{"id":88930,"date":"2019-05-17T00:23:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T06:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88930"},"modified":"2019-05-16T16:57:31","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T23:57:31","slug":"the-muslims-of-sri-lanka-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/17\/the-muslims-of-sri-lanka-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"THE MUSLIMS OF SRI LANKA Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

This essay looks at the main element in Muslim\nexpansion in Sri Lanka, the takeover of land. This is a systematic, calculated\ntake over, and it has been going on for a long time. The money comes from Saudi\nArabia. This land grab is part of the silent process of taking over Sri Lanka\nfor Islam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mid 1970s, I had a conversation with a\nfellow passenger on a train. He told me \u2018Some one must look at what is going in\nthe villages.  A Muslim comes in, starts\na shop, gives items on credit and when the villager cannot pay, takes his land.\nThis is happening all over,\u2019 he concluded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ratanapala\u2019 writing in 2017 confirms this. He\nsays, \u2018Even 30 years ago in some areas it was only the village temple that was\nleft after Muslim encroachment.  \nToday I believe after the demise of the temple priest the temple land\ntoo is in their hands, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the urban\nsector, Muslim brokers openly accost house owners and offer to buy their houses\nat prices which are way above the local selling price. A relative told me that,\nten years ago, she had received an unsolicited offer of Rs   60 million, for a modest house which she had\nno intention of selling. We have all had the experience, in Colombo, of Muslims\ndriving in and offering to buy the very house we are living in. They offer\nexorbitant prices and they are very persistent.  Two days after the Easter Sunday bomb blasts,\na friend who lives close by was asked whether she would sell her house.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a brazen takeover of public land as\nwell. In the area in which I live, a Muslim travel company cordoned off the\narea in front of it\u2019s newly built office. They took in the whole pavement,\nwhich was 14 feet wide and a CEB transformer as well. No one challenged this,\nuntil the UDA came to re-pave the pavement. They kicked aside the cordon and\nreturned the pavement to the public. In Nugegoda, Muslims tried to take over a\nwhole chunk of the town. Residents found that Enderamulla had become a part of\nadjoining \u2018Akbar Town\u2019.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is blatant abuse of the   law. The\nowner of a piece of land in the suburbs of Colombo sold it because urban laws\nsaid he could not go up three storeys in that area.  He later found that under the new owner, a\nMuslim, a three storey building was coming up. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Kandy, I was shown a house newly built by\na   Muslim, where the area marked off as\nroad reservation was also built on.  In\nColombo, storm water drains are built over by Muslim house owners, regardless\nof protests by the neighbours. Muslim officers in the municipality give the\napproval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the anti Muslim scuffles going on\ntoday are definitely related to land. There was a clash recently at\nPothupitiya, a coastal village, near Negombo. \nThis was linked to two unauthorized structures, a beach restaurant and a\nmini mart, owned by Muslims. These had been built illegally on Coast\nConservation Department land with the support of a local Muslim politician. The\nminimart was owned by his nephew. (Sunday\nTimes 12.5.19 p 10)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslims are\ntaking over in the Eastern Province too, particularly in the Batticaloa\ndistrict.  Muslims are pushing Tamils out\nof the Eastern Province by taking over the lands owned by them. Researchers\ndeclared that Muslims in the east are engaging in questionable land acquisition\u201d.\nThey are buying paddy land from absentee Tamil owners. They are buying up Tamil\nowned businesses.  There is also the \u2018creeping\nspread of Muslim villages into Tamil villages\u2019, they added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslims have\ncreated exclusive Muslim settlements in the Eastern province. These are set in\nstrategic locations, by the sea. Kattankudy is the best example.  Some settlements   encroach into conservation\nareas such as the forests, estuaries, and waterways flowing to the sea. The bogus\ndeeds were prepared by Muslims working in the kachcheri or District office\nadministering the area, said critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derana television\nnews of 4.1.2018 featured a settlement in Thillaiyadi, Puttalam, for 1000\nhouses. It had been established by Rishard Badiurdeen with funds from UAE.  The settlement was named after a member of\nUAE\u2019s Supreme Council. There\nis   \u2018Ashraf Nagar\u2019 in Ampara close to Deegavapi temple. 500 houses\nwere built with funding from the Middle East, to house 89 Moslem families who\nhad been displaced by the 2004 tsunami, said observers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A very\ncomprehensive account of the Muslim land grab has been given by “Ratanapala”\n(pseud) writing to Lankaweb in May 2017. Here it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ratanapala\nsays that Col Gaddafi, who came here to attend the1976 Non Aligned Nations\nConference in Colombo, gave a radio interview to the local Muslims. (See Radio\nCeylon Transcripts of 1976) In the course to the interview Kaddafi had asked\nthem about their population strength. He gave them the following advice and\nguide lines: To increase their population from what was around 7% at that time.\nTo buy land alongside major roads \u2013 Economic arteries that emanate from major economic\ncentres. To construct mosques so that the call to prayer ( Azan) can be heard\nfrom the next mosque. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is in this\nbackground and context we have to understand how far the Muslims have come\nsince 1976. Population has increased\nfrom around 5% to now near 10%.  This\nincrease is facilitated by funding for such practices from the Middle\nEast.  Increase in numbers has also\nbrought about a new militancy in challenging the indigenous Buddhist Culture,\nBuddhism and the Sinhalese, observed\nRatanapala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the\npurchase of land, they have over achieved what Col Gaddafi wanted them to\nrealize. One only has to go along the major road arteries that emanate from\nColombo or other major cities to understand this creepy crawly encroachment \u2013\non either side of these roads to find out who owns these trading\nestablishments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One has to\nlook at what is happening to the suburbs of Colombo \u2013 all prime land is being\nbought over by Muslims to make a clean sweep of Colombo and her environs. Then\nit goes to other areas down the southern coast line \u2013 Wadduwa, Kalutara,\nBeruwala Aluthgama. In Colombo and its environs, as it is in a multiplicity of\nother major cities towns and suburbs, Sinhalese are replaced at an ever\nincreasing pace as more and more land \u2013 real\nestate is passing hands from Sinhalese to Muslim for rupees which only\nhas a transient value,  continued\nRatanapala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that\nMuslims have cornered the inner-city, gradually they are moving onto city\noutskirts in a deliberate and methodical way displacing Sinhalese street by\nstreet by street! They follow the law of the land where it is convenient and\nfind all the loop holes to creep through to buy land quite legally \u2013 that is\nunder the current laws which are quite unfavorable to the Sinhalese. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently\nareas around Dehiwala, Galkissa \u2013 Mt Lavinia, Kalubowila are under intense\nattack; other areas around Colombo too are similarly attacked the difference is\nonly in the degree.  A friend of mine who recently returned from\nSri Lanka having visited his wife\u2019s house in Waidya Road, Mt Lavinia mentioned\nto me that this street is unrecognizable from what it was 20 years before and\nnow almost entirely Muslim, said Ratanapala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large\ncontingents of Maldivian Muslims seem to prefer this area.  People have reported seeing foreigners in\nIslamic attire being \u2018very busy\u2019 at all time of the day in these areas \u2013\npurchase of land and building of mosques are going a pace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\nfriend of mine who is living abroad and has his parental house in Dickmans\nRoad, is having a court case with a Muslim man in the adjoining land, who\nclaims a half of his parapet wall as belonging to him. This is a classic case\nof a Bedum Naduwa where the weaker party gets overwhelmed, as  owners of\nthis \u2013 property  living abroad cannot participate in lengthy court\nproceedings. Eventually frustrated owners will sell the land to the Muslim who\nwill go on to \u2018offer\u2019 a \u2018good\u2019 price for the land and property, said\nRatanapala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Elsewhere\nin the country they are buying up land in all economic centers as well as cornering\nall businesses under their control. Today they control most of wholesale\neconomy and what the Sinhala trader does is just the drip of what they can get\nout of retail trade \u2013 outcome of which is very much determined at a higher\nlevel by the wholesaler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Movement of Muslim enterprises to purchase\nprime land in economic zones is going a pace. Many a little shop in Colombo as\nwell as in other major cities and towns with Sinhala sounding name boards in\nfront are in fact owned and operated by Muslim enterprises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Kandy,\nMuslims have \u2018ring circled\u2019 the Temple of the Tooth \u2013 Dalada Maligawa with\nclever purchasing of land from unpatriotic Buddhist Priests and other\nlandowners.  A mosque built on land\nleased out by the Temple is now getting ready to rival the very pinnacle of\nBuddhist faith in Sri Lanka.  Ring\ncircling of Buddhist places of worship is now happening all over Sri Lanka.\nKuragala, Dambulla, Kekirawa, Matale, Polonnaruwa, Mawanella \u2013  to name\nonly a few.  At Kuragala they are\nextending the territory by burying their dead in the adjoining government lands\n\u2013 another ploy they use to capture land, observed Ratanapala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this is\nhappening in a majority Buddhist country where the minorities are making\ninroads to erase our history and our relationship to our past in the North and\nEast. Already in the East, Buddhist\nplaces of worship are being desecrated and Buddhist land occupied while a\nhapless government is looking askance. Mosques\nare mushrooming all over the island, apparently there is a mosque for every 50\nMuslim families in the island. In total they now outnumber all the Buddhist\nTemples and Hindu Kovils. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the West,\nWilpattu wild life sanctuary is already being bulldozed, making land for\nMuslims settlements. How many of these are illegal immigrants, the government\nhas no clue,  concluded  Ratanapala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmentalist are concerned about the  Muslim encroachment at Wilpattu National\nPark. Wilpattu is a valuable pristine forest within the villu eco-system . Environmentalists firmly oppose any human settlements\nwithin Wilpattu. Wilpattu was thick forest from 1984-2011. There was not a\nsingle settlement. Satellite pictures  \nand Survey Department maps  indicate    this.   In\n2010, human settlements   started in Wilpattu.  The activity was  re-started in 2013. Aerial photos taken in\n2006 and 2015 show the increase in settlements. They show that around 2500\nacres have been cleared in the last 9 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmental  organizations such as Wilpattu Surakimu and\nNational Sangha Council compiled a report on Wilpattu in 2015.  <\/em>The report says settlement started\nin 2010, it took place in Wilpattu North and Kallaru forest reserve. About 50\nacres of Wilpattu North sanctuary and 2500 acres of Kallaru forest reserve have\nbeen destroyed and people settled there.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015\nCentre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) \nfiled  petition saying that 2000\nhectares of  the forest complex adjoining\nWilpattu national part northern sanctuary and Marichhukkaddi\/karaddikkuli\nreserved forest  west ward of Wilpattu\nblock UU and IV, has been cleared, divided into plots, paved road and\nunauthorized settlements established, making irreparable damage to the\nenvironment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Approximately \n1000 hectares of forest in Madu, Periyamadu and Sannara  area which is part of the forest complex .\nMadu road sanctuary  and Madu road\nreserve forest has similarly been destroyed to make way for settlement. 1500\nfamilies have been illegally settled  in\nthese areas. Approximate 50 acres in the northern sanctuary of Wilpattu, have\nalso been cleared.  Permanent and\ntemporary houses and other structures have been erected,  and roads constructed, said the petition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The petition alleged that Minister Bathiudeen\nwas behind the venture. The petitioner  has information that the Minister of Industry\nand Commerce Rishard Bathiudeen had been involved in mobilizing the\ndeforestation of these forest reserves and establishing settlements under the\npretext of the resettlement of Internally Displaced People (IDPs),   CEJ said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was\nalso a News 1st<\/sup>\u201d expose on television on 28.6.15 showing that\ndeforestation was taking place. The destruction caused, could be seen by air. The\ncarnage that has befallen on this reserve took a new turn in 2013 with the\nintervention of Minister Bathiudeen, \nsaid News First.  1080 acres in\nthe Mannar District belonging to the Department of Wildlife had been released\non  February 14, 2013  to resettle \ndisplaced persons. The  President\nof Sri Lanka , when informed, had \nordered  the deforestation\nstopped. But when News First\u201d went there, in 2015, they  found that deforestation of Kallaru forest\narea was continuing.  News First\u201d\ncorrespondent was accosted by  an organized\ngroup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, Rukshan Jayawardene   publicly drew attention to the fact that the\nWilpattu forest is being pushed back using bulldozers, backhoes, chain saws and\nother heavy machinery. In many areas you can see the remaining forest as a wall\nwhere the clearing ends containing trees perhaps a century or more in age. Thousands\nof hectares have been cleared of forest cover. These forests contain valuable\nhardwoods such as Ceylon ebony, calamander, satin wood and last but not least\nred and white sandalwood. Where is that timber now, Rukshan asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new road  travels like an arrow through the heart of\nWilpattu, five kms from the park, said Rukshan. New houses, new towns, road\nnetworks, power and communication towers are all being established. There is creeping expansion into the\nwilderness of the park. The Park\nboundary is quietly shifted. These lands,\nformerly forest reserves, have been fraudulently obtained .  Meanwhile, some of the old settlements such\nas Mullikulum are deliberately neglected and allowed to remain overgrown,\nconcluded Rukshan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Derana television featured a\nprotest led by Ven. Pahiyangala Ananda on the encroachment at Wilpattu. Ven\nAnanda accused the officials of the Department of Wildlife Conservation of\ndoing nothing to stop the matter. Environmentalists charge that Minister\nRishard Bathiudeen is the person  responsible for  settling Muslims in Wilpattu.  More than 2500 acres of land in the buffer\nzone of Wilpattu had been destroyed and \nMinister Bathiudeen was settling Muslims there, said  environmentalists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister\nRishard Bathiudeen has cleared a large stretch of thick forest land between\nMarichikaddi and Kallaru River, to create new Muslim settlements, they said. A vast area approximately 2,000 hectares in\nthe forest adjoining the Wilpattu National Park , at the Northern sanctuary of\nthe Wilpattu National Park and Maraichukkaddi \/ Karadikkuli Reserved Forest,  west ward of Wilpattu blocks II and IV,  had been cleared, divided into plots,\nprovided with  paved roads and an\nunauthorized settlement established . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately\n1,000 hectares of forest land in Madu, Periyamadu and Sannara area which is\npart of the forest (Madu Road Sanctuary and Madu Road Reserved Forests)\nhas  been destroyed for settlements. Around\n1,500 families have been illegally settled in the cleared area belonging to the\nMaraichukkaddi \/Karadikkuli forest reserve and in the forest complex of Madu\nRoad Reserve and Madu Road Sanctuary , \nsaid environmentalists.  Bathiudeen  has also cleared 50 acres belonging to Forest\nConservation Department in Wilpattu north. 2500 acres in Kallaru have   been\ncleared  and a further area around  800 acres is being cleared  . Kallaru forest  though not considered a part of Wilpattu,\ncomes under the Forest Conservation Ordinance of the Forest Department. And,\ntherefore, any encroachment in this forest is illegal and  a punishable offence, said environmentalists.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmentalists are definite that\nthese settlements at Wilpattu are recent ones. They were totally new\nsettlements and not resettlements, they said. Bathiudeen\u2019s statement that Muslims\nhave come back to a settlement which was there in 1990, has been firmly\nrejected. . There were no villages before this in the now- cleared Kallaru\narea.  Kallaru is an illegal\nhousing project  ,on encroached crown\nland in a conservation area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rishard\u2019s strategy  is to first build some concrete or cemented\nhouses in unauthorized state or private land, and hurriedly resettle people of\nhis choice. These illegal settlements are thereafter made legal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 At Kallaru, Bathiudeen has   used another strategy. From Marichikaddi to Kallaru, on either side\nof the nearly five kilometer main road, he has built hundreds of houses with\nvery long spaces between them, only for Muslims, said observers.  There are paved roads and permanent houses\nalready in place, with  further road extension\nand house construction underway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\nsettlement has been named\nHunais Farook City, after his  one-time\npolitical ally,  Hunais Farook. Another\nsettlement of 179 houses has been named  J<\/strong>assim\nCity\u2019.<\/strong> There is a board saying \nfunds were provided by Sheikh Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani Charitable\nFoundation  of Qatar.  Most of the houses in these  settlements are unoccupied.  Muslims living elsewhere appear at Wilpattu\nwhen necessary.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rishard\u2019s\nland-grabbing campaigns  are going on\nunchecked  in Mannar and Vanni, too,  said critics. Some of  his illegal settlements are located between\nSilawathurai and Nanattan in Musali, and between Tharapuram and Thalvupadu in\nMannar. Many new colonies have also mushroomed in state lands between Murunkan\nand Silawathurai. An illegal resettlement scheme is built opposite  the Doric Fort between Silawathurai and\nArippu. A lot of state land along Mannar- Talaimannar road, is encroached and\nillegally owned by his relatives and party supporters, they said..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On  \n24 March 2017 President Maithripala Sirisena signed a gazette notification\ndeclaring 100,000 acres of lands adjacent to Wilpattu National Park  as conservation forest\u201d , with immediate\neffect,  thereby stopping people with\npolitical backing clearing more areas in the forest. The gazette notification\ngives wide powers to the Forest Department\u2019s five forest reserves \u2013 Mavillu,\nWepal, Karadikkuli\/Marichchakatti, Wilaththikulam and Periyamurippu . These\nhave now been gazetted as \u2018Mavillu Conservation forests\u2019 and have the highest\nprotection under the Act. National Environment Act, probably.  Hereafter, Presidential and Parliamentary\napproval will be needed to acquire or clear \nthe  land.  Entry will be restricted and entrance would\nonly allowed for educational or research purposes. There is no information as\nto what will happen to the illegal \nBathiudeen settlements. (Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS This essay looks at the main element in Muslim expansion in Sri Lanka, the takeover of land. This is a systematic, calculated take over, and it has been going on for a long time. The money comes from Saudi Arabia. This land grab is part of the silent process of taking over Sri […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88930","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=88930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}