When the LTTE Ideologue, Anton Balasingham, suddenly spoke about the Islamic Jihad, there was a big stir with accusations agains him. Soon afterwards, the Army Commander himself denied existence of any Muslim armed group. So did a number of Muslim leaders in the country. In the wake of all these, the Army Commander spoke of a creation of a new Muslim Military wing, much to the consternation of a number of Muslim leaders including Rauf Hakeem, who said this might aggravate misunderstandings and dissension of considerable magnitude.

Ven. Ellawela Methanandha of the JHU was quick to raise objection to an exclusive Muslim army unit. It is in this hour of confusion, Sudar Oli, in its editorial, has come out with an advise to the rulers of the country.

The full text of the editorial as follows:

The formation of a separate Muslim unit in the Sri Lanka army has drawn the concern of the international community. The top echelon of the government acting on the ill-thought notion that it was setting the Muslims against the LTTE, has committed a tactical error that can be detrimental to itself. Even a communal organization of the south, Hela Urumaya, has voiced against this move of the government to form a separate unit of the army comprising Muslims of the East.

Political advisor to the LTTE, Anton Balasingam has clearly outlined to the Norwegian minister, Erik Soleheim, the ulterior motive behind this move.

“We exposed to the world the existence of a paramilitary group known as Jihad and it functioning alongside the government security forces.

It is expected that Minister Eric Solhiem who has been briefed of this will clarify this matter at his meeting with President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday. It is also expected that when the Mr.Soleheim visits India the following day, the New Delhi officials will pose probing questions on this issue. In any event there is good news from Kalmunai that this proposal for a new Muslim Army Unit has not been a welcome move among the Muslims.

The leadership of the Muslims has reiterated to the government that although they are devout followers of Islam they do not support any steps that can trigger off religious clashes and that they are aware of the reality. This is quite explicit from the information that there is no sufficient encouragement and endorsement from the Muslim leaders to this call for a separate Muslim unit of the army.

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