By

Izeth Hussain

When President Rajapaksa met our newspaper editors some weeks ago he advised them to ignore the anti-Muslim campaign. The idea was that giving publicity to the campaign would be tantamount to adding fuel to fire whereas ignoring it would lead to the campaign fading away. In the ensuing weeks that expectation has proved to be a completely mistaken one. Not only did the anti-Muslim campaign continue to flourish, it has actually taken a turn for the worse.

I want to focus here on two developments of an epochal order. The first is that Muslim politicians have at long last spoken out loudly and clearly on the anti-Muslim campaign. For several decades Muslim politicians have been notorious for failing to represent the Muslims, particularly on matters that are or might be controversial. Consequently they came to be seen as representatives of UNP and SLFP Governments to the Muslims rather than as representatives of the Muslims to those Governments. Their failure to represent the Muslims has been particularly shocking in recent months when there has been a greater need than ever before for an adequate and responsible articulation of Muslim views. In this context the statement issued by Muslim Ministers and pro-Government Parliamentarians after the Grandpass clash seems to me epochal. It “expresses our unequivocal and unreserved condemnation of the premeditated and planned attack on one of our places of worship in Grandpass ….” This could be a beginning, though backslidings have to be expected of course.

The second epochal development that I have in mind is that there actually was a clash between Muslims and Sinhalese at Grandpass. Hitherto the Muslims have been entirely passive while the Sinhalese super-patriots took anti-Muslim action with total impunity. At Grandpass, the expectation that the mosque was about to be burnt down roused Muslim youth into action. According to D.B.S. Jeyaraj the Sinhalese super-patriots turned tail and ran. It is the kind of thing that can ignite another July ’83. The most important detail in connection with the clash is that Muslim youths involved belong to the Thowhid Jamaath, a Wahabi organization which has been growing in strength. I must add that in recent times the Wahabis have been making very significant advances among local Muslims.

The matters on which I have touched above obviously require in-depth treatment, which I cannot undertake here. I will conclude by emphasizing one point: as long as the police act as passive spectators over anti-Muslim action, the Government will inevitably be seen as giving its implicit but strong backing for anti-Muslim action. The Government must now take corrective action. Otherwise it could head for disaster.