VZCZCXRO5123
RR RUEHBI RUEHLMC
DE RUEHLM #0847/01 1651147
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141147Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6260
INFO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0463
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0198
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3836
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 7181
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 5288
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RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 1131
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RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 7767
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 5427
RUEHON/AMCONSUL TORONTO 0252
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2124
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000847 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/INS 
USAID FOR R HOWELL/ANE/IR, E HUME/CMM, B SMITH/DG 
MCC FOR S GROFF, D TETER, D NASSIRY AND E BURKE 
 
E.O 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID SOCI PHUM PINS PREF PGOV CE
SUBJECT:  SRI LANKA: EASTERN MUSLIM PERSPECTIVE ON THE 
ROLE OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN THE SRI LANKA PEACE 
PROCESS 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: USAID Mission Director met with 
community leaders representing the Peace Secretariat for 
Muslims from the three districts of the Eastern Province 
-- Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara.  Participants in 
the the meeting, chaired by Mr. M.I.M. Mohideen, the 
body?s Secretary-General, discussed the impact of the 
escalating conflict on the Muslim community in the 
Eastern Province, the lack of security for Muslims, the 
state of the economy in the East, and the perception 
that Muslims are excluded from peace talks and other 
national level discussions that affect their future. 
Failure to address Muslims? legitimate grievances could 
result in their adopting a more militant position ? a 
fact that was clearly made in the discussion.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) USAID Director met May 9 with members of the 
Muslim Peace Secretariat from the three districts of the 
East.  Participants identified their primary grievances 
as: the lack of participation of representatives of the 
Muslim community in peace negotiations; the lack of 
protection of human rights and the need to re-establish 
the rule of law in the East; and the inequitable 
distribution of aid to both tsunami- and conflict- 
affected internally displaced persons.  They highlighted 
a significant deterioration in Muslim?Tamil community 
relations which, if left unchecked, could escalate into 
a secondary conflict in the East. 
 
Background: Sri Lanka?s Muslim Community and the 
Conflict 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In the Eastern Province, the majority of 
Muslims depend on farming and fishing for their 
livelihood.  During the 25-year conflict, Muslims have 
been forced to leave the Jaffna Peninsula, Mannar, and 
other areas of the Northern Province.  Many have settled 
in the Eastern Province.  The Peace Secretariat for 
Muslims has identified 96,000 acres of land that has 
been or currently is under the control of the Liberation 
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or the Karuna Group that 
were previously Muslim lands.  Muslims in the East have 
found themselves targeted by the LTTE, and, more 
recently, the Karuna Group. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Muslims constitute one-third of the population 
of the Eastern Province and are the largest ethnic group 
in the Ampara District, the area worst affected by the 
December 2004 tsunami.  The majority of the Muslim 
community in the East lives along the coastal belt from 
Pottuvil in the south to Muttur in the north.  This area 
suffered the highest numbers of fatalities as a result 
of the tsunami.  Meeting participants noted the lack of 
significant progress on tsunami rehabilitation projects 
in the East compared with the Sinhalese-dominated South. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The main players in Sri Lanka's conflict have 
been the Tamil minority seeking a separate state or 
regional autonomy within a federal state and the 
Sinhalese majority who have rejected the latter and are 
not wholly supportive of the former.  Meeting 
participants noted that Muslims have become a forgotten 
element in this entrenched conflict.  Their community 
has suffered from discrimination, politically motivated 
violence, and massacres. 
 
 
COLOMBO 00000847  002 OF 004 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Unlike other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka who 
define themselves in terms of language, culture, and 
religion, the identity of Sri Lankan Muslims is defined 
primarily by religious belief.  Historically, there has 
been debate among Sinhalese and Tamil politicians and 
academics over the identity of the Muslim community, 
with some arguing that Muslims are Tamils who follow a 
different religion.  Nevertheless, there is an 
unequivocal belief among Sri Lankan Muslims that they 
constitute a separate and clearly defined community. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) In post-independence Sri Lanka, Muslim 
political leaders were represented by a broad cross 
section of political parties.  Traditionally, the pro- 
business Muslim elites who entered politics downplayed 
ethnic issues and promoted policies favored by the 
entrepreneurial sector.  In the 1970s, increased 
educational opportunities in the country led to the 
emergence of professional elites from the East.  The 
longstanding economic grievances of eastern Muslims were 
exacerbated with the onset of ethnic conflict in the 
1980s.  This led to the creation of the Sri Lanka Muslim 
Congress (SLMC) in 1986, the first Muslim-based 
political party in Sri Lanka, headed by M.H.M. Ashraff. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Sri Lanka's electoral system is based on 
proportional representation which gave the SLMC a 
disproportionately large role in the creation of 
governing coalitions.  Despite having a relatively small 
voter base, the party was able to deliver benefits to 
its supporters in the form of government jobs in 
ministries controlled by party leaders, establish a 
university in the Ampara District with a predominantly 
Muslim student body, and begin the construction of a 
port in Oruvil, a Muslim-dominated town in Ampara 
District.  In 2000, after the death of the SLMC's 
leader, his widow, Ferial Ashraff, and SLMC deputy 
leader Rauf Hakeem were unable to agree on who should 
lead the party.  The resulting split led to the further 
fracturing of the Muslim polity with individual 
parliamentarians leaving the party and establishing 
their own political parties.  Currently, there are 
eleven Muslim political parties in Parliament. 
 
USAID Support for the Peace Secretariat for Muslims 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶9.  (U) Through the USAID Sri Lanka peace support 
project ?Civic Foundation for Peace?, a memorandum of 
understanding was negotiated between Minister Rauf 
Hakeem, leader of the SLMC, and Mrs. Ferial Ashraff, 
leader of the National Unity Alliance (NUA), to create 
the Peace Secretariat for Muslims (PSM).  The goals of 
the PSM are to promote a consensual approach among 
Muslim political leaders to advocate for the needs of 
their community in this conflict-affected region and to 
promote the views of the Muslim community on the 
peaceful resolution of Sri Lanka's conflict.  With USAID 
support, the PSM has established regional offices in 
Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Galle, and Puttalam. 
Each office has established a committee of community 
leaders to monitor human security issues and participate 
in a district-based Peace Assembly with representatives 
nominated by the SLMC and NUA.  A cross section of the 
PSM's network of community leaders from Trincomalee, 
Batticaloa, and Ampara met on May 9 in Ampara with the 
USAID Mission Director. 
 
COLOMBO 00000847  003 OF 004 
 
 
 
Muslim Community Leaders Highlight Concerns 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) One of the primary concerns raised by the 
Muslim community leaders was the perceived indifference 
of the government to the needs of the Muslim community 
whose members were victims of the tsunami and are 
adversely affected by the ongoing conflict.  The Muslim 
community, they said, directs its anger not only at the 
Government of Sri Lanka, but also at the donor community 
and non-government organizations, which are viewed as 
having failed to provide support in a timely manner.  Of 
particular importance to the Muslim community are 
programs to promote peace, combat corruption, protect 
human rights, and increase opportunities for livelihoods 
and training for unemployed youth, particularly those 
who did not enter the university system. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) The President of the All Mosques Federation 
in the Eastern Province, Al Haj Moulavi S.L.M. Hannifa, 
presented a paper on behalf of his organization 
highlighting the expectations of the Muslim community. 
These included: 
 
-- Recognition of the North-East Muslims as a distinct 
nation with a separate and distinct identity, culture, 
traditions and religion; 
-- Recognition of an identified Muslim homeland in the 
North and East,i.e.non-contiguous administrative areas 
in a unified Sri Lanka; 
-- Recognition of the inalienable right of self- 
determination of the Muslims; 
-- Resettlement of the Muslims forcibly evicted from the 
Northern Province their places of origin in Mannar and 
Jaffna; 
-- Establishment of a Commission for Racial Equality to 
address the grievances of the minorities; 
-- Re-establishment of the rule of law in the North and 
East; and 
-- The inclusion of North-East Muslims in future peace 
negotiations. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The discussion highlighted the lack of media 
outlets that are sympathetic to the concerns of the 
Muslim community.  The Tamil language media are 
primarily focused on the Tamil minority and do not 
adequately address developments in the East from the 
perspective of the Muslim community.  An elected member 
of the Pottuvil municipality emphasized that peace was 
the only way to ensure sustainable development and that 
the devolution of power was the only "honorable solution 
acceptable to all based on geographic and demographic 
factors."  He noted the prevalence of fear in all 
communities in the East as a result of massacres of 
civilians that have occurred in the past. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Participants pointed to an increasing level 
of distrust between the Muslim and Tamil communities. 
Pamphlets such as the Ceylon Muslim News, which is 
published by the North-East Muslim Peace Assembly, 
highlight human rights violations perpetrated by both 
the LTTE and the Karuna Group in the North and East.  In 
the October 2006 edition of the Ceylon Muslim News, an 
article entitled "The Politics of Merged North-East" 
stated, "the forces of Tamil nationalism were the 
gravest human rights violator in Sri Lanka."  The 
 
COLOMBO 00000847  004 OF 004 
 
 
participants expressed frustration and anger at the 
targeting of the Muslim community in the conflict in the 
East; more recently, the Karuna Group has targeted 
Muslim traders and entrepreneurs by imposing "taxes" and 
other forms of extortion. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) The community leaders expressed the view that 
the Muslim political leadership was silenced by offers 
of positions within the government, creating a dearth of 
effective advocates.  In this context, the Peace 
Secretariat for Muslims is key to promoting a national 
 
SIPDIS 
institution that can broadly advocate on behalf of the 
conflict-affected Muslim community as well as rebuild 
the credibility of Muslim political leaders in the East. 
 
A Forum for Community Leaders to Highlight Concerns 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶15.  (U) In the context of Sri Lanka's ongoing conflict 
and the need to promote its peaceful resolution, USAID 
programming will focus on building upon the Muslim 
community's often unpublicized assistance to displaced 
Tamil communities and use common interests such as the 
continuing needs of tsunami and conflict-affected IDPs 
to promote reconciliation and cooperation.  New USAID 
programs will utilize shared interests, such promoting 
human rights and good governance, combating corruption, 
improving livelihoods, and targeting unemployed youth 
through workforce development opportunities. 
 
¶16.  (U) Through the PSM and community-based fora 
situated in the East, USAID will monitor the needs of 
all three communities in the Eastern Province; provide 
technical assistance and training to provincial and 
local government officials to promote transparent, 
accountable, and responsive decentralized institutions; 
and support language training for government officials 
in the East to ensure access to services by all 
communities. 
 
¶17.  (U) The PSM will be supported in developing broader 
and more inclusive civil society networks within this 
community and beginning the process of engagement with 
all Muslim politicians to promote a consensus in 
political fora that are tasked with developing a 
political solution to the conflict. 
 
BLAKE