Potuvil Massacre – Another step closer to opening the Pandora’s Box

Arguably one of the most successfully integrated communities in Sri Lanka has been the Muslims. Muslims have been around for centuries and their overall history in Sri Lanka has been a positive one for both the Muslims and the local majority population of the island. Muslims spoke Tamil but were known to get alone with the majority Sinhalese. They have been generally peaceful and successful in business and commerce and have had a keen interest in the democratic process of the country. Any aspirations and issues were addressed via community leaders and representatives. While most Tamil’s favored such a political process to resolve communal issues, a few unfortunately took matters to their own hands and now we live in a war ravaged country.

The massacre in Potuvil will no wonder change the thinking process of the Muslims, especially of those who live in the East. While it is pretty clear the massacre was carried out by the LTTE seeking racial tension and chaos, the one to gain in any instability in the area is the LTTE. Especially given the latest defeats in the battle field and within the international forum, LTTE needs some kind of a novel idea to retain the instability that supports its shear existence. LTTE and its leadership, after all, will not be able to survive in a stable and peaceful Sri Lanka. The government on the other hand has everything to lose. If the Muslims feel the government does not give them adequate protection, this might cause them to depart from the age old non-violent ideology they have practiced in the island for centuries and will entice groups of Muslims to take up arms.

Worse atrocities have been committed on the Muslims before - but the general state of affairs in the world makes incidences like this particularly significant. Muslim countries such as Iran are increasingly marginalized by the west and Muslims across the world have taken up extremist views. There is increasing cooperation between the fundamental Islamic groups and thanks to the actions of President Bush et all, the recruitment for these groups have surged. Should Muslims also feel marginalized the result may be catastrophic and complex. Just imagine what an Iranian regime supported Muslim group could do to this small island if a couple of thousand Tamils living abroad can fund a 20 year bloody war that has killed 60,000 people!