{"id":101519,"date":"2020-04-24T15:58:56","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T22:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=101519"},"modified":"2020-04-24T15:58:56","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T22:58:56","slug":"resettling-puttlam-muslims-in-mannar-is-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/04\/24\/resettling-puttlam-muslims-in-mannar-is-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Resettling Puttlam Muslims in Mannar is right"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chanaka Bandarage<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

There is\nwidespread condemnation of clearance of the precious Wilpattu National Park to\nresettle Muslim IDPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the allegation\nis true, the last two governments (2010 \u2013 2019), and the ex-Muslim Minister who\nis in the centre of the allegation, have committed a serious offence.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

News emanating\nfrom the North now shows that that the Muslim IDPs have been resettled in\nMannar District.  Given that Wilpattu is primarily\nlocated in the Puttlam and Anuradhapura Districts, if this news is correct, it\nis a great comfort for those who love Wilpattu. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody wants\nWilpattu – a national treasure and perhaps a World Heritage, to be disturbed in\nany form or the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is of paramount\nimportance that further in-depth investigation about this is carried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is it that\nresettling the Puttlam Muslims in Mannar a good thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Puttlam is part of\nthe North Western Province and Mannar is in the Northern Province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Prabhakaran\nchased out Muslims from the North (primarily from Jaffna) in 1980s and 1990s, there\nwere in excess of 1 lakh of them living there permanently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prabhakaran was\nengaged in ethnic cleansing. He wanted the North and East to be confined to\nTamils only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of those Muslims\nwent and lived in refugee camps in Anuradhapura and Puttlam.  Some went to live with relatives in\nKurunegala, Negambo and Colombo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the war,\nsome of them were resettled in the North (primarily in Mannar district).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To preserve Sri\nLanka as one Nation, it is of paramount importance that Sinhalese and Muslims\nlive in large numbers in the North.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

North and East is\na large area of Sri Lanka. It is about 1\/3 of Sri Lanka\u2019s total landmass and\n2\/3 of the coastal area. Separatists have not given up their desire to create a\nTamil Eelam in Sri Lanka.  The country\nstill suffers from that threat (not militarily anymore). Thus, we need large\nSinhala and Muslim populations living in the North and East. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now is Sri Lanka\u2019s\n\u2018Populate or Perish\u2019 moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TalaiMannar is Sri\nLanka\u2019s prime Gateway. From time immemorial, South Indians have used this\nGateway to invade Sri Lanka (and we successfully chased them back, through the\nsame Gateway). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Mannar District\nis confined only to Tamils (like largely today), it is probable that eventually\nthe North will secede.  Wigneswaran and\nTNA are trying all tricks in the book to achieve this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are over 60\nmillion Tamils living in Thamilnadu. \nGiven that TalaiMannar is about 25 km away from Sri Lanka, Tamil\nseparatists will do all they can to carve out a separate Tamil Eelam out of Northern\nSri Lanka.  This could only be prevented\nby allowing non-Tamils (Muslims and Sinhalese), who do not want the creation of\na separate nation in the North, to settle there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corono Virus is in\na serious situation in India. There is a likelihood that Thamilnadu Tamils may\nflee to Sri Lanka to escape the pandemic. Northern Tamils may have no\nalternative but to accept them. If there are Muslims and Sinhalese living in\nthe North, it will be very difficult for such illegal migration to take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same rationale\napplies in curbing illegal fishing by Thamilnadu fishermen in our coastal\nwaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Eelam war,\nMuslims worked to preserve Sri Lanka\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity.\nMuslim military men such as Nizam Muthalff, Tuan Nizam Dane and MZR Sallay come\nto mind; they gave their lives for mother Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom-line is\nthat Muslims have never demanded a separate state, only the Tamils. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslims have a better chance\nof living in the North, and this must be encouraged (the fact that they speak\nTamil is an advantage). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that when the Sinhalese were ethnically\ncleansed by Prabhakaran in late 1970s to early 1990s, there were at least\n50,000 Sinhalese permanently living in the Northern Province (including the Sinhala\npublic servants).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For nearly 65 years, the Sinhalese\nhave been denied from settling in the North and East by Tamil politicians.\n  This has been a systematic, very successful campaign by them. The irony\nis that both the Southern politicians (except DS Senanayake) and Sinhalese as a\ncommunity, have not shown the need to change this racist policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today,\nthe number of Sinhalese families permanently living in the North should be less\nthan 1500; disregarding a further 2000 or so Sinhalese families that live from Nandimithragama\nto Janaka Pura, largely in Vavuniya South and East. These villages include Nandimithragama,\nSalalihinigama, Namalgama, Bogaswewa I and II, Veherathenna. Welioya, HelambaWewa\nand Janaka Pura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer understands that\naccording to the Delimitation Commission recommendations (set up by the previous\nPresident in 2017), about 1200 Sinhalese villages in the Northern Province (Vavuniya\nSouth Pradeshiya Sabha) may end up being reallocated to North Central Province.\nThe affected villages would include Namalgama, Bogaswewa I and II,\nVeherathenna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is feared that Sinhapura and HelambaWewa villages (Padavi-Sri\nPura and  Muhudu-Bada Patthuwa Pradeshiya\nSabhas respectively), that are currently part of the Eastern Province may end\nup being reallocated to North Central Province. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is the fear that Grama Sevaka\ndivisions of Athawetunu Wewa, Kiriibban Wewa and Kokilai, that are currently in\nthe Eastern Province (Sampath Nuwara Pradeshiya Sabha) may be reallocated to\nNorth Central Province (to Padavi Sri Pura Pradeshiya Sabha).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If these proposed re-allocations eventuate,\nthe Sinhala populations in the North and East will be further eroded.  Their numbers in the North Central Province\nwill increase. Then, the Separatists will have a greater claim both locally and\ninternationally that their demand for a Tamil Eelam is just and fair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chanaka Bandarage There is widespread condemnation of clearance of the precious Wilpattu National Park to resettle Muslim IDPs. If the allegation is true, the last two governments (2010 \u2013 2019), and the ex-Muslim Minister who is in the centre of the allegation, have committed a serious offence.  News emanating from the North now shows that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chanaka-bandarage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}