Jihad story cooked up by Karuna?

By Munza Mushtaq
Contrary to a series of reports to the effect that a Muslim armed group is running riot in the Eastern Province, neither the security forces nor the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has received any ‘reliable’ information to confirm the situation.

SLMM Spokesman Steinar Sveinsson told The Bottom Line that apart from Karuna cadres, who were openly seen roaming around in the east, they had not received any reports to the effect that any armed ‘jihad’ gang had been seeing roaming around or even being involved in any incidents such as intimidation or killing in the province.

Military Spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe also expressed similar sentiments. He noted that if a jihad group or a Muslim armed gang was seeing roaming around or involved in any incidents, the security forces would be immediately notified of any such developments.

However, Muslim Council of Sri Lanka General Secretary M.D.M. Rizvi emphasised that it was no secret that some Muslim civilians in the east possessed arms, but this was for their own safety, owing to the deteriorating security situation in the province.

“Despite the presence of security forces or even home guards in the east, there is a certain amount of insecurity felt by these civilians, especially taking into consideration the number of incidents including mass murders that Muslims were subjected to in the past. So, they possess arms for self protection, but I doubt there are any jihad groups active in the province,” Rizvi noted.

However, sources from Batticaloa who spoke on conditions of anonymity claimed that the jihad story appeared to be one cooked up by the Karuna group in a move to shift the focus away from them. This has cropped up in a context of mounting pressure against the Karuna group, who are running wild in the province abducting, intimidating, extorting and also killing their opponents.