{"id":89515,"date":"2019-05-28T21:47:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T04:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=89515"},"modified":"2019-05-28T21:47:06","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T04:47:06","slug":"multiculturalism-and-national-integration-failure-in-sri-lanka-no-more-towns-should-end-up-like-kattankudy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/28\/multiculturalism-and-national-integration-failure-in-sri-lanka-no-more-towns-should-end-up-like-kattankudy\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiculturalism and National Integration failure in Sri Lanka: No more towns should end up like Kattankudy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kattankudy is a town in Batticoloa in Eastern Province of Sri Lanka\nwhere only Muslims live.<\/strong> Why is multiculturalism & national integration\nnot applicable to Kattankudy? How is it that the nomenclatures of\nmulticulturalism, peaceful coexistence, secularism is applicable to all, other\nthan Muslim majority countries or in Muslim majority areas? How is it that\nwherever and whenever an area becomes majority Muslim only extremist\nfundamentalist and strict Islam prevails? It is visibly clear that wherever\nminorities become a majority it is only their will that rules \u2013 their dress, their\nculture, their religious practices, their habits is what prevails and all\nothers who want to live with them in harmony have to silently accept, not make\nany fuss or shift to another town. Kattankudy is the example of what happens to\na town with only Muslims. Where minorities are a minority they demand on par\nstatus & once on par they work towards becoming the majority using\nsurreptitious methods to influence politicians and local authorities. Incrementally,\nKattankudy cannot happen to other towns and it is time Sri Lanka\u2019s leaders stop\ncompromising the historical ethos and heritage for votes, power and personal\nhandouts. The people of Kattankudy practice a culture foreign to the culture of\nSri Lanka even Muslims who wish to follow the heritage culture are under\npressure by those following a stricter & foreign form of Islam. This is\nnothing that can be ignored in the face of increasing Jihadist terrorism\nassociated with this stricter form of Islam spreading to other parts of the\nisland influencing wherever Muslims are the majority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How was Kattankudy created?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Unionist Association of\nCeylon assisted the Delimitation Commission in the allocation of electorates to\nthe State Council under the Donoughmore Constitution when it decided to divide\nthe Eastern Province into 2 electorates. It was the Unionist Association\u2019s\nproposal that ended up creating Kattankudy. UAC President was SWRD Bandaranaike\n& Vice President Sir Marcus Fernando.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kattankudy is just 6sq.km of land\nand inland water and has 18 grama niladari divisions for the 18 villages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per 2016 statistics, the\npopulation of Kattankudy is just 47,603 (13,757 families) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vote-bank politics discriminating majority giving unconstitutional\nprivileges to minority<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The constitution is clear that all citizens must be treated equally. Before the law, every citizen must be given equal justice. There can be only one law for all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, politicians have diluted this. When the Proportional Representation system was introduced the initial cut off point for any party to qualify for parliamentary representation was 12.5% but Ranasinghe Premadasa reduced the cut-off point to 5% on a request made by M H M Ashraff of the SLMC before the 1988 elections. The reduction was with political intent and resulted in ethnic-based political parties with ethnic-based agendas to enter parliament and legislatively weaken & destabilize Sri Lanka incrementally to what it is today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not only are minorities accommodated by the mainstream political parties, but minorities representing ethnic-based political parties shrewdly align with the political parties to contest as an alliance and then demand a minority seat and a cabinet portfolio. The reduction of entry to Parliament from 12.5% to 5% is solely responsible for bringing to parliament MPs who are not representing the country or even the minority they claim to represent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where Muslims are majority \u2013 Muslim-Muslim conflict surfaces<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kattankudy though occupied by\nonly Muslims is not in total harmony. Rise in Sufi mysticism has resulted in\nmilitant opposition in East \u2013 Kattankudy & Maruthamunai since 1980s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2004 Sufi tombs and shrines\nwere destroyed and Sufi leaders had to flee province. In 2009, Sufi &\nTowheed tensions arose in Beruwela. In Kattankudy Sufi leader Rauf Maulavi who\nhad formed the All Ceylon Islamic Spiritual Movement was declared an apostate\nby the All Ceylon Jamiyatul Ulama in 1979 and Rauf was chased out of Kattankudy\nin 2006 & in December the shrine of Sufi leader late Sheikh Abdullah\nPayilvan (founder of Thareekatul Mufliheen) was attacked & his corpse\nbarred from burial in Kattankudy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was on 21 September 1982 that A H M Ashraff established the Sri Lana\nMuslim Congress in Kattankudy (Batticoloa district) though he was from\nSamanthurai (Ampara district) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically Ashraff spoke at ITAK meetings in 1970s and was even present\nat the Vaddukoddai Conference in May 1976 when the Vaddukoddai Resolution was\npassed for a separate Tamil state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not surprisingly Ashraff formed the Muslim\nUnited Liberation Front in 1977<\/strong> on the same lines boasting that even if\nAmirthalingam abandoned Eelam goal he (Ashraff) would not. Ashraff was MULF\u2019s\nlegal advisor. MULF however did not win a single seat & Ashraff left MULF\nto join SLFP in 1980 when TULF refused to accommodate Muslims to contest under\nTULF banner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Muslims & Tamils showed such close allegiance why did Prabakaran ruthlessly and mercilessly attack Muslims inside the Kattankudy mosque in 1990. Could it not be that Prabakaran realized that Ashraff and Co were having larger plans for Eastern Province from the Tamil Eelam goal? Is it not because Rajiv Gandhi himself had other plans that he too was eliminated by Prabakaran! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An \u2018alien image identity\u2019 root\ncause of disharmony & self-alienation by Muslims<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was during this period that a creation of a Muslim identity\nresulted in wearing burka, hijab, beards, missionary campaigns, new mosques and\nlouder demands using their leverage in business and UN\/Western human rights\nnomenclatures. All these were part of fundamentalist POLITICAL ISLAM that drew\nMuslims automatically because \u2018Islam\u2019 associated with it. No one questioned its\nconflict with Sinhala majority culture or heritage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was in 2013 that Dr. Ameer Ali\nhighlighted the reality that Muslims were self-alienating themselves <\/strong>from the mainstream community because of a\nnew image problem. There can be no better example than Kattankudy to prove this.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the orthodox brand of imported Islam the cause of the alienation? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Ameer Ali says the new dress, new values and practices are the root cause and advises Muslims<\/strong> to self-introspect & ask themselves whether they want to be Muslims of Sri Lanka or Muslims in Sri Lanka. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Ameer Ali takes Kattankudy to highlight\nthe self-alienation<\/strong> an area\nof just 6sq.km has 58 mosques \u2013 planting of date palms in the middle of the\nroad to look like Arabia, halal slaughter, the black dress he says is alien to\nSri Lanka and has nothing to do with Islam. He confirms that women of the 1970s\nwore saris. So why are women adopting this \u2018confrontational image of Islam\u2019\nknowing that women did not dress in this manner earlier?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short what it means is that anyone dressed in black attire, long fluffy beards, demanding shariah, marrying children, halal, ritual slaughter, expansion of Islamic territory (Islamization) etc are those practicing confrontational extremist Islam. It\u2019s now upto the Muslims to remove this from society! Will they? is a question they must now answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Its Islam \u2013 but distortion of Islamic Scriptures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Why are\nMuslims \u2018misreading Islamic scriptures\u2019 \u2013 who is at fault for teaching them\nradicalized scriptures knowing this would result in extremism and conflict with\nthe majority community whilst isolation Muslims? Why are Muslims inviting these\nradicals from Middle East to address and influence Muslims if Muslims are well\naware that these are the elements leading to disharmony? Muslims should know\nwhich brand of Islam to follow but why are they following a militant form of\nIslam? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can Muslims counter these extremisms which are inherently part of Islam?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When new aspects\nof self-alienation imported from Middle East funding radicalism in the East became\nknown the previous government was quick to set up 2 intelligence units to\nmonitor extremism though both units had been disbanded and the officers heading\nthem put into prison by the present government for reasons best known to them! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extremism and the inability to integrate when towns become turned into Kattankudy is primarily due to the Islamic fundamentalism rooted in Wahhabi Islam (stricter Quran and Hadis) This different form of Islam is not only a threat to non-Muslims but to Muslims as well and Sufi\u2019s will guarantee this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

EasterSunday\nattacks was masterminded in Kattankudy. The hate for non-Muslims (though\nhistorical) was encouraged because everyone in Kattankudy are Muslims and the\nradical preachers of hate find the environment easy to brainwash against\nnon-Muslims. Same thing in practiced in North Sri Lanka by TNA & LTTE\nagainst the Sinhalese. They don\u2019t want Tamils mixing with the Sinhalese because\nordinary Tamils would discover TNA & LTTE had been lying about the\nSinhalese. Similarly these radical Muslims want all Muslims to hate\nnon-Muslims. Creating only Muslim cities only facilitates this hate. No ghetto\nethno-religious areas should be allowed. Kattankudy must be made multicultural\nas a future national policy just as North Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Government should promote any Islam that\nis not only dangerous to the country, the majority & the minorities as well\nas Muslims not practicing this stricter form of Islam. It is because the\ngovernment has taken the side of Muslim leaders who are aligned to this\nstricter form of Islam that has led to these Muslim politicians using State\npower and patronage to advance their agendas at a national security risk to all\ncitizens of Sri Lanka.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslims\nshould be able to practice Islam but not Arabian culture or Arabian Islam and\nthis message must be clearly conveyed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Muslims\nare now openly saying that they wish to align to the Sinhala culture while following\ntheir Islamic faith. We have no issues with this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, we have\nan issue with the new identity that surrounds the stricter form of Islam that\nincludes Shariah, burka, long beards, marrying children, female genital\nmutilation, halal, ritual animal slaughter, proliferation of mosques not built\nlike mosques, madrassas etc. Having identified these elements that are not\nintegrating and being the cause of confrontation Muslims must agree to denounce\n& remove them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going forward Sri Lankan citizens must accept<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • One Law\nmust apply to all <\/li>
  • Laws\nmust be equal to all \u2013 minorities need not have special laws if before the\nCourts, everyone is treated equally.<\/li>
  • Remove\nethno-religious political parties or return the parliamentary entry to 5% from\nthe 12.5% changed in 1988 as a political favor. <\/li>
  • No\nrejected politician should be taken into parliament or given State portfolios.<\/li>
  • No\nGovernment should allow mono-ethnic towns\/cities as a National Policy <\/li>
  • No Government\nshould allow the heritage culture of Sri Lanka to be replaced by foreign new\ncultures<\/li>
  • Remove\nthe Ministry of Reconciliation\/ National Integration \u2013 it has served no purpose<\/li>
  • Religious\nFreedom to worship is a personal freedom & not institutional religious\nrights to convert \/ new cultures are not religious rights<\/li>
  • Strict\narchitectural laws that give rules & regulations for buildings <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Kattankudy is a town in Batticoloa in Eastern Province of Sri Lanka where only Muslims live. Why is multiculturalism & national integration not applicable to Kattankudy? How is it that the nomenclatures of multiculturalism, peaceful coexistence, secularism is applicable to all, other than Muslim majority countries or in Muslim majority areas? How is it that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89515","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\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}