Pottuvil massacre: SLMC calls for independent inquiry

By N. Dilshath Banu

Is it the LTTE, the STF or some other unidentified group that allegedly massacred the ten Muslims in Pottuvil are glaring questions that still remain unanswered while the government and the LTTE accuse each other of the crime.

Last Sunday, eleven labourers who went out to affect repairs to the anicut at Raththal Kulaum in Pottuvil had gone missing. The next day a search party of villagers found the workers blindflolded badly mutilated and hacked to death. One among them though seriously injured had survived the ordeal and was rushed to the Ampara hospital.

Security was tightened around the main mosques on Friday in Colombo to prevent any protests after Friday prayers, following the slaying of 10 Muslim workers in Pottuvil last week. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara

Though police reports said the sole survivor Meera Mohideen (60) had made a statement to police detectives implicating the LTTE in the massacre, but what his 23-year-old-daughter, Rujja said was quite the contrary.

“My husband and other family members visited him in hospital and found his condition to be critical. He is unable to speak at all. A tube was inserted into my father’s throat,” Rujja said. Recalling what happened she said on the 17th Mr. Mohideen accompanied by 10 others had gone to repair an anicut and he was expected back home at 3 pm.

She said several times when her husband went to the Ampara hospital the security forces refused to let him in but subsequently in the last few days her husband was allowed to see her father.

Ampara hospital medical superintendent Dr. Lankathilake Jayasinghe said the injuries to Mr. Mohideen were mainly around the neck and throat area and as such the patient was advised not to talk.

Soon after news of the massacre spread among the shocked villagers, several protests rallies were held by the Muslim community denouncing this act of carnage.

The residents agitated for the immediate removal of the Sastaweli STF camp chief S.N. Gunaratne, as the Muslims believed the STF was directly or indirectly involved in the massacre. On Wednesday the IGP transferred the area’s STF chief to Colombo.

However an STF officer attached to this camp said these allegations were baseless.

“We are not against the Muslim community and we have had cordial relations with them even during the tsunami disaster. But there are a few people involved in timber racketeering and we had on a number of occasions tried to bring the perpetrators to justice. This has not been well received by a few Muslims involved in such rackets, but generally a majority of the villagers are against such illicit activities,” the STF officer said.

The protests took a turn for the worse when on Wednesday the STF was compelled to open fire on a group of protestors in Periya Ulla, who had blocked the path of a vehicle carrying some STF personnel returning home on leave. In the melee five STF personnel and 14 Muslims were injured.

Prior to the tension last week, a series of clashes had occurred between the Sinhala and Muslim communities in Pottuvil.

The day before the massacre, a dispute arose between the two communities when some Sinhalese wanted to bury the body of a Sinhala villager in the Muslim burial grounds and the Pottuvil Pradeshiya Saba was called in to settle this dispute.

“A plot of land each was given to the Muslim and Sinhala communities for a cemetery. The land belonging to the Sinhala Community – which is close to the Muslim cemetery – is occupied by squatters who are not from the same area. As a result the Sinhala Community had lost the land reserved for the cemetery. We explained this during the clashes and that necessary steps will be taken to evacuate the squatters from the land and give it back to the Sinhalese for use as a cemetery,” Pottuvil Pradeshiya Sabah chairman A.L. Mohamed Rauf said.

He said another crucial problem was that a number of outsiders were encroaching on others lands.

“Pottuvil is an area which is highly populated by Muslims, but this area is also considered a tourist resort. So people are trying to grab land through various means and also by intimidating Muslims by acts of thuggery. I think these reasons may also have led to such clashes,” Mr. Rauf said.

Meanwhile, the contingent of six STF personnel providing security to Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem was withdrawn last Friday, as he called for an international commission of inquiry to carry out an impartial investigation into the massacre.

Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said there was enough expertise in Sri Lanka to carry out such investigations and there was no need for the government to invite foreign experts. “We have appointed a special CID team to investigate the Pottuvil massacre. Only Mr. Hakeem is calling for an international commission of inquiry and not the Muslim community”, Minister Rambukwella said.

However, Mr. Hakeem said he called for an independent commission of inquiry as a means of restoring the confidence in the government.

“The people are calling for an independent commission of inquiry because the government was in too much of a hurry to point its fingers at the LTTE even beforeany investigation. This had created doubts about the government’s credibility,” he said.

Mr. Hakeem said he requested the IGP to consider the transfer of the STF officers alleged to have problems with the community, but the IGP only acted after the alleged STF shooting of protestors in Periya Ulla.

“If the IGP had transferred the relevant officers prior to the shooting incident, the people will have confidence in the government’s investigation,” Mr. Hakeem said.