Arabesque

Uneasy times

AS Yogi Berra once said it's 'deja' vu all over again'. It certainly must seem so for the Muslims in the East, for whom the ceasefire has become a non-issue following events that began with the post-election LTTE attack on a mosque in Akkaraipathu, that saw four people killed and many injured.

The toll so far from numerous subsequent attacks stands at 22 killed and 52 injured. Couple the death toll with the recent incidents in the Trincomalee district (near Muttur) where 'frictions' between Tamils and Muslims have led to an atmosphere of intense unease (forcing the Muslim villagers to spend their nights in schools and mosques), movement of mysterious armed cadre in the night in certain areas, and numerous other seemingly insignificant events and one can understand the feeling of 'deja vu'.

The Muslims of the Northeast are no strangers to LTTE instigated violence. Testimony to this is the 68,000 or so families driven away from the North and East, still living the life of the 'wretched displaced' in camps in various parts of the country.

No (or minimal) effort has been made to resettle them, though the LTTE in the first flush of the 2002 cease fire euphoria did ostensibly offer to return appropriated property.

That's however by the way, for what matters is the 'here and today'. And events of 'here and today' do not portend well on numerous counts, for while tension is mounting on one hand, on the other hand the Muslims are indicating that they are not prepared to meekly 'walk away' should they be ordered out this time around.

"The people are very scared. Movement at night have come to a near standstill," says SLMC leader and former Minister Rauf Hakeem, who describes the situation as 'tense'.

Or grave concern is the movement of 'mysterious armed cadres' under cover of darkness in certain areas in the East. Villagers say the armed forces are aware of this movement.

However, compounding this is the prevalence of the Karuna camp, which makes it hard to near impossible to figure out the identity of the 'armed cadre'.

"This places security in jeopardy, as both the Karuna faction and the LTTE can get away by pointing the finger at the other group," says Hakeem.

In this uneasy scenario, it is understandable that the Muslims should agitate for protection. But the question is, should they continue to expect the Government to provide the necessary security by way of permanent check points, more home guards and increased surveillance, or should they secure their protection by arming themselves?

A group of youth from the Eastern Province believe the latter would be more appropriate, as the forces personnel, including the STF come to their areas only after an incident and depart when the tension is defused.

Their voices seem to have found an echo in the thinking of a Deputy Minister who last Sunday, attempted to hold a meeting in Sammanthurai to form the South East Muslim National Movement to safeguard the interests of the Muslims of the East. The meeting was disrupted and those attending it had to be escorted out under police protection.

Many allege the movement as being a call for Muslims to militancy, and have criticised the Deputy Minister's action as 'irresponsible'.

"This kind of emotional outbursts can lead to security threats", says Hakeem, who while agreeing to the fact that Muslims feel insecure, stresses that the Government should look at the situation seriously.

Hakeem who had detailed discussions with the Defence Secretary recently on security for Muslims in the East, however emphasises that Muslim areas need to be made autonomous through a form of devolution so that the community can do its own policing and can look after its own law and order situation.

Saner council echo the sentiment, but many warn that the issue of arming the Muslims of the East may well become redundant, if the current security situation continues, and the youth resort to arms as a form of protection with or without government sanction.

The Parliamentarians' Forum

On a more positive note, Muslim MPs from both sides of the parliamentary divided came together as a united body under the Muslim Parliamentarians' Forum recently, with Minister Fowzie as its Chairman and Anwer Ismail as its Secretary.

And one of its successful ventures has been obtaining an assurance from the Minister of Education to find placement at Southern universities for medical students chased out of the Jaffna University by the LTTE. The University Grants Commission is expected to make a final decision on the placements today.

Haj on the alert

The Saudi Government is said to have beefed up its health checks at arrival points around the country to ensure that Haj 2006 remains untainted by the deadly H5N1 form of the bird flu.

The more than half-million pilgrims who have already arrived in the country, including several thousand Sri Lankans have been checked for disease, and although all pilgrims have been cleared of any virus or illness, officials have warned that 'anyone found to have an illness will be sent back to his country immediately'.

Around 2.5 million people from around the world head for Mecca around this time of the year, for what is deemed the world's biggest religious ritual. Most of the pilgrims are from Asian countries where bird flu has killed more than 70 people during the past couple of years.

Both factors appear portentious at a time when fears of a global spread of the virus are mounting and a cure is still not in sight.

On the home front, where bird flu is the least of their concerns, a significant percentage of the more than 7,000 Sri Lankans expected to perform Haj this year, have already made passage to Mecca.

The first flight left on December 12 and the last batch is expected to depart on January 05. And most Muslim households have seen a flurry of activity, with pilgrims trekking in to pay their obligatory 'salaams' and seek forgiveness for any or all past transgressions.

Haj is also obligatory among all Muslims, providing they have the means to make the journey. But beefed up costs that has inflated the price of a journey to over Rs. 250,000 with numerous pluses added on, make Haj only a dream for many, even those of moderate means.

Shouldn't there be some form of intervention to make Haj an equal opportunity pilgrimage? Other countries offer the option of land transport. Of course that's out of the question for Sri Lanka.

But what about resurrecting the "sailing option"? Our grandfathers and great grandfathers travelled to Mecca by ship, so why not their grandchildren and their great grandchildren? Certainly it would be much cheaper.