US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO1811

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001811 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SOCI, CE 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  RIVAL MUSLIM SECTS CLASH IN THE EAST 
 
Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON: 1.4 (B,D). 
 
1.  (U)  Local authorities imposed a night-time curfew in a 
town in the eastern district of Batticaloa November 1-3 after 
ten people were injured in violence between mainstream 
Muslims and members of a rival Sufi sect.  According to 
M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, a local politician, the curfew was lifted 
the morning of November 4 after "a temporary settlement" was 
reached between the two parties.  Neville Wijesinghe, Deputy 
Inspector General of Police (DIG) in Batticaloa, reported 
that as of early November 4 some businesses had begun to 
reopen and a sense of normalcy was returning to the embattled 
town of Kattankudy, located 5 km south of Batticaloa city. 
 
2.  (C)  The trouble apparently arose from long-simmering 
tensions between mainstream Muslims and members of the All 
Ceylon Islamic Spiritual Movement, who follow a Sufi doctrine 
deemed heretical by the Kattankudy Ulema.  (Note:  Nearly all 
of Kattankudy's 75,000 residents are Muslim.  An estimated 10 
percent of the local population belong to the Sufi sect and 
attend prayers at its mosques.  End note.)  According to DIG 
Wijesinghe, the ill will between the two communities, which 
has flared up periodically since the movement was founded in 
Kattankudy in 1979, typically intensifies during Ramadan. 
Partisan rivalry among local Muslim politicians, who attempt 
to manipulate the communal tension for their own personal 
political gains, only exacerbates the situation, Wijesinghe 
charged. 
 
3.  (U)  The most recent disturbance followed an alleged 
assault by members of the minority sect on a member of the 
orthodox community on October 31.  Although the police 
arrested three suspects, mobs from the majority community 
(estimated by police to number about 5,000) responded with a 
series of attacks, vandalizing three mosques, two private 
homes and two motorcycles belonging to members of the Sufi 
sect.  Police responded with tear gas to disperse the rioters 
and appealed to religious leaders from both communities to 
urge an end to the violence.  The following night two 
unidentified men threw a hand grenade into a 
majority-community mosque, filled for evening prayers, 
injuring 10.  In the ensuing rioting, more mosques, homes and 
vehicles belonging to the Sufi sect were damaged and three 
policemen injured.  A night-time curfew was declared, and Sri 
Lankan Army troops and members of the paramilitary Special 
Task Force (STF) deployed to assist civil police in restoring 
order. 
 
4.  (C)  Local political and security sources scoffed at 
suggestions in the media that the violence in Kattankudy 
could spread to other Muslim areas.  While a few mosques 
belonging to the sect are also located in the neigboring 
districts of Ampara and Trincomalee, the friction is 
particularly acute in Kattankudy--the most densely populated 
Muslim area in the country--because the communities are 
squeezed together in tight proximity, DIG Wijesinghe said. 
Nor did he seem to find the level of recent violence 
especially alarming, observing that "throwing a grenade in 
Batticaloa is like throwing a rock" somewhere else.  (Note: 
As part of the so-called "Eelam" or homeland claimed by the 
terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Batticaloa has 
seen a recent upsurge in violence between northern 
"headquarters" Tigers and members of a breakaway faction led 
by former Tiger Eastern military commander Karuna.  End 
note.)  That said, given the stark theological differences 
between the two sects--and the local political rivalries 
helping fuel passions in the debate--Wijesinghe sees no 
immediate resolution to the long-standing tensions. 
 
5.  (C)  Comment:  Islam in Sri Lanka generally tends to be 
moderate, and reports of intra-communal violence relatively 
rare.  The Muslim political community, on the other hand, has 
suffered multiple fractures (no fewer than five political 
parties claim to represent the eight percent of Sri Lanka's 
population that is Muslim), and it is unfortunate that Muslim 
politicians in the area are apparently encouraging even 
greater divisiveness within their small and much-exploited 
constituency.  Given the ready availability of arms and 
ammunition in Batticaloa, the politicos' behavior is 
particularly irresponsible.  While the violence seems to have 
abated for now, the sectarian friction adds yet another 
potential short fuse to this chronically volatile  district. 
LUNSTEAD