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Sri Lanka to form panel for Muslims

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO OCT. 29. The Sri Lankan Government today decided to form an advisory committee to ensure the safety and security of the island's Muslims in the northeast.

The Minister for Muslim Affairs and leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Rauff Hakeem, would head the committee, the State-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation said, adding that Muslim MPs from the northeast would be in the committee.

The panel would aim at ensuring the participation of the Muslim community in the current efforts to chalk out a negotiated political settlement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The sensitive Muslim question looms large over the second round of talks, scheduled to begin in Thailand later this week. Muslims have lived under insecure conditions fearing attacks by the LTTE, which evicted all Muslims in the north, a decade ago. The Tamil-Muslim animosity, triggered by mutual distrust, has been a long-standing problem, resulting in the build-up of a Special Task Force in the east.

The Tigers recalled all Muslims earlier this year, forcing them to resettle in the north. At last month's first round of talks, the LTTE's chief negotiator, Anton S. Balasingham, said the entire northeast was the homeland for all Tamil-speaking people. However, these have not yet won the confidence of Muslims, who continue to feel insecure in the face of extortions by the Tigers.

Moreover, the SLMC is also going through a political crisis, with some MPs bringing pressure on Mr. Hakeem to ensure the safety of the Muslims in the east. The ethnic mix in the east, with an equal spread of the three main communities — Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese — makes it a potential hotspot.

The seriousness of the eastern question in determining the course of the negotiations is evident from the inclusion of the LTTE's eastern military commander, Karuna, in the Tigers' team for the second round of talks.

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