‘I am above communal considerations’
Select extracts from the Hansard of Minister Rishad Bathiudeen's
speech in Parliament on August 8, 2012
“Sir, my electorate and I have been making media headlines in the
past few weeks and I would like to make use of this opportunity to set
out the real facts with regard to the events that took place in Mannar.
“I am a Member of Parliament elected by the people of Mannar. My
electorate is made up of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. It has been my
honour to represent them and to represent their heartburn and anguish.
“I make this statement with responsibility and with a sense of duty.
I say this because the people of this country must know and they have
the right to know the true facts, about the real victims and the real
culprits of what happened and what is happening in Mannar. That alone
can ensure that the Rule of Law prevails and that justice is done in
this country.
“That is being described as a clash between the Muslims and the Tamil
Catholics, but that is only what we see on the surface. Underneath the
surface, there is a bigger battle, a bigger struggle between two forces,
to which I will refer later on.
“Before I was appointed the Minister of Industry and Commerce by
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, I held the portfolio of Resettlement and
Disaster Relief Services. The Tamils of the Northern Province would
recall how I, as the Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief
Services, spearheaded the government’s programme to resettle the
displaced Tamil people in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces with
great vigour and enthusiasm under the guidance of Economic Development
Minister Basil Rajapaksa.
“However, I had to carry out the task of resettlement under a highly
risky condition. I should also mention that on my request as a Member of
Parliament and the chairman of the District Coordinating Committee of
the Mannar District, the Ministry of Economic Development, under the
guidance of President and Basil Rajapaksa, reconstructed the Madhu
Church damaged during the terror campaign by the LTTE to the pleasure of
the clergy. On a similar request made by me, the Thiruketheeswaram Hindu
Kovil reconstruction had to be carried out to the chagrin of a section
of the very clergy. I am mentioning this to show that I have always
acted far above ethnic or communal considerations. Nearly 500,000 Tamils
were resettled in the North and the East when I was the Minister of
Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services, even while the displaced
Muslims from the North remained in refugee camps.
“Sir, in 1990, long before the words ‘ethnic cleansing’ were used or
known in Sarejevo, in our own little island, the LTTE cleansed the North
of the Muslims.
“Thus, the Muslims of Mannar, including the fishermen of Uppukulam,
were forced to leave their homes. Mannar is not a recent Muslim
resettlement. It is one of the earliest Muslim settlements in Sri Lanka.
The fisherfolk in Mannar are successors to these early settlers.
However, to the LTTE’s genocidal and narrow view, all that meant
nothing; the ‘traditional homelands’and the birthplace of others did not
matter. What mattered to them was the ethnically cleansed ‘Tamil Eelam.’
It was an LTTE dream. But, it was our nightmare and more so, for a
majority of the Tamil people.
“For 22 years, these Muslims have lived as refugees since they were
evicted from their lands. There are those who are obstructing their
return and resettlement. They are giving effect to the LTTE decree that
Mannar should be without Muslims. I do not think that any Member of this
honourable House will accept that. I certainly will not.
“So, this is not about Tamils, Catholics or Muslims, about those who
want to live in peace in a united Sri Lanka and those who want to divide
it. Therefore, every peace-loving citizen, whether Sinhalese, Tamil or
Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic, Christian or Hindu, who believes in a united
Sri Lanka must and will support the cause of the Muslim fishermen of
Uppukulam who want nothing, but to earn their living through honest
means and to live in peace.
“But, for 22 years, the Muslim fishermen of Uppukulam in the Mannar
District have been deprived of their lands and fishing rights. Twenty
two years is too long. It is not something that can sit quietly in our
conscience. It troubles me and it will trouble all of you that for 22
years, people lived as Internally Displaced People and even after the
return of peace, they still remain as IDPs.
“Sir, in 2002, a small group of Muslims returned to Mannar, to their
fishing hamlet in Uppukulam in Konthaipiddy hoping to regain their
livelihood in their birthplace. However, any hope of resettlement was
dashed when the LTTE intervened through its local warlord, Amudan, a sea
tiger, and forcefully settled a group of Tamil Catholic fishermen from
Vidataltivu in Uppukulam. It was a continuation of the LTTE strategy to
keep Mannar for the LTTE and its henchmen.
“However, when this forceful settlement occurred, the Muslims managed
to obtain a written undertaking that the fishermen of Vidataltivu would
return to their lands once normalcy returned. So, even when they came to
settle in Konthampiti, both sides understood it to be a temporary
arrangement. However, three years have gone since the end of the war in
May, 2009. It is three years since the country returned to normalcy and
yet the fishermen of Uppukulam have not been given back their lands that
the LTTE took away forcefully. For three years, since May, 2009, the
Vidataltivu fishermen, on the orders of the LTTE remnants, have been
preventing the Muslims from regaining their traditional fishing Vadiya
and the pier.
“The Muslim fishermen of Uppukulam were promised in writing by the
Vidataltivu fishermen in 2002, that on any occasion they would leave
Uppukulam.
“But, the Vidataltivu fishermen would not leave Uppukulam. The decree
of the LTTE remnants continues to have force in Mannar as that of the
LTTE. Who is controlling them and giving them orders? These are the
questions for which weneed answers.
“So, what did the fisherfolk of Uppukulam do? Did they resort to
force and violence? Despite all the sufferings, the Muslims of Mannar,
like Muslims all over Sri Lanka and all peace-loving communities living
in thisIsland, have tried to resolve their differences through
non-violent means. The Uppukulam fishermen maderepresentations to all
authorities concerned to resettle the Vidataltivu fishsrmen in their
native place in Vidataltivu or to find them an alternative location.
Theyhad made representations to me and also to other Members of the
Vanni District. After three years they saw no success. How long more
should the Muslim fishermen of Uppukulam wait to retrieve their own
land? How long more should they wait to restart their shattered lives?
“Sir, it was in this backdrop,that meetings were held by the
authorities in Mannar on June 7, June 11, and on June 26, 2012. The
Vidataltivu fishermen were offered alternate locations and were
requested to shift and even after promising to do so, they did not
shift. What is noteworthy is that almost half of the original group of
Vidataltivu fishermen have returned to their original places in
Vidataltivu. So, why is the balance group remaining? Is it because they
want to cause problems or is it that someone else is using them for
causing problems? Just as much as the fishermen of Uppukulamare victims,
so are the fishermen of Vidataltivu. They are being used, to this day,
as pawns in a game waged by powerful forces pushing the LTTE agenda.
“It was in this background that on July 13, 2012, two Muslim
fishermen had reportedly informed the Vidataltivu fishermen not to go
out for fishing that day as some Muslim fishermen wanted to come to the
Vadiya to talk to them. This request, I learnt subsequently, had been
ignored by the Vidataltivu fishermen, which had allegedly provoked about
a dozen of Muslim fishermen to take back possession of the Vadiya, in
the course of which some cadjan huts in the Vadiya had been damaged.
“Although the Police complaint states that there is aclaim that
around Rs.1.4 million worth of fishing equipment was damaged, according
to the Government Agent, the Divisional Secretary, the District
Fisheries Director and the Police, no damage had been caused toany of
the fishing equipment, gear or boats lying at the shore. However, this
isolated incident was used to exaggerate incidents internationally.
“Furthermore, statements of 17 Vidataltivu fishermen had been
recorded naming a number of Muslims of the area, who had nothing to do
with the incident, as having participated in it and thereby angering the
entire Muslim community in Mannar.
“Furthermore, the Muslims in Mannar believe that the damage caused to
the Vadiya was partly by a Vidataltivu group led by one person called
Ronald Reagan. I am told that this man Ronald Regan, who is also a
fisherman, is at the bottom of the problem, prevailing on other
Vidataltivu fishermen not to move out. Who is advising him? Who is
directing them not to move out? These are the questions that need
answers and the Muslims of Mannar are demanding a Commission of Inquiry
President Mahinda Rajapaksa to find answers to these questions. Muslims
have reasons to believe that some Tamil religious leaders of the North
with close connections to the war-time LTTE are inciting the Vidataltivu
fishermen not to move out.
“However, let me also say that the unfortunate incidents in Mannar
could have been avoided if the relevant authorities had paid due
consideration to complaints of the people of Mannar.
“Let there not be the slightest doubt that I have the utmost respect
for the Judiciary. The judges of our country are well-known and
respected for their integrity, dedication and ability.
“I am tabling* copies of the letters sent by the Mosque authorities
to the Secretary ofthe JSC.
There are six letters sent by the mosque authorities from those
areas.
“Mr. Presiding, Members, I regret to note that to date,the Mosque
authorities have not received from the Secretary even an acknowledgement
to these letters. Of course, it is the Secretary who should have
acknowledged these letters and placed them before the JSC headed by Her
Ladyship the Chief Justice of our country.
“As to what decisions are taken on these representations are matters
entirely for the Hon. Members of the JSC, if the Secretary of the JSC
had placed them before the Commission. But, some response to those who
made the representations in the broader interest of justice and fair
play may have helped calm the agitated sections of the public. Justice,
we have been told must not only be done but also must appear to be done.
“The Chief Justice who is the Chairperson of the JSC is known for
maintaining high standards and she, as the first lady Chief Justice,
took office at a difficult time when people were losing faith in the
judicial system.
“She has done much to rebuild the confidence.
“Therefore, I feel that if these complaints which were addressed to
the Secretary of the Commission were brought to the attention of the
Chief Justice and the other judges who are Members of the Commission,
they would have taken prompt action. I remain confident of the judiciary
in Sri Lanka”. |