Muslims to 'boycott' Lanka deal

BBC ^ | 25 June, 2005 | BBC

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The main Muslim party in Sri Lanka has said it intends to boycott a tsunami aid-sharing deal between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress said the country's Muslims had been sidelined because they were not included as equal partners in the deal.

The deal is meant to ensure an equal distribution of aid to all parts of the country hit by December's tsunami.

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are yet to receive tsunami aid.

Under the controversial aid sharing deal, the Muslim community in Sri Lanka would be given its own representative on the panel administering aid funds.

Concerns

But Sri Lanka Muslim Congress spokesman Rauf Hakeem said that more than half the tsunami victims were from the Muslim community and deserved to play a greater part in decisions about aid distribution.

"They are looking at us as bystanders and this is not acceptable. We cannot participate in it," Mr Hakeem has been quoted as saying by the Associated Press. He said the Muslims were concerned that the aid deal would reduce their chances for autonomy if and when a final deal is reached between the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Muslims comprise 1.3 million of Sri Lanka's 19 million people, and like the rebels, want autonomy in areas where the community is in a majority.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has six seats in the 225-member parliament.

The Tsunami Joint Mechanism paves the way for the government and the Tamil rebels to share nearly $3bn in foreign aid, and ministers say it could boost stalled peace efforts.

But correspondents say it has caused internal dissent and split the government.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga has strongly backed the aid deal, saying it could help jump-start peace talks with the rebels which stalled two years ago.

But it is bitterly opposed by the JVP which pulled out of Sri Lanka's ruling coalition last week in protest.

It argued that allowing the rebels to participate in the distribution of aid would help them to establish a Tamil state.

The party's withdrawal means Mrs Kumaratunga now leads a minority government, and in the past week she has been trying to build new alliances.

Nearly 31,000 people died in Sri Lanka when the tsunami struck on 26 December. Half a million were made homeless.

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He said the Muslims were concerned that the aid deal would reduce their chances for autonomy if and when a final deal is reached between the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Muslims comprise 1.3 million of Sri Lanka's 19 million people, and like the rebels, want autonomy in areas where the community is in a majority.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has six seats in the 225-member parliament.