonging
to the provincial council with 13 well armed youths. They began assaulting civilians
to the screams of women. A few minutes later there was wild firing from automatics.
People ran amidst panic. Five Muslims were injured in the incident. Among the
attackers were Asokan, Jeevan and Pathman from the TELO.
In the meantime Tamils in the enclave
of Veeramunai had taken refuge in schools and temples. A group of Muslims who
went there returned after setting fire to a cowshed and a haystack. Another
group going to the Tamil division set fire to 4 out of 19 houses. The families
in those houses were given protection by Muslims including Salman, T.A. Allilebbe
and Sulthar.
From 5.00 p.m that evening the IPKF
came in a large number of vehicles along the Mandur, Sorikalmunai, Savalakadai
Road, and sealed off Sammanthurai with armoured vehicles at junctions. The story
also spread that a large number of Tamil militants had arrived with guns. In
the night Muslim houses in divisions 4 and 5 were looted and set on fire, the
goods being taken along the Sorikalmunai Rd. Shortly after mid-night sounds
of gun shots, automatic fire and mortar shells were heard. I.H.Mohamed
and A.Adam Bawa were killed in the incident.
Muslims in Sammanthurai sought refuge in 17 refugee
camps. People fled from the neighbouring Muslim settlements of Cherman Vattai,
Malgampitty, Nainakadu, Hyauththu Nabi Kudi, Hijrahpuram and Eththalaikkulam
seeking refuge in Nintavur and Sainthamaruthu. These villages which were looted
and destroyed remain uninhabited to this day.
On 29th May, S.H.F.Fareed
(University of Jaffna), S.Adambawa and Y.C.Mohideen were shot dead
in the night at Mavadippalli. From 21st to 31st May, 4
Muslims were abducted and killed. It was at this time that President Premadasa
called for a withdrawal of the IPKF and the LTTE expressed its
sorrow at the incident and called for an inquiry.
On 29th July, the IPKF
left the area after leaving the newly formed Tamil National Army, made of conscripts
and led by other militant groups, in charge. Acts of violence against Muslims
continued, with 4 deaths up to 17th Novemeber. At this time the IPKF
had withdrawn from the Amparai District and was at Periya Nilawanai. The
TNA entered the Karaitivu Police station on the pretext of a search, disarmed
them, sent away the Tamil policemen, made 42 Muslim reserve police constables
lie on the ground and shot them dead. Only 3 survived.
The TNA’s exit and the
LTTE’s arrival were for a start welcomed by the Muslims. The LTTE
set up offices and promised that there would be justice and that in future there
would be no room for corruption, killings or misgovernment. Complaints were
dealt with promptly and severely with beatings and torture. But when killings
of Muslims were reported, the standard reply was that the remnants of the TNA
were responsible. There was no let up in murder and robbery.
On 14th January 1990
Ameer Ali(20) was killed in the fields and so was A.L.Meera Lebbe
4 days later. No action was taken. On the other hand Muslim youth continued
to be taken away for interrogation and torture on the suspicion of possessing
arms. A hunt was launched for the official body guards of legally elected provincial
council members. At 12.30 noon on 30th January, the home of provincial
council member M.Y.M Mansoor was surrounded. He was shot below the hip
and taken away in a poor state after a brief call at Kalmunai hospital where
no medical attention was given. What became of him is not known to this day.
Another P.C. member M.Z.M. Kariapper narrowly escaped although his house
was surrounded.
During the massacre of policemen at
Rufus Kulam by the LTTE of 11th June 1990 five policemen from
Sammanthurai (A.M.Ameer Ali, M.M.Haniffa, U.Salim, A. Abdul Jaffer, and M.Y.M.
Hassim) were among the victims. The Sri Lankan forces came into Sammanthurai
on 14th June.
The elders refute the charge that
the Muslims in any planned manner used the occasion of the army’s entry
for revenge against Tamils. They point out that 4 Muslims were among those killed
and burnt when the Sri Lankan army set about its orgy. One of them was a deaf
electrician. The Tigers continued to be in the surroundings. On the night of
20th July A.S. Mohamed Hadjiaar , the LTTE’s only
Muslim nominee for the still born interim council of September 1987 together
with his friend Mohideen Hadjiaar were shot dead in the former’s
home. Though close to the Tigers Mohamed Hadjiaar is said to have quarrelled
bitterly with the Tigers over the shooting on 30th January of
M.Y.M.Mansoor, M.P.C.. The following day six were shot dead in the fields.
On 23rd July 1990, there
were in the night breaking noises and small explosions in the house next to
the former LTTE office. People took refuge in the mosque. A little later
Sundaram, Sinnavan, Raju, Sarachchandran and their leader Kumar entered
the mosque and opened fire. They left shooting when the army returned fire from
a long distance. Two men S.M.I.Haji and M.B.Aliyar were killed
in the mosque. Two men, five women and a child were injured. A further two were
injured outside. On 25th July 3 farmers were killed on the way to
their fields.
On 12th August 1990, 8
labourers with the driver were going in a tractor towards Chalambakkerni in
connection with harvesting rice. They were confronted by gunmen who proceeded
to knife them. 4 were killed and 5 escaped with injuries.
When the injured got back to Sammanthurai,
they named some youths from Veeramunai as being among the attackers. An angry
crowd rushed to the temple and the school in Veeramunai where Tamils from the
same village and those living in other surrounding villages had taken refuge.
This led to the tragedy reported in Special Report No.3
.
The elders stated that this was the
first time following a long series of provocations that Muslims had laid hands
on people in Veeramunai. As provocations they cited the role of youths from
Veeramunai and the Tamil enclaves of Sammanthurai in the humiliations and killings
they had endured during the IPKF presence and subsequently, the attackers
in the incident of 17th May 1989 using the communication system at
the Veeramunai temple to give instructions to their cadre, widespread reports
of goods looted from Muslims in Tamil houses and the appearance of Tamils having
had foreknowledge of some attacks (e.g.23rd July 1990). Even so,
they said, they had repeatedly urged restraint and given shelter to Tamils when
there was danger. On 17th May 1989, given the severe nature of the
provocation, the elders, with some good fortune, had ensured that not one Tamil
was hurt. Indeed even on the 12th August 1990, they said, things
happened before anyone could assert control. Some of the elders had contacted
the forces in an attempt to get them to intervene.
One elder contested a point in Special Report No.3
cited as suggesting connivance of the armed forces with the attackers on 12th
August. He said that the forces’ vehicle mentioned was going in search
of those who had attacked the farmers and not to monitor the attack on the temple.
He added that he had been at the police station in connection with the first
incident and had seen no signs of police connivance with the second incident.
They also said that the looting of
Tamil property had been done largely by the forces, and the goods carried away
in lorries to Amparai.Whatever remained was left unattended, and as far as was
within their means they had discouraged looting. They said that they had never
stood in the way of the Tamil struggle, having provided material help and refuge
for all groups before the IPKF arrived. Subsequently the LTTE
had received help from certain villagers.
Two farmers on 3rd September
1990 and two on 20th Novemeber lost a leg each as the result of anti-personnel
mines placed by the LTTE in their rice fields. On 20th May
1991 the LTTE fired on farmers returning after sowing their fields, killing
9 farmers and injuring two. Six were killed on 8th August 1991.
One member observed that even Tamils
who are critical of the extremism of the Tigers, in the final analysis, support
the main nationalist trends in Tamil politics. This, he said, mars their objectivity
when it comes to the specific questions and dilemmas confronting Muslims. The
report in question, he added, falls deeper into this morass as it progresses.
They said that it was wrong as alleged
in the report that leading citizens of Sammanthurai had cultivated the LTTE.
In fact when LTTE leaders Yogi, Karuna and Karikalan came
there, (early 1990 or December 89) they had made it clear where they stood.
At a public meeting, their respected elder, Al Haj Moulavi M.B.Aliyar,
had told them, “The Muslims do not oppose the Tamil struggle, nor would
stand in the way of Tamil aspirations. Life was given to man by Allah. It is
therefore his, and not man’s to take. Do not kill and repeat what other
Tamil groups did”. This was said in response to a speech by an LTTE
leader who pointed to their cyanide capsules as symbols of greatness and authority.
The motor cycle received by the local
LTTE leader Kumar was not given to them by the citizens of Sammanthurai,
but was purchased with tax imposed on goods sold by the local MPCS.
As another instance of their restraint
and generosity, they said that the TNA on 17th October 1989
had killed 39 policemen from Sammanthurai. But as the LTTE advanced shortly
afterwards, several TNA conscripts on the run had come helpless into
Sammanthurai. The Sammanthurai folk had safely conducted them to Veeramunai.
A total of 132 citizens of Sammanthurai
had been killed from 1984 up to August 1991 : 7 before the IPKF arrived,
65 during the IPKF presence (39 killed by the TNA on 17.11.89),
6 during the period of LTTE control, 6 policemen in the LTTE massacre
of 11th June 1990, and 48 during the current war-mostly farmers working
in paddy fields.
It was pointed out that Sammanthurai
faced considerable anxieties from state aided colonisation of Sinhalese. The
late minister, Cyril Mathew, in his infamous book had designated Sammanthurai
on his map as a site for a Buddhist vihare.
7000 acres of land belonging to citizens of Sammanthurai
were acquired by the state for sugar cultivation and were subsequently given
over to Sinhalese. About 5 years ago 750 3 acre plots in Thottachlinungi, Puthukkadu,
belonging to people in Sammanthurai were acquired by the state.
They also had difficulties because
those managing the irrigation of water to their fields were not directly accountable
to them.Water which should have been released to them on 7th January
was released considerably later. This meant that farmers in Mandur, 30 miles
further down the channel, would have faced further delays. [More on the crucial
water resources in Special Report No.3
]
5.1.7 Note: We do not dispute any of the facts given to us by the elders of Sammanthurai.
Nor do we doubt their generosity and goodwill. Our conclusion in Special Report No.3
of the passive, if not active, connivance of the forces in the attack on Veeramunai
of 12th August 1990 was largely based on three pieces of testimony
from a number of witnesses. The STF did not intervene for about 1 hour
after the attack commenced-an event marked by gun shots and screams. When the
STF came there was no attempt to apprehend the attackers. The attackers
left casually, apparently exchanging signs of acquaintance with the STF.
As a rule people who have suffered in this manner do not sit together and invent
stories. In our experience no victim of violence has tried to mislead us, although
they may shield certain facts.
It is a general fact of life in the
East that Tamils are sceptical about reports of suffering by Muslims, while
the reverse also holds. What the people of Sammanthurai underwent over more
than 5 years is a moving story that should be made known to Tamils. Death has
come to other communities, both Tamil and Muslim, in greater number. But Sammanthurai’s
is a story of constant terror over several years, waiting for the unknown, not
knowing whether someone going to the fields would return - a state of affairs
shared particularly by Eravur and some of the interior Tamil villages.
The book ‘Eelathil innumoru
moolai’ was written with a feeling of helplessness. A feeling that
a people who are generous, cultured and had organised their life exemplarily,
after the way in which they had suffered were being portrayed in a manner that
was careless and insensitive. But once this feeling of being unfairly treated
cools, they might like to re-examine some of the judgements in the book. There
is a tendency to collectively accuse the Tamils around of planning the destruction
of Sammanthurai and being party to several acts of violence against Sammanthurai.
The fact that Tamil families in the
vicinity of the mosque, left their goods with Muslims and went away a few hours
before the mosque was attacked by the LTTE on 23rd July 1990
is treated as a strong suggestion that they were party to the plan. Perhaps
they may have sensed that it may not be good to hang around. By what the LTTE
did, they had everything to lose-from their homes, their goods and their livelihood.
They could have hardly approved of the LTTE’s action. They too were
living in fear. 250 Tamil youth were picked up by the forces, who then disappeared.
Like the question of the land mine planted in front of one’s house, there
is always a dilemma whether to tell or not to tell. There is danger both ways.
Reconciliation finally means that both parties have to accept their human
weaknesses and open their hearts and minds to each other.
It is now more than two years since
we established direct contact with Kattankudy and followed up the course of
events from about June 1990. Our attention keeps getting drawn to the question
of how it all began by the people themselves. Trying to say anything about it
is tantamount to entering a minefield. In Report No.5 we published
a Tamil account of the events of the night of 22nd April 1985 associated
in Tamil minds with the call to arms from the mosque followed by Muslims marching
towards Manjathoduwa to confront Tamils in positions at the border. At the head
of the procession the Tamils reported seeing a police armoured car with blue
lights flashing, associated with a special unit of the Sri Lankan constabulary,
whose task was to drive a permanent wedge between the Tamils and the Muslims.
The Tamil defenders no doubt were convinced that they were protecting their
own community. Muslim accounts are equally clear that their young men marched
with sundry weapons to confront Tamils with sundry weapons, to defend what was
theirs. They clashed, buildings and properties were torched, several on both
sides were injured and both sides went back, each acclaimed a hero of his and
a villain of the other’s. About 14 civilians from both communities were
killed during the incidents.
If this incident was a tragic farce,
events took a graver turn as time went by. We cannot and will not try to do
full justice to the incident. It should have been the subject of an independent
commission of inquiry at that time. The state deliberately created a vacuum
in the East to further its own machinations by destroying the process of the
law, that was the basis of a common community life for the diverse peoples of
the East. This vacuum has become worse with time. Each local community had its
affairs governed by an ethnic citizens’ committee to fill a local role
in the kind of situation associated with Lebanon. Each citizens’ committee
faithfully recorded the losses and injury to members of its own community and
appealed to the external powers that be to right its perceived wrongs. This
is sadly true of all citizens’ groups whether Tamil or Muslim. The demand
for division and subdivision has assumed a life of its own, with new AGAs divisions
demanded by both communities on the grounds that each is at a disadvantage in
its administrative unit if the AGA or the chief clerk is from the other community.
Likewise, as Tamil associations have
done, the Federation of Muslim Mosques and Institutions of Kattankudy submitted
to the Working Group of the UNCHR a report in October 1991. Besides facts
and statistics, it gives the Muslim angle on several events. It tells us that
in the months running up to 22nd April 1985, the Kattankudy Muslims,
a trading community, were subject to a series of robberies by Tamil militants
which created an atmosphere of provocation. The week preceding 22nd
April had been a tense one and each community was expecting something to happen.
It thus becomes plausible that the call from the mosque had a strong defensive
component. On the Tamil side, there was nervousness because of tensions in the
Amparai District.
Another major event during the IPKF
presence, was the LTTE ‘s massacre of Muslims in Kattankudy about
New Year 1988, after one Muslim member of the LTTE was killed. The FMMI
report gives us names of 85 Muslims killed. Tamil sources said that six Tamil
labourers were killed during this time by home guard elements.
The report gives details of loss of life and property among Muslims
of Kattankudy from 1985 to October 1991 and gives us an insight into their feelings
of alienation and anxiety: 1985-20 lives lost due to violence, 1986-10, 1987/88-85,
1989-10, 1990-222 (Kurukkalmadam massacre-72, Mosque massacres-104). 1991(up
to October)-22, Isolated cases and abductions-10, Total-379.
Some of these incidents were accompanied by reprisal
violence against Tamils, though on a much smaller scale. The first thing to
remember about Kattankudy is that its people had no nationalist or separatist
agenda. Its community leadership was strongly influenced by traders who had
their trading interests in Batticaloa town. Moreover those owning fields outside
the village had to depend on Tamil labour and supervision. The community leadership
are realists and are the last people to want quarrels with Tamils. Like other
Muslim communities in the East they had time and again demonstrated that they
do not share the agenda of the state and have quickly moved to defuse friction
with Tamils. Muslim violence has generally been a response to hopelessness in
the face of rising provocation.
There is a qualitative difference
between Tamil and Muslim casualties. The former are mostly victims of the Sri
Lankan forces who are perceived as outsiders. A significant number were also
victims of internecine killings. The 379 Muslims killed in Kattankudy were nearly
all killed by their Tamil bretheren who hope to dominate a political entity
in which Muslims have to live. This is a serious complication.
When prominent Tamil and Muslim citizens
meet after an incident it was usually a matter of you control your boys and
we will control ours? Batticaloa town had many times more articulate and professional
men than Kattankudy. Their citizens’ committee (now the peace committee)
has compiled and circulated highly professional reports on violations against
Tamils from the mid-80s. Why they failed to include the neighbouring Muslims
as part of their work and make them feel a part of the community is something
we cannot answer. But it represents a historic failure of nation building. The
less sophisticated Muslims have felt unrepresented. Out of necessity they have
been pushed into producing reports of the same genre-something they learnt from
Tamil citizens’committees. The logic of “you control your boys
and we will control ours” is being pushed to its logical conclusion
with all its depressing contradictions.
The FMMI report reproduces
a request of October 1990 calling for the number of AGA’s divisions in
the district to be increased from 10 to 15 with the number of Muslim AGAs divisions
increased from 1 to 4.
With regard to Muslims living in Tamil
dominated divisions the complaints are familiar: A lack of Muslim representation
in the administration and hence decisions taken unilaterally to their disadvantage;
Obstruction of additional residential areas for Muslims necessitated by population
increase; & Difficulty in obtaining a fair share of relief during times
of natural disaster or civil commotion.
An example it gives is that all income generating
government investment has been sited in Tamil areas: eg 1. Tile factory (Karadiyanaru)
2.Milk processing centre(Chenkalady), 3. Government press (Kumburumoolai)
4. Fisheries Harbour (Pethalai) 5. Paddy Processing Plant (Kaluwankerny) 6.
Industrial Estate (Saturukondan).
We have argued that much of this is the result of the Tamils failing to give confidence to the Muslims and made worse by anti-Muslim violence. Finally the state is placed in the position of the monkey dividing the cake.[Top]
Eravur’s troubles began in 1985 well before the current war, when tensions between Muslims and Tamil militants first broke out. Then 35 Muslim farmers from Eravur working in the fields at Kommathurai and Illuppadichchenai were attacked and killed by Tamil militants according to local sources. At Karuvacholai 9 farmers with their hands tied were shot and killed on the lagoon shore. The party bringing their bodies for burial about 6.00 p.m was fired at while passing Arumugaththan Kudi, where one was injured. This was followed by rioting.
Muslim farmers from the following outlying villages (all within 12 miles of Eravur) fled to Eravur leaving their houses and property. These villages are: Mavadi-Odai, Veppa-Vedduwan, Kasar-Kudah, Illuppadichchenai, Kokku-Thangia-Madu, Kooththuchchenai, Rugam, Oorugamam, Thumpavan Cholai, Koppaveli, Sivaththa-Bokkadi(Red Bridge), Pavatkodichchenai, Sillikudiaru and Komparchenai. Several mosques were attacked. Koppaveli Pallivasal(Mosque) was damaged. Muslims have since then abandoned these villages, populated either exclusively by Muslims or together with Tamils, resulting in the displacement of 500 families. To date it is only in Rugam that Muslims have returned. The families then displaced account for about 5% of the population of Eravur. Peace was then restored after intensive efforts by their leaders Dawood and Rahuman. But the end result was a certain economic impoverishment.
Following the outbreak of the current war, both impoverishment and loss of life were unprecedented. [See Report No.7 for an account of the massacre of 12th August 1990]. By 12th August 1990, 130 persons had been killed. This resulted in 41 widows, 7 widowers and 146 children who lost a parent. Of the dead 61 were females. 12 families of 23 persons were wiped out. 27 children were orphaned. Further to this 130,36 persons were abducted and are now missing, bringing the dead to 166. Another 43 were badly injured.
The number killed or missing since the 12th August is placed at about 180 by leading citizens of Eravur bringing the total to over 300. 11 of those massacred at Allichipotanai in the Polonnaruwa district last May (1992) were settlers from Eravur, adding further to the refugee influx into Eravur. Many of those killed since 12th August 1992 have been travellers or farmers, bringing economic activity to a virtual standstill. The border areas of the village have also been abandoned. The strain on the infrastructure of the village is thus considerable.
According to community elders 9000 acres of paddy land belonging to the village are inaccessible to them. Such was the anger and helplessness that many villagers accuse Tamils of using the LTTE to acquire produce from Muslim lands in addition to 40,000 of their cattle. They also feel that Western aid agencies have given them step-motherly treatment. Moreover what is happening on the international scene adds to the general Muslim suspicion of all Western organisations.
Unlike Tamils, they added, they are prisoners for all but 3 days of the week when army pickets are on the trunk road. Even then they pay higher fares to travel in vehicles that take Muslims - Rs20/- to Batticaloa and Rs 100/- to Colombo.
Attacks by the LTTE, they said, have almost stopped in recent months. There was much talk of overtures from the LTTE. But the massacre near Polonnaruwa of 15th October 1992, which took them by surprise, brought a new sense of despair.[Top]
2nd April 1992: Sathurukondan:
LTTE cadre in mufti, with grenades but without guns stopped the Batticaloa bound train a few miles short of Batticaloa about mid-day. The Muslim passengers (mostly going on to Kattankudy) were ordered to alight. Tamil passengers blocked the entrance and pleaded with the LTTE cadre to leave the Muslims alone. The LTTE left, their plans thwarted.
2nd June 1992: Between Komari & Pottuvil:
A bus with both Tamil and Muslim passengers plying between Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil was stopped by armed LTTE cadre. The Tamil passengers were asked to alight. All of the Tamils alighted except Rajakulendran, a government officer in Pottuvil. Rajakulendran stood at the entrance refusing to get down and pleading with the would-be-assailants to spare the Muslims. The LTTE opened fire killing Rajakulendran and 19 Muslims who were in the bus.
Since then the bus service has ceased. Muslims travelling between Pottuvil and Akkaraipattu have to take a much longer and expensive route rather than the direct coast road. Tamil government officers who are refugees in Komari, cycle to Pottuvil for work and return by nightfall.
5 days after the incident above, on Sunday 7th June, two persons from Komari and a Pottuvil refugee in Komari disappeared. This is believed to be the work of the STF. The first two were close relatives of LTTE cadre.
It has also been said by local sources that Rajakulendran had a quarrel with the late Pottuvil school principal Mr. John. Mr.John disappeared in July 1990 after being abducted by the police in Pottuvil. [See Special Report No.3 ]. John’s widow’s brother was a local LTTE leader at the time of the incident above. Muslims later issued hand bills expressing their appreciation of Rajakulendran’s sacrifice.
15th July 1992:Kirankulam (Ambalanthurai Junction,near Kurukkalmadam):
A Muslim reconciliation party with others were travelling south early in the morning from Kattankudy to Maruthamunai, with a motorcycle and a bus following.The reconciliation party of relatives visited Kattankudy to mend relations between an estranged couple. The van was stopped by gunmen at Kirankulam. The driver reversed at full speed. The motorcyclist, left his motorcycle and got into the van. The gunmen opened fire. The driver escaped by rolling off the van into a roadside pool. One ran and warned the bus and was injured while so doing.
19 died in the massacre-13 from Kattankudy and 6 from Maruthamanai.Among the dead was an expectant mother, Aliyar Thovfeeka(31), from Maruthamunai. Her husband, a native of Kattankudy, with whom she was to be reconciled, had travelled to Maruthamunai earlier. Among the dead were Seeni Mohamed Jaseema(18) and her brother seeni Mohamed Naleem(4) from Kathankidy, and Sahu Ibrahim Sameera(10) and her brother Sameer(5) from Maruthamunai. Five adult women and five elderly men were among the dead.
The Muslims of Maruthamunai, a trading community consistently well disposed to Tamils, became restive. The STF acted fast, called a meeting of town elders, and brought the situation under control by telling them that ordinary Tamils were not responsible for the outrage.
At
Kattankudy, the police acted effectively and stopped the beating of Tamils by
some Muslims. When some Muslim youth stoned the police, the army was called
in, and order was restored.
Even among Muslims doubts
persisted as to who was responsible for the massacre. There was some suspicion
that the TELO was responsible. Other sources said that the scene of the
massacre was one frequented by the LTTE and the TELO would never
have gone that way before 8.00 A.M.
They point out that the
LTTE had robbed several motor-cycles there at gun-point. A judge’s
escort vehicle was blown up near there. Kurukkalmadam, where Muslims were massacred
by the LTTE in July 1990, is also in that area. Furthermore, on the very
day of the incident, about mid-day, school children saw about 75 armed LTTE
cadre casually pass that way.
21st
July 1992: Siththandy:
Late in the morning, the
Colombo bound train was stopped by armed LTTE cadre. Once more the Muslim
passengers were ordered to alight. The Tamil passengers stood at the doors and
pleaded with the LTTE , advancing a variety of arguments from the moral
to the purely practical (What would then happen to the Tamils when the train
reached Valaichenai (a largely Muslim area)?). A game of brinkmanship went on
with the LTTE coming up to the doors and making threatening gestures
from one side of the train.The passengers started running away as a mixed group
from the other side. The LTTE followed and opened fire at a group of
Muslims who were exposed. 9 were killed of whom 3 were from Kattankudy. Among
the dead were Salim and Siddik from Eravur. Among the victims
from Kathankudy was Mohamed Yoosuff Abdul Haneff(42), father of 5 and
deputy principal of Kathankudy Central High School.
25th July-November 1992:
5 fishermen from Kattankudy
abducted at sea and believed to have been murdered on 25th July.
The victims were H.M.H.Mohamed (50), A.A.Gaffoor (32), M.I.A.Rahaman (40),
M.L.M Fareed (23) and A.Ayub Khan (25).Mohamed Cassim, boy of 19 and a cattle
dealer was murdered at Kankeyan-Odai, Kattankudy on 18th August.
A TV set with a bomb planted inside was handed over to an electrical repair
shop in Batticaloa owned by a Kattankudy man on 28th October 1992.
One repairman, Alliyar Thajudeen(22), was killed when the bomb exploded.
The police are holding two Tamil boys who had allegedly confessed to planting
the bomb.
26th December 1992: Meyankalkulam, North of Valaichenai:
Five persons travelling
in a Maruti jeep were killed in a land-mine explosion close to the army camp
at Meyankalkulam. The dead are Y.B.Ahamed Lebbe(47), Additional G.A. Batticaloa;
A.K. Uthman, AGA Valaichenai-Oddaimavadi Muslim Division, M.Meera Mohideen(47),
Attorney at law; S.A.M.Mahmood JP, School principal & the driver S.Mahendran.
The party was on its way to the Mahaweli settlement scheme at Rididenna Jayanthia
in Uthman’s official vehicle.
Ahamed Lebbe BA, SLEAS was
a leading educationist, writer and was next in line to become Government Agent,
Batticaloa. Uthman was the first university graduate from Meera-Odai, Mohideen
was a part-time lecturer at the Ceylon Law College in addition to his normal
practice and was formerly a leading member of the SLMC. Mahmood was a poet of
distinction. Among the dead were foremost Muslim citizens of the area-adding
fuel to a widespread belief among Muslims that Tamil groups were systematically
eliminating Muslim leaders.Extracts from the writings of Ahamed Lebbe
representing his wide interests are given in Appendix I.
J.L.M. Mustafa of Oddaimavady writing in the January issue of ‘Muslim Kadchi’
raises the point that the mine explosion took place near an army camp on a day
when troops were picketing the roads. But S.L.M. Haniffa writing in
‘Sari Nihar’ of January - February reports that the killers had
withdrawn through the jungle, killing on the way a wood-cutter Shahul Hameed.
This, if correct, points fairly decisively to the LTTE . (The report
of the Daily New’s Batticaloa correspondent (28/12) described Hameed as
a passer-by who was also killed in the blast.)
Ravindra Wickremasinghe writing in the ‘Island’ of 27/12 quotes military sources as believing that the intended target was an army vehicle that had gone that way a few minutes earlier. This, if wrong, and the intended targets were the Muslim officials, raises, as Mustafa points out, some difficult questions. He says that in Oddimavadi, where the vehicle was parked, the mission of the government officers was widely known the previous day. But Oddimavadi is almost entirely a Muslim area. A commission, now inquiring into these deaths, will in time throw more light on the incident. However both Muslim writers quoted are convinced that the officials were the targets. A number of GAs(4), Additional GAs(2), AGAs (more than five), all Muslim, Sinhalese and Tamil, have been killed in the North-East since 1985.[Top]
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