Squatters at Wilpattu: BBS falsely linked it with Jasmine Housing Project – Petition to President by Zacki Jabbar

Twelve Muslim organizations have jointly appealed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reign in the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), which was once again trying to revive communal disturbances by making false allegations with regard to the resettlement of Muslims who were driven out of the North by the LTTE in 1990.

The petition signed by the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, Muslim Lawyers Association, All Ceylon YMMA Conference, Muslim Womens Research and Action Forum, All Ceylon Union of Muslim Youth League Front, National Shoora Council, Secretariat for Muslims, Muslim Media Forum, Sri Lanka Jamath-e-Islami, United Muslim Ummah, Majlisul Shoora said that the latest target of the BBS was the Muslim resettlers in the Northern Province."The BBS is wrongfully claiming that a new resettlement colony called Jassim City is being constructed with donor funds inside the Wilpattu National Park. The charge has been leveled with racial intentions. The rhetoric will derail what little assistance that is being delivered to the Northern Muslims. A hundred thousand Muslims were forcibly evicted in 1990 from the North by the LTTE as an act of ethnic cleansing. Since then, these IDPs have been living as a forgotten people in different parts of the country. Please ensure that the rule of law prevails and extremist groups are prevented from taking their law into their hands and intimidating innocent citizens of this country."

They have requested the President to establish a mechanism to inquire into the resettlement process of the Northern Muslims and ensure that all Muslim IDP’s expelled by the LTTE who have been languishing in camps for over 24 years be resettled immediately.

No illegal resettlement nor damage had been caused to the Wilpattu National Park or the environment. Hundred families whose lands are currently occupied by the Navy have squatted in temporary shelters in about two acres of land belonging to the buffer zone near the Wilpattu National Park. They have been there for about a month now and the media was highlighting their presence without clarifying that this was a separate group which was not part of the Jassim City housing programme. The confusion and bad feeling caused by the BBS and the media reporting around the incident had caused great distress to both returning Northern Muslims and the rest of the Muslim Community. It, was believed that the difficult times of last year, where extremist groups openly made racists statements against the Muslim community was a thing of the past. But sadly, this does not seem to be the case, the petition noted.