Bathiudeen calls for two-year timeline to solve northern Muslim IDP issue

•  ‘We do not want to take this to Geneva’- Bathiudeen
•  Calls for a new Govt. Resettlement Plan within two years
•  ‘Let us solve this through a domestic process’-Rishad
•  Losses from northern Muslim eviction amount to Rs. 17 billion
•  ‘IDPs are on the road even after 25 years’ - Bathiudeen

Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen addresses a media briefing about northern Muslim IDPs 

As groups of helpless northern Muslim IDPs continue to languish homeless 25 years after their initial displacement, a top Cabinet Minister representing them called for a domestic solution within the next two years.

“Today no one else is helping these IDP families – not even the Resettlement Ministry. We estimate that financially the displaced northern Muslims lost Rs. 5 billion at the time of their overnight eviction and today’s value of this loss is several times that,” said Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.

Minister Bathiudeen was addressing a special press briefing in Colombo to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the displacement of northern Muslims, held on 30 October.

 “It is 25 years today since 24,000 northern Muslim families were evicted overnight by the LTTE from the province on 30 October 1990. We were asked to leave within two hours. Decades later, when some of the families returned to resettle after the end of war, they found that there were no facilities to resettle and start a new life,” said Minister Bathiudeen.

“And even when we tried to help them resettle, TNA supporters blocked the resettlement of 2000 of these IDP families. Today no one is helping these 2,000 IDP families, neither government officials nor the Resettlement Ministry. There is no one to talk about their grievances in Geneva or at an international forum,” he added. 

“We believe that we should not take this issue to international forums and it should simply be resolved locally, and we are confident that the new Government of both these leaders will resolve it within the coming two years. Not only that, there is no help from our Resettlement Ministry, but we are sad to say that even the highly respected V. Vigneswaran, Chief Minister of the Northern Province, only talks about northern Muslims to be like their brothers despite such talks, he had never visited and met these IDPs -even once. 

“On behalf of these IDPs who did a lot to bring both these leaders - President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe - to power, as well as a representative of these IDPs, I appeal to both these leaders to initiate a special plan to resettle all these IDPs within the next two years. I have trust in both these leaders that they will resolve this issue.  

“Also there is an army camp now located in Silavatura in the North and it is located on lands originally owned by these helpless IDPs. In these lands were Muslim schools and mosques, etc. that originally belonged to these displaced. Therefore today I also appeal to the authorities to return these lands to them while agreeing that national security is also important. I appeal to our authorities to help resettle the Muslim displaced from Mullaitivu and Jaffna as well. These are two more groups of northern Muslim IDPS of more than 1,000 families,” he stated.

When the 1990 rupee rate is adjusted to today’s value, the loss to these IDPs now totals a staggering Rs. 17.5 billion.

Among the 24,000 Northern Muslim families expelled overnight from their traditional homes on 30 October 1990 was the eight-member family of Minister Bathiudeen.