THIS past October 30 marked the 35th anniversary of a mass crime that has all but faded from public memory. The British High Commission, in collaboration with Collective for Historical Dialogue and Memory hosted a documentary screening and panel discussion to mark 35 years since the expulsion of northern Muslims. On that day in 1990 the entire Muslim population of the northern province was ordered by the LTTE to leave their homes within hours. In Jaffna, the cultural capital of the Tamil people, families were given only two hours to leave. In other parts of the north the time ranged from one to two days. They were told they could take only their clothes and a few belongings. The LTTE justified the expulsion of the Muslims by claiming it was a security measure against collaboration with the government. At checkpoints, LTTE cadres seized money, jewellery, and deeds to property. Some women had their wedding necklaces pulled from their necks. Those who attempted to reason or plead were told that everything earned in Tamil Eelam belonged to Tamil Eelam.
The number of people expelled is estimated at over 75,000. Many walked or were taken in overcrowded boats to Puttalam and other parts of the country. They slept in schools, temples, and under trees, and lived for years as displaced people. Their tragedy was overshadowed by the larger war in which hundreds of thousands of Tamils and Sinhalese also suffered death, injury, and loss of homes. The Muslim expulsion became one more episode in a conflict that had already become too vast to be given any special priority. In the immediate aftermath the attention of the government and international agencies was on the massive displacement of Tamils whose numbers ran into a million or more. When resources were scarce, priorities had to be made. The Muslims of the north, who had lost their lands and property but not their lives, were placed lower on the list for assistance.
The problems faced by the displaced Muslims have continued to receive less attention even after the war ended in 2009. There is no longer an LTTE to prevent their return, yet obstacles continue to remain. In the nearly two decades that had passed since the expulsion, the lands once belonging to the Muslims had changed hands. In areas such as Musali, where the Muslim communities had lived on nearly 500 square kilometres of land, only around 70 square kilometres is available and this needs to be shared with Tamil communities that also endured displacement. The military has occupied land taken from the LTTE at great cost and wished to retain it for strategic purposes. Ironically, the vulnerability that the Muslims feel as a minority in the north leads them to be more accommodative of the military presence.
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Equal treatment
MANY of the displaced Muslims have rebuilt their lives elsewhere through personal effort and with support from government and aid agencies. They have acquired land and housing in the areas where they resettled, particularly in Puttalam and the north western province. Yet these achievements have been used against them. Officials in the north sometimes treat them as if they possess multiple properties and therefore do not deserve priority assistance when they try to return to their lost homes. This view disregards the cultural and emotional attachment the evicted Muslims have to their ancestral homes. For them, returning to the north is not just about gaining more assets but about reclaiming their identity and sense of security.
The periodic eruptions of anti-Muslim sentiment in the South of the country and amongst the Sinhalese since the end of the war have deepened these anxieties. The government must act firmly to prevent incitement and to enforce the rule of law equally upon all. When injustice is tolerated against one group, it ultimately engulfs others as well. Security lies not in dominance but in the confidence of every citizen that justice will protect them. The NPP government is being true to its promise not to use ethnic nationalism for political advantage. But the unification of the country after the defeat of the LTTE has yet to be translated into unity of the heart and mind. The minority communities, notably the Tamil and Muslim, still feel excluded from decision-making and vulnerable to discrimination or violence.
The government needs to ensure that the grievances of every group will be addressed with fairness. In the context of war-time displacement it needs to declare a policy affirming the right of return of all displaced people, Tamil, Sinhalese, and Muslim alike and establish an administrative mechanism to implement it transparently. The Office for Reparations, established as part of the framework for national reconciliation, can play a key role. Reparations are meant to restore victims, as far as possible, to the position they would have been in had the violations not occurred.
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Remembering injustice
The expulsion of the Muslims of the north remains one of the most painful reminders of what can happen when the bonds of coexistence are broken. The expulsion of the Muslims of the north is a warning of what happens when ethnic nationalism overrides humanity. It is a reminder that suffering does not remain confined to one community. Remembering October 1990 is a call to all Sri Lankans to ensure that no citizen is ever again driven from their home because of their identity. It also invites every community to reflect on its own silences and failures. True reconciliation begins when each group accepts responsibility for the pain it has caused, directly or indirectly, and reaches out to others in acknowledgement.
The war created victims in every community, and reconciliation requires that each of them be heard and treated fairly. When one group鈥檚 suffering is overlooked, resentment festers and trust in the government weakens. The expulsion of the Muslims of the north must, therefore, be acknowledged as a national tragedy, not an internal matter of any single community. Both the government and civil society organisations need to continue to create spaces for dialogue and mutual understanding. Last week an exhibition and mural painting by Tamil and Muslim women from the north and East was held to mark the 35 years since the forced expulsion of Muslims from the north by the LTTE. It was held by the Alliance for Minorities and the Chelvanayaham Memorial Trust, in Mannar, Jaffna and Kilinochchi. The Forcibly Evicted Association-1990 also organised a peaceful 鈥楤lack October 2025鈥� remembrance gathering in Puttalam.
The proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission that this government and the ones that preceded it have been promising to establish should record the stories of the expelled Muslims so that they become part of the nation鈥檚 shared history. Only by acknowledging every wound, without hierarchy of suffering, can Sri Lanka become a truly reconciled nation. Every community has suffered due to the war, and every community needs to be healed if the Sri Lankan nation is to be whole and healthy to take on the challenge of national development with success. The strength of this country will be realised when its different communities live together in mutual respect and trust. Reconciliation is not the task of the government alone.
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Jehan Perera is executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka.
