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A break off faction of Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has threatened
its supporters of dire consequences if
they did not vacate homes and
businesses seized by the mainline
group from the Muslims of the island
in 1990. This religious dimension to
the sensitive ground situation
threatens to reignite the two-decade
old civil war that killed 64,000
people.
In 1990s, the LTTE allegedly gave the
Muslims only 10 minutes to vacate
their homes and businesses and very
few have really returned. Tamils see
the Muslims in Sri Lanka, who are also
Tamils by ethnicity but in a different
religion, as opportunists. The Muslims
see them as groups that destroy the
economy. The Sinhalese-led Government
exploited this division to create a
major rift where the Tamils were
refused any development while the
Tamil-Muslims were granted freedom and
subsidies. The difference in wealth
and social structures caused large
divides. Hence, when the fighting
broke out, the Muslims were the first
targets as the Lankan army deserted
them. |
