On the murder of 10 Muslims in Poththuvil in Amparai

The Pothtuvil Divisional Secretariat (DS) region in Amparai is made up entirely of ancient Tamil and Muslim villages. Poththuvil boasts of an ancient water reservoir called “Raththalkulam” in Tamil. Surrounding this tank is thousands of acres of fertile paddy land that was cultivated by the Tamil and Muslim communities from time immemorial. There were occasional tensions between the adjacent Sinhala village and the Muslims in Pothtuvil over use of the water tank.

To the dismay of Tamil and Muslim communities, this fertile Poththuvil DS region was annexed to the Sinhala Lagugala DS division in the 1990’s. This annexation has increased tensions between the Muslim and Sinhala community.

This Raththalkulam water reservoir was identified for renovation under the NEIAP (North East Irrigation and Agriculture Project) scheme.

The NEIAP workers

The 10 murdered Muslim young men were from very poor families from Pththuvil and Akkaraipatru and worked as labourers under the NEIAP scheme to renovate the Raththalkulam water reservoir. On several occasions the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) stationed near this water reservoir would stop the young Muslim men as they went to work. The STF would charge that the workers are going to meet the LTTE and has tried to prevent them from going to work.

The cemetery issue

In Poththuvil there is cemetery in a place called Chinnaullai in the Arugampul village. This cemetery belonged to the Muslim community and only people of Muslim religion used this cemetery. A few days ago some Sinhala people attempted to use this cemetery to bury a Sinhala person. The STF stationed near has also supported the Sinhalese people using the cemetery. Given the sensitivities attached to cemeteries this has clearly upset the Muslim community in the area. There were argument between the STF and the young Muslim men.

The murdered NEIAP workers

The NEIAP workers who went to work on 16 September did not return. When the families went in search they found the bodies of the 10 NEIAP workers with their hands tied to the back and murdered in a brutal manner. The 11th person, 55 year old Meeramohayadeen escaped with injuries to tell the tale. Meeramohayadeen is the person who had recruited the young men to work on the NEIAP scheme. The bodies of the murdered young men have been brought to the Jumma mosque. The names of the murdered young men are,

1. Abdul Rasool Rishard(23)
2. Anurdeen (19)
3. Aneez (19)
4. Shiam (20)
5. Jabbar (22)
6. Athukunchu (15)
7. Faizal (19)
8. Amees (19)
9. Fairuz (19)
10. Samsutheen (20)

The injured NEIAP worker

The ambulance carrying the injured NEIAP worker, Meeramohayadeen, has been stopped on his way to a hospital to be treated by a Mslim doctor. The vehicle was diverted to the Amparai hospital where Meeramohayadeen would be treated under STF supervision. Given that he is the only eye witness to what really happened, his fate at the hands of the STF must be worrying.

Muslim community protests

The outraged Muslim community has met Rauf Hakeem, Muslim member of parliament, who said that it was a grave mistake of the police to have allowed the removal the bodies without collecting the evidence first.

The Muslim people have called for a Hartal (shut down) to protest the killing and demand the removal of the STF.

The LTTE and the Tamil people will be supporting the Hartal called by the Muslim community.

19 September 2006

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