There has been a stream of Muslims travelling to and from Jaffna since the ceasefire. Balasingham also expressed that the expulsion of the Muslims from Jaffna was a political blunder which could not be justified and said that the LTTE leadership would be willing to re-settle them in the northern district. In a press conference in Kilinochchi in 2002, the LTTE negotiator and political strategist Anton Balasingham appeared alongside the LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran and explained that they had already apologized to the Muslims and that the Tamil homeland also belonged to the Muslim people. The expulsion still carries bitter memories amongst Sri Lanka's Muslims. That’s like everybody behind us." Aftermath Apologies and resettlement by LTTE When the women cadres searched our young women, they took them behind a screen … Inside, they took all the money … We came here with bare pockets. For us Muslims, it’s a big thing when these young men are touching our women’s ears and necks to take the jewellery off. As they did so, they told us, “If you ever talk about this, we will shoot you.” In the end, we had only the clothes we were wearing … My younger sisters couldn’t even keep the jewellery they were wearing they even took earrings from their ears. At that time my eldest son was not even one year old, and they took even the milk packets that we had for him. "People believed you could take what you could carry, but at every junction the LTTE took things from us. ![]() Tareek, a former resident of Jaffna, recounted the expulsion as follows: Most of the Muslims were resettled in Puttalam district, though the Jaffna Muslim refugees can be found in other parts of Sri Lanka as well. Muslims found themselves in the crossfire between the LTTE and the army, and some were killed and injured. The flight to government-controlled areas was dangerous. This includes 38,000 people from Mannar, 20,000 from Jaffna and Kilinochchi, 9,000 from Vavuniya and 5,000 from Mullaitivu. In total, over 14,400 Muslim families, roughly 72,000 people, were forcibly evicted from LTTE-controlled areas of the Northern Province. According to a 1981 census (the last official count), the total Muslim population in Jaffna was 14,844. The entire Muslim population was expelled from Jaffna. Moreover, the LTTE had expropriated Muslim homes, lands, and businesses and threatened Muslim families with death if they attempt to return. 13 people however never returned and were presumed dead. The abducted persons were released in stages over the years. Later huge sums of money were demanded for their release. One jeweller was killed by the beatings in front of the others. Some Muslim jewellers were tortured for details of hidden gold. At least 35 wealthy Muslim businessmen were abducted. Some LTTE women cadres were brutal even pulling out ear studs with blood spurting in the ear lobes. ![]() However, the brandishing of sophisticated weapons and threats in aggressive tones quickly silenced them. Each person was allowed only 150 rupees each and only one set of clothes. On October 30, early morning, the LTTE ordered the north Muslims to leave in two hours, leaving behind every material possession that belonged to the community or otherwise to face death. The turn of Jaffna came on 30 October 1990 when LTTE trucks drove through the streets ordering Muslim families to assemble at Osmania College. After this, many Muslims in Kilinochchi and Mannar were forced to leave their homeland. ![]() The first expulsion was in Chavakacheri, of 1,500 people. Tensions between the Tamils and Muslims were at an all-time high. The situation was further aggravated with the creation of the Muslim Home Guard, by the Sri Lankan Government, leading to violent clashes and incidents taking place between the two communities. Due to this, they felt that if the goal of Tamil Eelam was reached, they would be a "minority, in a minority state", and the SLMC were strongly opposed to the idea of Tamil Eelam. With the creation of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress on 21 September 1981, the idea of the Muslim people of Sri Lanka being separate from the Tamils, was being reinforced. However, despite being a Tamil-speaking group, the Muslims see themselves as a different ethnicity or use their religious identity as their primary identity. Even during the early years of Tamil militant struggle for separatism, a few Muslim youth joined Tamil militant groups, though there has been forced recruitment of Muslim youths by Tamil militants. In the early years of Tamil political struggle for linguistic parity, a few Sri Lankan Muslims as a Tamil-speaking people identified with the Tamil cause and participated in it.
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