Wilpattu issue pushes Colombo Muslim leadership to call for Government’s intervention

• Muslim leaders say there is a political agenda to latest controversy 
• ‘An attack on Northern Muslim IDPs’ - Rishad
• Says Govt. should resolve problem without delay
• ‘Rishad too was an IDP’ - Mujibur​ 

Many Muslim leaders in Colombo called on the Government to intervene and solve the Wilpattu issue without any further delay and ensure national reconciliation.

Among them were Muslim civil society leaders, parliamentarians, academics and members of the clergy.

Addressing a press briefing at Renuka Hotel titled ‘Our Stand on Wilpattu Issue’, organised by the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum yesterday, they alleged that the latest Wilpattu controversy was due to a political agenda and added that even during the three decades of conflict in Sri Lanka, Muslims continuously sided with the Government but today, sadly, they are being targeted by the very side they once supported.

Muslim civil society leaders, parliamentarians, academics and clergy joined by Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen (seated front row, fifth from left) gathered at Renuka Hotel in Colombo yesterday to call on the Government to intervene in the Wilpattu controversy  

  Minister of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen, State Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation A. H. M. Fowzie, Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahman, the President of the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum N. M. Ameen and the Leader of the National Unity Front Azath Salley were among those who spoke at yesterday’s press briefing.

 Minister Bathiudeen said that the latest controversy over the Wilpattu resettlement is another “attack on the Northern Muslim IDPs.” 

“There are no Muslim families living within Wilpattu reserves. The areas being talked about are out of the boundary of the reserve and are legally taken,” he said. Explaining as to how Muslim people are found in these areas, Minister Bathiudeen said: “Muslims who have been living in the Maruthamadu GS Division in the Museli Divisional Secretariat were among those who were forcibly expelled from the North by the LTTE. They were victims of ethnic cleansing in these areas. While they are displaced and living elsewhere, on 10 October 2012 the then Government issued a gazette changing the name of Maruthamadu GS Division to Villathikulam. This gazette acquired 2,800 hectares of forest land to the Forest Department using GPS and lands belonging to IDPs were also claimed in this acquisition. Later, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) allocated about 208 hectares of lands back to IDPs and the latest issue is created around some of these LLRC allocated lands incorrectly showing them as illegally used. This is an attack on Northern Muslim IDPs. I request the Government to resolve this issue.”

“Minister Bathiudeen was one of the displaced Northern Muslim IDPs,” said Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahman. 

“Various people with their own agendas are saying that the resettlement on LLRC land is an attempt at illegal jungle clearing. This is not true and is against the Government’s reconciliation process. Therefore we call on the Government to resolve this issue without delay.”

Minister Bathiudeen, who is also the Leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress, along with his family, fled the Vanni with other displaced Northern IDPs in October 1990.