Mosque leaders, Tigers to defuse tensions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 July 2002, 21:09 GMT]
Tamils and Muslims "should not allow the miscreants amongst us" to undermine communal harmony and derail peace efforts, said Mr. Tilak, a senior official of the Liberation Tigers in Trincomalee, when addressing a group of religious leaders and leading citizens of Muslims in the east port town Saturday morning.

"We, Tamils and Muslims are united by one language although religious faiths differ. Muslims have also contributed considerably to the armed liberation struggle of ours. Some of our cadres who had sacrificed their lives in the struggle were Muslim youths," the LTTE official said.

LTTE leading member Mr.Tilak with Rajesh addressing Muslim leaders Saturday morning.(Photo:TamilNet)

"We will honour the agreement signed by our leader and the President of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress [Rauf Hakeem]," he said. The discussion held at the Trincomalee office of the LTTE had been arranged in a bid to clear the misunderstanding between the leaders of Tamils and Muslims that arose due to violent incidents took place in Muttur recently.

Mr.Tilak said "The past is the past. We should not delve into it. Now we have assembled here to formulate a scheme that would not allow any misunderstanding between Tamils and Muslims in future."

"A political resolution to the conflict will also benefit not only Tamils but also Muslims. This should be borne in every one's mind."

Presidents of several mosques in Trincomalee and Muslim leading citizens attended the discussion. They agreed that in future local religious leaders in each village should take precautionary measures to settle any dispute that arose between Tamils and Muslims and also to prevent clashes spreading to neighbouring villages.

Mr. Tilak said, "that is why we have decided to have regular contacts with Muslim religious leaders in each village to diffuse tension and strengthen friendship between the two communities."

A section of the Muslim religious leaders participating in the discussion at the Trinconmalee LTTE political office. (Photo: TamilNet)