Colombo, June 18 P. K. Balachanddran

THE MUSLIMS of eastern Sri Lanka are not taken in by the LTTE’s offer to accommodate them in an independent ‘Tamil Eelam’ on an equal footing with the Tamils in return for support to its “war of liberation.” 

The offer was contained in a pamphlet circulated by the LTTE in the past week in the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Amparai, said a report in the website ‘Tamilnet’ on Saturday. 

Reacting to the LTTE’s appeal for support to establish ‘Tamil Eelam’, a sample of Muslims from the East and the North told The Hindustan Times today that the LTTE had not apologised for the human rights violations perpetrated by it against the Muslims. “There is no expression of regret in the pamphlet for the rampant extortion from Muslim traders, farmers and fishermen in the past 10 years, the wholesale expulsion of Muslims from the Jaffna Peninsula and the slaughter of 140 Muslims in a mosque in Kattankudi in 1990,” observed M. Karim, a trader from Kattankudi in Batticaloa district. 

“Where is the guarantee that we will not be expelled or slaughtered again?” asked A.Ashraf, a refugee from Jaffna, now residing in a camp in Puttalam district, north of Colombo. “We cannot take such appeals seriously unless it is from the highest quarters in the LTTE and that too formally,” added Nizar of Eravur in Batticaloa. 

The Muslims of Batticaloa point out that the LTTE is still not allowing the farmers of Ottamavadi and Eravur to cultivate or get rent from lands held in the LTTE held areas. Their men, boats, lorries, and tractors are still seized for ransom and monthly contributions insisted upon. "There is nothing on the ground to suggest that the LTTE has undergone a change of heart though the relations between the Tamils and the Muslims at the people-to-people level have improved over the past few years,” said a Muslim teacher in Batticaloa, who did not wish to be identified. 

‘Tamilnet’ quoted the LTTE pamphlet as saying that the Muslims need not be afraid of the “imminent war of liberation” in eastern Sri Lanka and that they should not fall prey to the machinations of the majority Sinhalas to alienate them from the Tamils and the struggle for Eelam. 

The LTTE proclaimed that the Tamil Eelam it was fighting for, was for Muslims as well as Tamils. The pamphlet said that the Lankan Army would now try to recruit Muslims because of a tremendous manpower shortage created by desertions and a lack of enthusiasm among the Sinhala youth to join the security forces. 

The pamphlet did refer to the “unfortunate” incidents of the past, but took no blame for them. It blamed “a few political forces" and asked the Muslims to identify these forces, but did not name them. 

Meanwhile, the Tamil parties and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress radically differed on a reported government proposal to hold a referendum in the East to find out whether the East wants to be merged with the North to form a Tamil North Eastern province. 

While TULF, PLOTE, TELO and EPDP have expressed strong opposition to the holding of a referendum, the SLMC has said that it may have to support the referendum if the Tamil parties continue to ignore the Muslims’ demand for arrangements to safeguard their rights. The SLMC has been asking for a separate South-Eastern Muslim council carved out of Amparai district. 

The Tamil parties oppose the SLMC's demand on the ground that it splits the ‘Tamil homeland’ in the North and East.”Also, why should the Muslims want a separate council and guarantees in the Tamil homeland when two-thirds of them living in the Sinhala-dominated areas are getting along fine without any special guarantees or constitutional arrangements?” asked Mr R. Sampanthan, Secretary General of TULF. 

10 TIGERS KILLED: At least 10 LTTE guerrillas were killed in sporadic clashes in Sri Lanka’s Central and Northern provinces on Saturday night. In Central Polonnaruwa district, troops fought with the Tigers in Wellikanda on Friday.