Sri Lanka as a multi-ethnic country the political solution that to be drawn to solve the ongoing ethnic crisis should cover and consider the political aspiration of Muslim minority too. In the sense that the North-Eastern Muslims have been suffering due to the war effects, they as a whole could demand their fundamental political rights.

LTTE violence is increasingly going up in Muslim areas in East. Especially in Trincomalee district, recently also occurred a pathetic incident that after a Muslim refused to give his motor cycle to the LTTE cadres, he was gunned down by them, and motor cycle was also taken away. Those have become a daily occurrence in uncertain public life of the region.

A series of reports compiled recently has shown the Tamil terrorists are responsible for this kind of inhuman extra-judicial killing of mass and innocent Muslim farmers and fishermen who lead a hand to mouth existence. From mid of 1990 the LTTE terrorists have been carrying out inhuman barbaric activities in the villages close to Tamil areas, such as killing civilians when they refuse to give into the LTTE, robbing vehicles, extorting money from ordinary carters and so on.

Therefore, the government must root out this terrorism. Any peace package that is to be designed to put an end to this long standing conflict must take into account fundamental and political rights of Muslims who live in the nothern and eastern provinces.

We all know what happened to the North Muslims who lived along with Tamils more than 60,000 Muslim families were forcibly driven out at the gunpoint within two hours. These Muslim families are languishing in areas like Puttalam, Kurunegala and Anuradhapura districts.

These victims of ethnic clearing will be completing their eleventh year in these camps next October. But the government has not done anything meaningful to help them.
Rauf Zain
Colombo