COLOMBO, Sept 24: Hundreds of Muslims on Sunday forced their way out of areas in the east of the country after receiving leaflets allegedly by the LTTE warning of another attack on Muslim areas.
Muslims in the towns of Muttur and Kinniya had grappled with soldiers who had initially obstructed their fleeing but finally gave way after heavy protests, sources from the area said. However, the government and military were opposing their escape.
“They began leaving on Saturday but the army was forcibly sending them back. It is only after a throng of women began a sit-in in the middle of the road that they permitted the Muslims to leave. By Sunday afternoon nearly 2,000 families had left Muttur”, Ismiya Nurul, a social worker in the area said when contacted.
Muttur, a town with around 50,000 Muslim inhabitants, was overrun by the LTTE early August and retaken by the government military after days of fierce fighting.
In the past two weeks at least 30,000 Muslims had left their refugee camps in other parts of the country to return to war ravaged Muttur, after the government and military had held out assurance to protect them.
“Most of them were scared to come back fearing fresh LTTE attacks, but they wanted to be in their homes for Ramazan. But following the warning leaflets, they are once again heading towards schools and mosques, searching for temporary shelter,” Nurul points out.
“There is very little support by the government for those fleeing and few places are open to accommodate them. The police have now stopped NGO representatives from going into places where the civilians have taken shelter,” she adds.
Meanwhile, military sources say they have ordered a stop to the sending and receiving of faxes in communication centres in Muttur and Kinniya to prevent the warning leaflets being faxed.
“We have successfully stopped the distribution of these warning leaflets. We are now trying to control the panic among civilians,” a military source said.
In the Muslim dominated town of Pottuvil, troops continued to be deployed following tensions between the army and Muslim civilians after a massacre of 10 residents last Sunday for which some Muslims blamed the Special Task Force of the police.
