Tuesday, Jul 02, 2002
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By V.S. Sambandan
Though the trouble started nearly a week ago, there are conflicting reports on the cause. While some hold the view that an attack on a political office of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Muttur, in Trincomalee district, triggered the clashes, the opinion at the other end of the spectrum, voiced by the Left-radical Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) is that the eastern disturbances are a "second ethnic cleansing''. Tamil-Muslim relations, which hit the nadir when the Tigers ordered all Muslims to leave the North over a decade ago, saw an upturn in April with the LTTE asking the displaced Muslims to return. Against that backdrop, last week's turn of events is reportedly linked to the Tigers imposing taxes on residents and businesses in the areas under their control, hitting the Muslim economy. The first major disruption to the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement between the Tigers and the Government brought two districts — Amparai and Batticaloa — under curfew for four days till yesterday, but with an improvement in the situation curfew was lifted in all but one electoral district — Kalkudah — in Batticaloa. Expressing concern over the events, the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has called upon citizens belonging to all communities to remain calm. The Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose Government entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Tigers, has ordered a crackdown against those provoking violence. The Interior Minister, John Amaratunga, told reporters today that he was hopeful the situation would return to normal in a couple of days. A senior Army officer, stationed in the east, termed the disturbances a result of misunderstanding between all the parties. The LTTE, for its part, has assured the Government that it would support steps to ease tensions. A Tamil newspaper published from Jaffna reported today that the LTTE supremo, Prabakaran, has ordered his cadres in the east not to do anything that may alienate the Muslims from the Tamils and to honour the agreement between him and the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Rauff Hakeem. Political analysts see the situation as one that challenges the larger peace moves as previous attempts at conflict resolution broke down with incidents in the east. Jayadeva Uyangoda, Head of the Department of Political Science, University of Colombo, who sees the east as the "weakest link in the peace chain'' said the Government would have to "carefully handle the turn of events''. Pointing out that both in 1994 and at the beginning of the implementation of the Indo-Sri Lanka accord in 1987-88, the east had first witnessed trouble before the larger processes fell apart, Dr. Uyangoda said the "crucial significance of the Muslim factor'' could not be ignored. The political reactions are consistent with the positions taken on the ceasefire agreement and the peace process. Tamil and Muslim political parties that are aligned with the Government see the disturbances as triggered by "forces against the peace process'', while those opposed to the Government, such as the JVP, blame the Tigers, the Government and the SLMC for the clashes. Apart from putting the peace process to test, the clashes in the east are a challenge to the leadership of Mr. Hakeem, who succeeded the late M.H.M. Ashraff, founder-leader of the SLMC. While Mr. Hakeem's party is aligned with the United National Party, Ashraff's widow, Ferial Ashraff's National Unity Alliance is aligned with the People's Alliance (PA), led by Ms. Kumaratunga.
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