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| From the book India, 'We Tamils' and Sri Lanka written by S.Piyesena and R.Y Senadheera, Published by Sri Satguru Publications, 1987, Delhi. |
| The origins of Muslims in Sri Lanka lie in controversy. It is generally believed that they descend from medieval Arab traders and Arab mercenaries. However, physically Muslims in Sri Lanka do not resemble Arabs but rather seem to have close affinities with native Sinhala and Tamil people. Except for a small the community who speak Malay (a Javanese dialect) and who have semi-Mongoloid features, Tamil is the mother tongue of Muslims in Sri Lanka. Although Muslims are heavily concentrated in the Eastern Province, their population, which according to 1981 census amounted to 1 056 972 or 7.4 percent of the total population, is almost evenly spread in most districts of the island though being a trading community they prefer to live in urban areas. Muslims are the only community in Sri Lanka who are fluent in all three languages, or at least in the two national languages, i.e. Sinhala and Tamil. Prior to independence Muslims were politically organized into two major groups, the ALl Ceylon Muslim League and Moors association of Ceylon. When the Ceylon National COngress was dissolved before the first parliamentary elections in 1947 these two groups too joined the newly formed United National Party though the All Ceylon Muslim League continued to function as a non-political organisation. Since then the Muslims political activism in Sri Lanka had been generally confined to to national political parties, i.e. UNP and SLFP. While there are few Muslims scattered among various Marxist parties, hardly any Muslims in Sri Lanka have ever supported regionalism. There are no Muslims in the ranks of the TULF or any of the separatist militant groups. The TULF tries to solicit the support of Muslims through various means but were unsuccessful. In various public statements and in their 1977 election manifesto the TULF claimed that they stood for 'all Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka". But the Muslims of the island by and large preferred to confine their politics to national political parties, especially the UNP and openly opposed regionalism and separatism. While the TULF continues, though quite unsuccessfully to get Muslims under its umbrella by emphasizing the common language aspect, the militants have adopted a strategy of giving some of their frontline leaders Islamic names to create the impression that Muslims too have become Eelamist militants (The spokesperson of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Jaffna Peninsula - Balasubramaniam Kankaratnam is better known under his Islamic alias, 'major' Rahim) |
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One particular aspect of Sri Lanka's socio-political nomenclature is that while the Tamil speaking Hindus and Christians are commonly called Tamil, the Tamil speaking Muslims are known as Muslims or Moors. While this grouping of one community under the language and the other under the religion though all of them speak the same language may seem illogical, this nomenclature is partly justified by the fact that it is the HIndus and to some extent the Christians, and not the Muslims who identify with themselves with the Tamil language and its heritage. Muslims in Sri Lanka do not have as much emotional attachment to the Tamil language and culture as the Hindus and they look to the Arab world instead of South India for their spiritual upliftment. Therefore, except for the language there has not been much in common between Hindus and Muslims in Sri Lanka and as a result, joint political action had not been forthcoming. |
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Another factor which may seem strange to an outside observer is the apparent peaceful co-existence between the Sinhala and Muslim communities whose cultures have little in common. It seems more perplexing to note this at a time when BUddhist and Hindus, two communities with extremely close social, cultural and religious affinities, are engaged in a bitter feud. The credit for the present goodwill between the Sinhala Buddhist and the Muslim communities should go to the far-sighted leadership of the Muslim community who had always known that the future of the community lies in co-operation with the majority Sinhala people and have opted for the mainstream politics as against regionalism, federalism and separatism. Muslims have always ben the underrepresented in universities, government jobs or any other worthwhile social strata. However, being a trading community most of them have been economically well-off. Due to their policies of corporation there have been sufficient Muslim representation in every post independence government and they have been able to get necessary state help for the advancement of the community. |
| Statement
issued by the All Ceylon Muslim League regarding its stand on the ethnic
issue
Letter addressed to the President of the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala by the All Ceylon Muslim League President Dr. M.C.M. Khaleel, former minister. President of the Indian Union Muslims League
Dear Sir, We, the Moors of Sri Lanka who are all Muslims by religion were shocked to hear that the Member of Parliament belonging to your party also walked out from Parliament in New Delhi objecting for not having a discussion on what they called "atrocities against the Tamils in Sri Lanka". Therefore, we feel that the actual facts regarding this unfortunate issue should be brought to your notice so that you will understand the grave situation created by the separatist elements in Northern Sri Lanka. They are demanding a separate state called Eelam consisting of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of the Island. We Muslims will fail in our duty if we do not convey the true fact to our Muslim brethren in the other countries specially because the Tamil separatists are carrying on world-wide propaganda based most on untruths and defamations. First of all, we would like to mention the facts about the Muslim (Moor) population of this country and in which parts of Sri Lanka they live in. The total number of Muslims of Sri Lanka is 1 056 952 according to the latest Census. Out of this 250 801 live in the Eastern province which is described as a part of the so-called Eelam by the extremist communal separatists. The total area of the Eastern Province is 3892 sq. miles. Out of this area, the largest division Bintennepattuwa which is predominantly populated by the Sinhalese was annexed to the Eastern Province in 1886 by the British Government for administrative purposes. When the Bintennepattuwa is left out from the rest of the Eastern Province, there are 302 567 Ceylon Tamils and 250 801 Muslims. We Muslims of the Eastern Province as in other parts of the country were living in these areas from the time of the Sihala dynasty. The Eastern Province was part of the Sinhala kingdom until it was captured by the Dutch in the 17th century. The English sailor, Robert Knox, in his Memoirs of Ceylon describes how he landed at Kottiar in Trincomalee and was taken prisoner by the Sinhala King of Kandy. In the first Parliamentary elections in 1947 on the eve of INdependence, the Muslims were elected for 4 of the 7 electorates in the Eastern Province while the Tamils were able to get only 3 seats. In the Parliamentary elections of 1977, 5 Muslims and 5 Tamils were elected. It is interesting to get the party wise break-up in this election to show that the people of these ten electorates, apart from the Sinhalese, have rejected by one voice the call for separatism. We give below the results of the 1977 elections break-up electorate-wise to show how unrealistic the claim of the separatists to annex the Eastern Province as a part of the so called Eelam. Results Pottuvil (Multiple elctorate) (2members) UNP - 30 315
Kalmunai UNP - 12 636
Samanthurai UNP - 12 642
Padirippu TULF - 15 877
(Even in this electorate where the TULF was comfotably elected, the anti-separatist parties polled many more votes that the TULF winner). Batticaloa (Two member seat) - IN this electorate the SLFP had put up two candidates as it was a multiple electorate. TULF - 26 648
(Both the TULF AND UNP were elected. Later the victorioues TULF candidate joined the UNP govermnment) FP - 22 445
Kalkudah UNP - 13 140
Muttur UNP - 12 530
Trincomalee TULF - 15 144
By the above results, it will be very clear to you that the people of the Eastern Province consisting of a large Islamic population has rejected the effort of the extremists and terrorists of the Northern Province to make a Colony of our homeland. This is also a criminal effort to cut off the 250 000 Muslims living in the Eastern Province not only from their Sinhala brethren but from the 750 000 fellow Muslims who are living happily with their Sinhala brothers in the rest of the island. We are now certain that your party will understand the situation and persuade the politicians of your country also not to give any support for this extremists terrorists communal campaign. Yours faithfully, Sd/- Dr M.C.M. Khaleel
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