In the case of Sri Lankan Muslims, I believe world Muslim or the International community action is not relevant. Muslims being a well enmeshed part of the Sri Lankan social fabric, the Major communities’ (Sinhalese & Tamils) overture towards positive nation building and Muslim reciprocation would solve most of the issues.

The current state of the Muslims of Sri Lanka is deplorable and is not good for the country as a whole, as they have no caring government nor a people in the country to respond to their suffering. The Muslims neither asked for a separate state nor allied with non state actors on both side of the divide destroying the country to deserve this neglect and ostracization.

What portends here is a weak Sri Lanka for the next few decades to come, as marginalization of Muslims is looming in every corner more by negligence than by design due to failure of the state to build a robust and homogeneous Sri Lankan society with pluralism that benefits all.

The state and the society has failed to get the best out of he Muslims for nation building, the positives of the Muslims being multi lingual, free of caste & race barriers, cosmopolitan and universal world view and their potential to network with world Muslim community are not harnessed for the benefit of the country.
Their role as bridge builders between the Sinhalese and Tamils are lost in the country but very prominent amongst the Diasporas in the west.

Some of the western scholars of political science who are studying the issues of minority politics in the west are looking towards Sri Lankan Muslims as a model community due to their 1000+ years harmonious relationship with both the Sinhales and Tamil communities. They consider that even Sri Lankan militancy (LTTE & JVP uprisings of 70s/80s) did not propel the Sri Lankan Muslims to militancy in spite of the ambient global Muslim militancy world over. Their naturalization within the Sri Lankan social fabric while maintaining their distinct Islamic character which are well respect by both the communities in Sri Lanka are their long term socio political contributions vital for nation building.

Therefore it is vital that while Muslim issues require serious response by the state and other stakeholders in action for Nation Building, the positives of the community should be harnessed to build a homogeneous Sri Lankan society by deliberate action to protect their 1000+ years contribution to Sri Lankan society and polity and project to the next millennium to propel Sri Lanka as a model nation in the 21st century. A model the west is struggling to build.

Unless and until we address the grievances of all the ethnic gropus we cannot arrive at a just solution that the JVP, LTTE and the encroaching Muslim militancy ( remember the Muslims are second in par to the world’s population) and their dominance is something the world cannot ignore.

Sri Lanka is a multi-racial and multi-religious society and any marginalisation of a part of this ethnic fabric would create more virulent forms of insurgency that the majority would be the one to take its brunt.

You only need to look at India, Uk and Us and let’s not forget 9/11.

I have visited Puttalam refugee camps where the Muslims chased out of Jaffna and Mannar by the LTTE took succour. The camps were in arid lands with perhaps a hundred in a small area the size of a cricket pitch. This would have been in 2000.

Then I also visted Kathankudy, Kalmunai and other places in Batticaloa where the Muslims have lived for ages in abject poverty.

We tend to forget the Muslim refugees living in makeshift homes.

In the grand scheme of things Muslims’ plight is ignored. Tamils in the North and East eye them with suspicion and ditto for the Sinhalese in Kandy and South where Muslims are a sizeable minority.

Thankfully Muslim politicians like the late Minister Ashraff, Rauf Hakeem, A.H.M Azwer and Alavi Moulana once elected to parliament gave Muslim grievances priority unlike our own Tamil politicians who are often afraid to speak out or are found dozing during parliamentary sessions.

But there is a need for cementing relations with the Muslim community and address their grievances which are not unlike those of the Tamils. They too suffered in this. They too were displaced, their homes and businesses looted and burnt.

Camps are only a band-aid solution. Reaching and addressing the core causes of the displaced should be the priority of NGOs and the government.