Jaffna Muslim IDPs should be resettled soon – Muslim contestant in JMC election

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 2009, 15:34 GMT]
“While welcoming the government’s interest in resettling the displaced Vanni civilians in their original places we request that it should also take action to resettle the Muslims displaced from Jaffna soon,” Ahamed Sulthan Subiyan, the president of Jaffna Muslim IDPs Association and the independent contestant in the forthcoming Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election, said in a press meet held Monday in his newly opened election office in Jaffna town.

“Nearly 20,000 Muslims were residents in JMC area when more than 100,000 Muslims were displaced in 1990 from Jaffna peninsula and now this number has risen to 30,000,” Subiyan said.

“The government which announces that the A9 road will be opened for public use should also take steps to resettle the Jaffna Muslim IDPs in their original places,” he further requested.

“Jaffna Municipal Council which once ranked third with Colombo MC being the first and Kandy MC the second, in the country. Now, due to war, even small villages in the Sinhalese areas have outranked it; but it is not too late for all of us to get together and rebuild it at least in the 21st century,” he said.

“If we win in the JMC election we will strive to improve the living conditions of the people and serving them will be our main aim,” Subiyan added.

On being asked about his stand on the national ethnic issue he replied that the issue has to be solved in the parliament and added that all parities should together achieve a constructive solution.

“It will be difficult for the Jaffna Muslim IDPs to vote in this election as they have to apply to the Election Commissioner which again is a complicated exercise; hence it is not an easy matter for them to participate in the election in large numbers,” Subiyan told the reporters.