Muslim commiunity

Image: Muslim women in Sri Lanka; Credit: Abdul-Halik Azeez. The Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) which was enacted in 1951 has been perceived primarily as religious and minority issue. Muslim male politicians and religious leaders and government actors for over decades have only considered it a concern to be resolved ‘within the community’. Thus this […]

Image: Kohilawatte Mosque in Sedawatte after the  attack. Nishthat Idroos. Another attack, another blatant act of vandalism on a place of worship. Such attacks getting pretty regular and normal in Sri Lanka by the day sans any visible enforcement of the law to apprehend miscreants and bring them to justice. This time it’s the Kohilawatte Mosque […]

Rita Izsák-Ndiaye at the side event (c)s.deshapriya. Ms. Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues speaking at a side event on 17th March 2017  reiterated that the story of Sri Lanka is not just the story of Sinhalese or Tamils, but of all the religious and ethnic groups including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Telugus, […]

Image: Jensila Majeed speaking at a side event organised by IMADR at HRC 34 on Women and Minority Rights in Sri Lanka’s TJ process. ©s.deshapriya By Jensila Majeed, Former CTFSL member, Mullative. 75,000 Muslim were evacuated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1990, just because we were Muslims. Government of Sri Lanka […]

Hilmi Ahamed.  President Maithripala Sirisena says that the Muslim IDPs have encroached and destroyed land belonging to the Wilpattu National Park (June 2015). President Sirisena says Muslims have not cleared one inch of Wilpattu Land (December 2016) President Sirisena orders the expansion of the forest reserve by taking over the land allocated to the Muslim […]

(Image cortesy of IRIN/Amantha Perera) By P K Balachandran. COLOMBO: The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, has refuted an allegation made by Muslim leaders, that his administration is discriminating against the Muslims in the matter of post-war resettlement. In a press statement issued on Tuesday, Wigneswaran said that among the 4307 […]

Issuing a statement as  the Chairperson, Office for National Unity and Reconciliation, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga  says that The strictest action must be taken without delay, against persons or groups who act to provoke disharmony by creating divisions among citizens along ethnic and religious lines. The full statement follows: The Office for National Unity and Reconciliation […]

Image: BBS General Secretary Galagoda aththe Gnansara at the Sugathadasa Stadium during a rally to welcome Myanmar’s hardline 969 monk Ashin Wirathu. Radical Buddhist monks threatening demolition of majority Muslim suburbs of Colombo and employing violent, racist and threatening rhetoric against public officials continue to enjoy impunity under the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government, which was swept into […]

Image: Group of Muslim female students visiting Galle Fort,July 2016(c)s.deshhapriya Statement: Let’s come together to support our sisters who have raised their voice for women’s rights and against discrimination. The constitutional reform process has initiated important discussions about legal reform. Among them is the need to better protect women’s rights and reform laws that discriminate […]

Image: A Sri Lankan Muslim girl of Puttalam. Courtesy of  Chulie de Silva. By PK Balachandran . A Sri Lankan Muslim girl of Puttalam. (Photo | Chulie de Silva) COLOMBO: A high percentage of Sri Lankan Muslim families get their girls married off before they attain 18 – the statutory age of marriage in Sri […]

Image:Worshippers pray inside the Meera Mosque in Katankuddi, in front of the bullet-riddled wall dating back to an attack that killed over 100 people 25 years ago. Credit: Amantha Perera/IPS. By Amantha Perera. KATANKUDDI, (IPS) – It is a Tuesday afternoon and only a handful of devotees have flocked to the Meera Grand Mosque in […]

( CM Nazeer Ahamed; Ceylon News Image) The letter sent by the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province to the president Sirisena and PM Wickremasinghe: Sampur Maha Vidyalaya is a school under the Eastern Provincial Council. It is not a national school. A well- known business organisation in Colombo had volunteered through the Sri Lanka […]

(Grenade attack on  Jumma Mosque at Akkaraipattu On 18th November 2005 one of the issues investigated) I. Introduction There was an escalation in violence in the country during the months of November and December 2005. Consequently there were allegations of human rights violations such as arbitrary killings, rape, harassment of persons during cordon and search […]

“Dismissed with outright contempt”. This was the common response of Muslims all over to Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Chairman Basheer Segu Dawood’s demand for a separate Muslim Province. During a discussion on the proposed constitution in Kattankudy on Saturday 20 February 2016 Segu Dawood had said Muslims cannot give up their demand for a separate […]

The participation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and visiting British Minister Hugo Swire at the Thai Pongal celebration in Jaffna is an indication of the special attention that is being given to the northern polity by the government. The top leaders of the government have been making frequent visits to the […]

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) will submit a proposal to the Constitutional Assembly for a unit of devolution for the Muslims of the North and the East based on party founder leader, M.H.M. Ashraff’s demand, SLMC General Secretary M.T. Hasan Ali told the Sunday Observer. A unit of devolution encompassing the non-contiguous geographic areas […]

On the night of 2nd January 2016 the words ” Sinha Le” ( Sinhala Blood) has been written on the gates of Muslim houses in number of areas surrounding Colombo, the capitol of Sri Lanka. ” Sinha Le” is the name of  new extremist organisation launched few weeks ago. In few outstation towns including Kurunagala […]

Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen lodged a complaint at Cinnamon Garden Police on Saturday against the National Sanga Council for making false accusations against him. Bathiudeen demanded Rs. 1 billion as compensation from the National Sanga Council and its Secretary Ven. Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara thera, if they fail to prove the charges made against […]

Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera is trying to whip up anti-Muslim sentiments in the country, predicting that Sri Lanka will face ISIS violence within a year. hi was speaking at a press conference on 17th November. According to Daily Mirror  he has said that “Several bomb blasts will rock Sri […]

Muslims will be an integral part of the truth, justice, reparations and non-recurrence process and  Muslims’ grievances and concerns will be a part of the consultations, design and operationalization of the domestic mechanisms; including the Commission for Truth, Justice, Reconciliation and Non-recurrence, the Judicial Mechanism, the Office of Missing Persons and the Office of Reparations, […]

( Muslim IDPs in Puttalam – Al Jazeera) On the 30th of October 1990 the entire Muslim population of close to 75,000 people living in the North were evicted by the LTTE. It is now 25 years since the Muslim community fled the North fearing for their lives and leaving behind their homes, livelihoods and […]

The 25th year of the mass expulsion of Muslim people resident in the north by the LTTE falls this October.  The eviction of the 90,000 strong northern Muslim population continues to be a humanitarian and political problem of national proportions.  An estimated 80 percent of them continue to live outside their original places of residence. […]

25 years since the eviction of 75,000 Muslims by the Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka’s North, the livelihood concerns of this marginalised section remain neglected. It is time for the political elite — both Sinhala and Tamil — to probe their own consciences and evolve a more inclusive resettlement framework About 25 years ago, on […]

I am worried and mad at my Mum. Why is she doing this? Is she insane or greedy? But she says it is foolish to keep something that will be soon taken over by “them”. I cried “Mum it is our home, we have got to keep it for our kids, may be they will […]

  ishak The All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) led by Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, which is now a part of the UNP led alliance, has decided to contest six districts under the UNP’s elephant symbol and one district separately under their own party symbol. Bathiudeen said that his party joined the UNP led good governance front […]

All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) together with other Muslim organisations yesterday strongly condemned those backing the ISIS or any other extremist organisation. “We do not condone any person or organisation that engages in extremism in any form,” ACJU President Mufthi M. I. M. Rizwie said. He said an awareness campaign would be launched today and […]

ECONOMYNEXT – Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa who is opposition United People’s Freedom Alliance in Kurunegala has dropped minority Tamils and Muslims from his list of candidates to head a Sinhala-only team. The former leader was not present at the Kurunegala district secretariat to submit nomination forms leaving the menial task to his deputy and former […]

(Rauf Hakeem announcing the decision) The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has decided to contest on the UNP ticket at the upcoming general election, SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem said today. He said the SLMC would contest under the UNP ticket in the districts of Puttalam, Kalutara, Ampara,Kurunegala,Kandy, Gampaha and Trincomalee while contesting under the ‘Tree’ […]

(Leaders and representatives of at least 18 minor political parties meeting at the SLMC Head Quarters “Darussalam” on Sunday night. ) Fear minorities will be left in the lurch, Advocate double ballot paper system. Leaders and representatives of at least 18 minor political parties meeting at the SLMC Head Quarters “Darussalam” on Sunday night. At […]

Sri Lanka is once again talking of electoral reform. After experimenting with two types of electoral systems – first-past-the-post (FPP) and proportional representation (PR), there is now talk of some kind of a mixed model. Just as at the time of the search for ‘devolution models’, the discussion seems to be ahistorical, without an analysis […]