Sacred Buddhist site of Deeghavapi in Digamadulla in the Eastern province

How did this Sinhala land later become Tamil and Muslim areas? The arrival of Muslims to the area is clearly described by the Portuguese writer De Queros on page 754 of his account: ‘The Portuguese expelled the Moors from their (Portuguese) territories in 1626. Senarat, King of Kandy, settled them in his kingdom; 4,000 were settled in Batticaloa alone by the idolatrous king.’ Muslim fishermen from South India began to migrate and settle in these areas. On the other hand, although today they possess and demand agricultural lands, the fact that the Muslims were mostly traders and fishermen is underscored by the fact that they settled on the coast. Even today the vast majority of Muslims in the Eastern Province live in a narrow coastal strip. It is not farmers but traders and fishermen who traditionally and typically inhabit the coast.

Tamils arrived in the Eastern Province even later than the Muslims. The Batticaloa Tamils have little in common with their Northern counterparts because their respective arrivals occurred differently and at different times in history. On August 11, 1884, in a letter to the Colonial Secretary, Governor Torrington wrote, 'The Tamils who assisted the British in quelling the rebellion of 1848 were (at the time) settled in Batticaloa.' They were Tamils who had been brought as indentured labour from South India to grow tobacco. (An account of Tamils brought to cultivate tobacco can be found in Percival's 'An account of the Island of Ceylon'). Similarly, Governor Ward settled Tamils who had originally been brought to cultivate coffee in Batticaloa in 1856. It is recorded that the ancient Sinhala irrigations works were rehabilitated by the British so that they could engage in agriculture. This is how the 'homeland' of the 'Tamil-speaking people' (including Muslims) came to be constructed.

Let us assume that, according to this new theory of homelands, a period of merely one or two centuries of occupation is sufficient for a community to claim that a particular territory is a homeland. Even if this were the case, the Tamils and especially the Muslims inhabit a thin strip of land along the coast for the most part. Under these circumstances, how is it that the boundaries of an area so demarcated for administrative convenience become the boundaries of a homeland? In other words, while the theory can be stretched to make an argument for the above-mentioned coastal strip, it does not apply to the entire district. Is it fair to demand a percentage of the land that corresponds to the population percentage just because one has suddenly remembered that one's community has been living in a restricted area?

The truth is that Ampara is a District with artificial boundaries. It was made up of the lands that belonged to the Kandyan Kingdom up to 1815 and the 4-mile wide strip of land that the Kandyan King conceded to the Dutch in 1766. (It was in this strip that King Senarat settled Muslims in 1626). The Sinhalese who were settled in the Eastern Province after 1921 were settled in lands that had belonged to the Kandyan Kingdom and not along the coastal strip on which King Senarat settled the Muslims facing the wrath of the Portuguese.

In no district is the population evenly distributed. Coastal and urban areas have relatively greater population densities. Demanding land corresponding to population proportions is a preposterous claim. The chaos that would arise if this 'principle' was affirmed in the Western Province is beyond comprehension.

I believe that Muslims in general do not subscribe to the land-greed that Mohideen talks. But it would be good to look back at Germany in the 1930s. Hitler precipitated World War II by marketing the idea that he would obtain more land for Germans. Such ridiculous demands are no longer entertained in the civilized world, but back then it was powerful enough to mobilize the whole of Germany into a destructive and tragic war. Yes, Mohideen, 'land' is an effective rallying call that can whip up fanatical fervour in a particular community. Never mind Mohideen, it would do the Muslims in the country good to remember the cost that Germany had to pay for all this.

No one benefits from fabricated grievances in the long run. Mohideen compares the lands available for Muslims and Sinhalese in Ampara. This is a false and devious way of depicting and analyzing the reality. He is not comparing the lands that Sinhalese own individually with those owned by Muslims. He compares the land area of Divisional Secretariat units where the Sinhalese are the majority with those where Muslims make up the largest numbers. If he wanted to show the real picture regarding land ownership by the various communities, he would have compared the respective average sizes of land holdings of individuals in both communities.

Mohideen, moreover, ignores the fact that what is of most importance is not land-ownership but living standards. I don't believe for one moment that the Muslims in Ampara enjoy a lifestyle that is somehow lower than that of the Sinhalese people.

Mohideen maybe ignorant, but during the past several decades it is the Muslims who emerged as the privileged community in the Eastern Province. The reason this was possible was because they were in a position to hold to ransom each government that came to power.

The extent of this privilege is such that today a large percentage of Sinhalese in Ampara vote either for Ferial Ashraff, Athaulla and Hakeem and/or the parties they represent. They know very well that there is no point in voting for a Sinhala politician because they simply do not have the clout. Perhaps it is this situation that has made people like Mohideen act the way they do.

Since Mohideen has a fixation on numbers, let us provide him some that reveal the privileged position of Muslims in the East. Vast sums of money have been channelled to water and sanitation projects in Muslim areas in Ampara. A sum of Rs. 10,472 million has been spent on Phase II of the Eastern Coastal Area Water Supply Scheme. A similar amount was spent in Phase I, I am told. The third Phase will see Rs. 16,919 million being spent over the next 3 years. Rs. 6,188 million has been allocated for the development of the Oluvil harbour. Rs. 28,400 million has been set aside for the Mahaweli System 'B' (Right Bank) Project, under which water will be provided to Tamils and Muslims in Batticaloa. In contrast, only Rs. 43 million has been earmarked for the conservation of Buddhist archaeological remains in the Eastern Province.

If you are not into numbers, the difference between the level and intensity of development in ‘Muslim areas’ and ‘Sinhala areas’ can be understood by comparing ‘Sinhala towns’ like Ampara and Padiyathalawa with ‘Muslim towns’ such as Kalmunai and Akkaraipattu.

This is the reality.

The argument about a ring-road being constructed to facilitate the entry of 'Sinhala encroachers' is utter conjecture. Mohideen would do well to rein in his imagination. He confuses 'development' with 'Sinhalization'. I don't know how he comes to these conclusions. All I know is that the Taliban in Afghanistan were against development and civility. I plead with Mohideen not to sow such wild and inflammatory ideas based on utter falsehoods among the peaceful Muslims in the East.

It is possible that Mohideen might attract a few followers to his baseless allegations. For example, although between 1921 and 1981 the percentage of Sinhalese increased only in the East, between 1981 and 2001 the percentage of Muslims has increased across the island by 26%. Also, the percentage of Muslims has gone up in all towns where the Sinhalese make up the majority. The Muslims who were evicted from Jaffna by the LTTE took refuge in Puttalam, a ‘Sinhala District’. If the Sinhalese in this country decided to serve the Muslims with the ladle that Mohideen suggests should be used, what would happen to the Muslims from the refugees in Puttalam to the businessmen in Colombo?

The Sinhalese have always been generous and kind to the Muslims. This is true from the time of King Senarat in 1626 to today. For example, it is the soldiers—the vast majority of them are Sinhalese—who are fighting to recover areas inhabited by Muslims that had been taken over by the LTTE. Today, Mohideen can speak of and for Muslims in the East thanks to those soldiers, many of whom paid with their lives. Where is gratitude?